Army (2-7) defeated Air Force (5-4), 41-21. The Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy is still up for grabs, but we do know one thing: it won’t be in Colorado Springs a month from now. Army made a weird week even weirder by topping Air Force in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score made it look. Maybe weird isn’t the right word, since Air Force people running their mouths is hardly unusual. Stuff like Alex Means channeling Chance Harridge and saying that he can’t imagine losing to Army is pretty standard. The weird part came when Troy Calhoun started talking about all the advantages that Army has over Air Force as a program; stuff like coaches’ housing and Heisman winners from 60 years ago. Whatever you say, Howdy Doody.
Anyway, that’s all just a sideshow. In the main event, Army’s offense did what they’ve been doing all year yardage-wise, rushing for 314. What they didn’t do was turn the ball over. Air Force, on the other hand, has had its own issues taking care of the ball this season, and they went above and beyond in reinforcing their pro-turnover platform by losing two fumbles and throwing three interceptions. It would be easy to just point to the turnovers and say, “see, that’s why they lost,” but that isn’t even close to the whole story. The truth is that Army throttled the Air Force offense. I have been fairly complimentary of the Air Force offensive line this season, but they were absolutely manhandled in this game. Army lived in the Air Force backfield and held the Falcons to only 103 rushing yards.
We might have to take a closer look at this game later down the road.
The Birddog 
Where has this Army defense (which is 109th overall in points against) been hiding all year? This week Army plays #23 Rutgers. Army hasn’t beaten a ranked opponent in 40 years. It will be interesting to see what they can pull off, or if the USAFA game was an anomaly.
I was at The Point for the game and enjoyed it immensely. Had my USNA69 ball cap on and got many questioning looks. One question, leading 33-7, in the 3rd quarter, why did Army go for the 2 point conversion? Payback from previous years?
Too bad they didn’t make the “Game of Honor” documentary this year. ..
Ain’t that the truth!
I hope you do set aside the time to take a closer look at the game sometime prior to A/N.
Calhoun is the biggest tool on the face of the earth!
Army should win with all of their advantages. Love Howdy channeling his inner Lou Holtz. Surprised we didn’t hear about pants being put on one leg at a time.
Didn’t you read Howdy Doody’s comments: they have all this military stuff at usafa that doesn’t exist at West Point…
“If you want to find ways for a team where you can kind of massage your own schedule as it goes,” Calhoun said, referring to Army’s independent status. “There are no advantages this week. None. If you want to take guys out of basic training for four or five nights toward the end of basic training and make it easier for their freshmen especially during the month of August and September. We don’t have those advantages here.”
Of course, Calhoun can’t practice those days in August and September anyway, he’s too busy studying for his University of Phoenix degree in Public relations (isn’t that why HE couldn’t talk to the media in Ann Arbor?).
If Calhoooooon was any bigger of a tool, he’d need his own semi trailer to carry him around.