Media not sold on Air Force despite sterling '07 season

By Jake Schaller, The Gazette

Published July 21, 2008 at 2:41 p.m.

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Expectations for Air Force football in 2008 aren't much higher than they were a year ago, despite the Falcons' surprisingly successful 2007 campaign.

Air Force was picked to finish sixth in the nine-team Mountain West Conference in a poll of media members released Monday. The Falcons were picked for seventh last season but finished second after going 9-4, including 6-2 in league play, under first-year coach Troy Calhoun.

"By and large, there are rarely going to be years where we're going to be picked very high," Calhoun said. "Ultimately, the key is the way that it's played out."

Meanwhile, the media picked Colorado State to finish eighth, ahead of only UNLV, in Steve Fairchild's first season as head coach. CSU is coming off a 3-9 season under Sonny Lubick.

Perhaps fueling skepticism for Air Force is the large number of seniors (26) and starters (14) lost to graduation. Among those departing were Chad Hall, last year's conference offensive player of the year, and four-year starting quarterback Shaun Carney.

Air Force junior guard Nick Charles and senior defensive end Ryan Kemp made the preseason all-conference team.

Two-time defending league champion Brigham Young was picked to finish first, while Utah was picked to finish second.

Wyoming, which landed kick returner Devin Moore, defensive lineman John Fletcher and linebacker Ward Dobbs on the all-conference team, was picked to finish fifth.

The few, the proud . . . the Aztecs?

Air Force won't be the only Mountain West team practicing on a military base in early August.

San Diego State will spend the first three days of its preseason at Camp Pendleton, a Marine Corps base in San Diego.

Aztecs coach Chuck Long said the base is "a great resource," and he wanted to spend some time there because of "pride in where we live . . . we have military all around us."

"We're excited to go and be around those guys," San Diego State linebacker Russell Allen said. "We have a lot of respect for those guys and what they do on a daily basis."

"As long as it's nothing like Full Metal Jacket," fullback Tyler Campbell joked.

Dekker hits books

Air Force brought Kemp and tight end Travis Dekker to the media days in Las Vegas. Dekker didn't get to enjoy the Green Valley Ranch resort too much Sunday, however. He was busy studying for an astronautical engineering test, which was administered Monday afternoon by a tutor.

• July 21, 2008

  3:49 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Squatch writes:

  your headline says 5th but story says 6th. Come on guys fact check your headlines and stories.

• July 21, 2008

  5:11 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  kodijack writes:

  CSU is back to where they were before Sonny, completely insignificant.

  Go Buffs!

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