Air Force stuns TCU
Has TCU gone from "this year's Boise State" to "this year's Fresno State"? The Horned Frogs, once considered the most likely non-BCS-conference team to crash the big-bowl party in 2007-08, followed up its drubbing at the hands of Texas with a stunning loss to Air Force last night. The Falcons rallied from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit to win 20-17 in overtime. They improved to 3-0; TCU is now 1-2, and 0-1 in the Mountain West conference. I daresay the Frogs' coach is probably cursing his team's schedule right now: in retrospect, visiting Texas on a Saturday and then playing at Air Force on the following Thursday may not have been the best idea.
(Re: "this year's Fresno State," I refer, of course, to the post-USC-game Bulldogs, not the 8-1 squad that almost stunned the Trojans at the Coliseum on November 19, 2005. That team looked BCS-worthy, but since then, they've been an enormous disappointment, going 5-13 in their last 18 games starting with that loss.)
P.S. In comments, Randy predicts that Air Force will be "the Boise State of this college football season." Hey, it could happen! If they can win at BYU next Saturday, the rest of their schedule looks pretty reasonable... and now I'm debating whether to say "except for the game at Notre Dame on November 10." Frankly, winning at home against UNLV and Wyoming might be bigger challenges this year than beating the Irish... though hopefully ND will be much improved by November, and it is at Notre Dame Stadium. But I daresay Notre Dame's "easy" last four games may have just gotten a little less easy.
Air Force the Boise State of this college football season. Go Falcons!!!
Posted by: Randy | Sep 14, 2007 9:28:04 AM
Air Force could very well be the Boise State of this season... though it'd be the 2004 Boise State. The Boise State that went undefeated in the regular season, sending them into a great (but not BCS) bowl game. Or maybe the 2003 one loss Boise State, or the 2002 one loss Boise State. Each scenario carries with it enough momentum to move them into next season with a legitimate shot at being 2008's version of the 2006 Boise State. ;) It's a multiple season effort, and I'd love to see a team like Air Force create some additional excitement.
So Air Force beating TCU was a Mountain West Conference upset. Another possible Mountain West upset- which this time wouldn't involve a MWC team losing as well- is Wyoming at Boise State on Saturday.
People don't know about Wyoming, but they are a team to watch along with conference mate Air Force. They're one of just a handful of non-BCS conference teams that are still undefeated(one of them being Air Force, along with Hawaii and maybe 3 or 4 others that I can't recall at the moment). Wyoming has an absolutely frustrating defense at times, and that's the key going into Saturday. Boise State showed some definite weakness on offense last week, so this game could be very good for Wyoming.
I believe Boise State has won something like 52 of its last 54 at home, so a Wyoming upset would still be very significant even if BSU proves to be a slightly less than impressive team this season. They would be 3-0, and then have plenty of time to prepare for the key games on the remainder of their schedule.
One more thing to bore all you BCS conference folks...
Another MWC team, UNLV, which came very close to shocking #5 Wisconsin last week, hosts Colt Brennan's Hawaii on Saturday. Another potential MWC led upset... and the second potential MWC upset of a dominant WAC team. Hawaii looked very vulnerable last week(Brennan didn't... the rest of the team did), so this is another one to keep track of on ESPN.com's Gamecast.
Posted by: C. Bassett | Sep 14, 2007 10:48:48 AM
The Air Force upset was cool, but predictions of a Boise State-type season are way off base. A service academy just can't get the personnel needed to pull off major winning seasons. Lower-tier bowl games are attainable, but they'll never make the BCS, or even the Liberty Bowl for that matter. They'll lose two or three games for sure.
That said, CollegeFootballNews.com's analysis of the game made me really wish I saw it. What a heartbreaker for TCU!
Posted by: Andrew | Sep 14, 2007 5:27:40 PM
Way off base?? I disagree completely! Who are they going to lose to? Notre Dame,BYU,Navy,Wyoming. None of these teams have shown they could stop the Air Force offense! If Air Force wins out they deserve to be in a BCS bowl. The academies may not get blue chip recruits but they are some of the best all-around student athletes in the country. Have you even been to a service academy game? Every single guy plays their heart out every play. While they might not be the biggest guys on the field the teams play with the most heart. TCU was considered by most experts to be a BCS dark horse. Air Force was picked to be at the bottom of the Mountain West conference. Look what happened! This is the year for the Falcons! Go Air Force!!!!!
Posted by: Randy | Sep 14, 2007 6:33:01 PM
Heh. God bless service academy homers.
Posted by: Andrew | Sep 14, 2007 8:01:04 PM
Don't look now...Troy State is up 13-3 on Oklahoma State and driving at the end of the 1st quarter. And it could easily be 21-3!
Posted by: gahrie | Sep 14, 2007 9:38:08 PM
If there's anything I've learned in 20+ years of watching college football, it's that anything can happen.
And for those who have watched 50+ years of college football, they remember when Army was winning national championships and Navy was beating the Irish with a guy named Roger Staubach.
Relevant today? Maybe not so much, but hey, never say never. And honestly, I'd be a little nervous to see ND line up against Air Force right now...or any team that fields players.
Posted by: kcatnd | Sep 14, 2007 10:23:49 PM
TCU had a lot more Afro-American players than we did and they ran a lot faster than we did. Afro-American kids can run very well. That doesn't mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can't run, but it's very obvious to me that they run extremely well.
Posted by: Fisher DeBerry | Sep 15, 2007 10:23:52 AM