This is the first time Air Force football has defeated Colorado, Colorado State, Army and Navy in the same season, sweeping its natural rivals by geography and mission.
Source has told me Colorado will start J.T. Shrout at QB tomorrow at Air Force over Brendon Lewis.
This had widely been expected, but apparently the players have been informed.
Air Force basketball player Lavelle Scottie just singled out for applause by VP Mike Pence at
@AF_Academy
graduation. Scottie was first of his family to graduate high school, let alone college.
Job change to announce: I am now the sports editor of the
@csgazette
. After 16 years I think they ran out of jobs to give me. The plan is to continue as the Air Force football beat writer.
(Photo has nothing to with the job, I just look better next to my lovely wife).
Air Force baseball has won five in a row. And not just any five:
Air Force 4, Army 1
Air Force 12, Army 1
Air Force 5, Army 4 (10)
Air Force 12, Wichita State 3
Air Force 5, No. 13 Arizona 2
Falcons also beat No. 7 LSU earlier this season.
@CSGazetteSports
@AF_Baseball
@KazUSAFA
A source tells me Zac Larrier will start today at quarterback for No. 22 Air Force at Navy.
Larrier left last week’s win over Wyoming with a knee injury and coach Troy Calhoun said Tuesday he’d be out “a while.”
Larrier has started the first six games for the 6-0 Falcons.
Final: Air Force 8, San Jose State 3
The Falcons win their first Mountain West baseball championship.
This was the program that went its first 40 years in a D1 conference without finishing above .500. Now it's got a title and is headed to the NCAA Tournament.
OK, now this is just getting crazy.
@AF_Football
has reportedly just landed a commitment from Kyle Patterson (
@kpatts3
), a 6-foot-6, 235-pound three-star tight end from Arizona with offers from Alabama, Washington, UCLA, Arizona, Syracuse and Oregon State.
@bhallier
Go easy on my hometown paper in those classes. Though I'm extra sensitive on this topic having written the story (not the headline) that produced this gem at The Kansan.
The past few years, the best football team in Colorado has been the one here at Falcon Stadium.
From what I've seen today, that hasn't changed. Despite the attention on Boulder this weekend.
Air Force football had three games selected by CBS (not CBS Sports Network but the primary network) for this season — vs. Colorado, Navy and Army. And none are 9 pm starts or anything funky. Great haul for the Falcons.
Air Force is playing in five time zones this year (Hawaii, Pacific, Mountain, Central and Eastern).
As a bonus, it’s playing on the sixth planet in the Hoth system.
Air Force cornerback Zane Lewis will be the first from the academy to test pro waters under the new policy. Service academy grads can now forgo commissioning after graduation, join the reserves & sign an agreement to serve for 5 years after playing career.
Here's a crazy stat. Air Force receiver
@ben_waters06
, a Denver native, played four teams from the Front Range/I-25 corridor (CU, CSU, NM, WYO) and had 11 catches for 422 yards (38.4 ypc) and 6 touchdowns. No wonder he had former HS teammate
@run__cmc
tweeting congratulations.
Air Force athletic director Nathan Pine confirms to Jim Arthur on 740 KVOR that the Falcons will, in fact, host Navy on Oct. 3 at Falcon Stadium with a 4 p.m. kickoff.
It's true, Air Force senior linebacker Kyle Johnson is exploring options to transfer. Here's how that would work: (Spoiler alert: It wouldn't impact his service commitment, it's a path that would only be open to those who earn it academically, as he has)
So this just happened. The last-place Air Force women upend first-place Wyoming 57-47 on senior night at Clune Arena. Probably the best win in program history.
Final: Air Force 64, San Francisco 60
Falcons take the first-round matchup in the WNIT for the first postseason victory in program history in the first try.
Air Force starters
@PaulSkenes_15
, Doyle Gehring (30) and Dylan Rogers (27) combined line at the
@MountainWest
Championships: 3-0, 21 2/3 IP, 3 ER (1.25 ERA), 31 Ks, 6 BB.
AFA outscored opponents 20-3 while they were on the mound.
Skenes/Gehring are sophomores; Rogers a freshman
By my count,
@AF_Football
could finish its recruiting season with 20 3-star recruits, which is an unheard of number for the program and would be the most this year in the Mountain West. I'll have more as the day progresses.
BREAKING: Air Force re-affirms its commitment to basketball coach Dave Pilipovich under a new athletic director, extending him through the 2022-23 season.
My thoughts:
- Troy Calhoun wouldn't have let this process go so far if he wasn't ready to make a leap. He is calculated with EVERYTHING.
- Colorado would be crazy not to hire him. His football mind is brilliant and in no way limited to the triple option.
Just boarded my flight from Colorado Springs to Dallas. I’ve never traveled to an event where this many people on the plane were wearing Air Force gear.
Colorado Springs is home to the Olympic Training Center and USOC. It calls itself "Olympic City USA." So, what does that mean? Today, it meant the city was host to a cool pairing of world champs from vastly different disciplines - bull riding & wrestling.
Air Force coach Troy Calhoun places his signature on the final beam that was placed on the Falcon Stadium east side during a topping off ceremony on Friday morning.
LB
@alec_mock
committed to Air Force on Oct. 8, 2019. On Oct. 3, 2020 he recorded a first-quarter sack to force a Navy punt in the season-opener. At a program where freshmen rarely play, that was an unusually quick ascension.
@alec_mock
Dave Pilipovich after Air Force let him go today: "We did it the right way. No regrets. I’m walking out with my head held high. ... If the thing we just didn’t do was win enough games, then, you know, then that’s what happened."
Much more on this conversation later.
Major development regarding recent
@AF_Academy
graduate
@Austin_Cutting
as
#Vikings
cut veteran long snapper to pave the way for Cutting to make the team.
Nobody from
@AF_Football
has played in the
#NFL
while on active duty. Looks like that will change.
I know I keep harping in this, but it is unique to see this building like this. Only spot that’s not crowded is the spot behind the north basket that is closed off because of construction.
Final: Air Force 61, Denver 59. Falcons trailed 27-5. Snapped a tie with this dunk from
@P_Louder22
in the final seconds. 22-game road losing streak comes to an end.
More tickets have been sold for Air Force vs. Army football this weekend in Denver than would have been available at under-construction Falcon Stadium.
After his debut 2 years ago, I wrote that Air Force WR Geraud Sanders resembled Jalen Robinette.
Here's Sanders' year pace as a senior (thru 1/3 of 12-game sked) compared to Robinette in a 13-game senior season:
Robinette: 35 rec, 959 yds, 6 TD
Sanders: 39 rec, 873 yds, 9 TD
College Football Playoff makes it official, announcing the hiring of Air Force superintendent Lt. Gen. Richard M. Clark.
Clark will take over following his retirement in 2024.
A lot has happened since then, but it was cool early this afternoon to see Air Force QB Mike Schmidt throwing routes to Geraud Sanders at pro day. A dozen NFL teams showed up, too.
Many thanks to the Larrier family for opening up and telling their inspirational story.
The
@AF_Academy
QB and
@MountainWest
track champion lost his father at the age of 2 but leaned on a strong mother (
@erlarrier
) to turn long odds into a success story.
He grew up in Denver. CU paid little attention to him as a recruit. He mostly sat for three years at Air Force, switching between offense and defense as the team needed it. Today, senior
@ben_waters06
did this...
No. 25 Air Force is now No. 1 in the nation in passing efficiency (passing Alabama) and No. 3 in rushing (behind Navy and Army). That's pretty much a best-case scenario for the attack offensive coordinator
@Coach_Thiessen
directs.
Can confirm that Air Force LT Parker Ferguson has signed as a UDFA with the
@nyjets
. The left side of Air Force's line is going pro after LG Nolan Laufenberg signed with the
@Broncos
.
Final: Air Force 44, New Mexico 22
Falcons are 9-2 for the first time under Troy Calhoun. Donald Hammond III posts the most prolific passing game the program has had in nearly four decades of running an option offense.
Cool to see Paul Skenes front and center in Air Force's student section. Skenes is college baseball's 2-way equivalent to Shohei Ohtani (except as a catcher and pitcher). Atmosphere is always better here when the top athletes are the top supporters, and he's as good as it gets.