AF Success in OOC Games
I have been watching Air Force football since 1967 and have a different view of the reason for our success. During that period, they have beaten Heisman Trophy candidates, Rose Bowl champions, and just about any category of team you can name. They did it years ago with a pro style offense. Today, although we run an option based offense, we don't and can't beat the caliber of teams that we play with trickery. We play most of our opponents every year--MWC teams and Navy and Army. They all know us and our schemes very well. Yet two seasons ago we beat TCU and Utah, and we have beaten all of the others that see us annually.
Air Force wins because they find high school players that have potential, and then the coaches develop that potential to make a marginal prospect into a good player and a good prospect into a great player. These players, who have been developed to their maximum potential, play unselfishly as a team, make few mistakes, and work on flawless execution of the game plan. I remember an interview with one of our assistant coaches a few years ago. This coach had come to the Academy from Marshall. He said that the first day he walked into the locker room, he noticed that Air Force didn't have a single player that looked like some of the good ones that they had at Marshall. "We're going to get killed," he thought. However, he said that when that first game rolled around, he was overwhelmed at what those guys could do on the field. Despite what they looked like, he said, they could play football.
While the Minnesota fans might look at the Air Force team during warmups and wonder how the Falcons will ever be able to compete with the Gophers, those thoughts will subside after kickoff. They may not look like the other teams you face, but Air Force has some players.
By the way, Cal was mentioned in another thread. In 2002, Air Force went to Berkeley and beat an undefeated, ranked Cal team in its home stadium. The Gophers can do it, too, but Cal has talent and an outstanding coach in Jeff Tedford.
I can't wait to visit Minneapolis and see your great, new stadium! Good luck against Syracuse![/QUOTE]
Likewise, I have been following AF football for many years and did not mean to imply that its success over the years has been due to trickery. That wouldn't make sense. However, AF's style of play is different from the style employed by most teams and so this "difference" factor comes into play more against OOC teams that AF does not play regularly than against Army / Navy and conference opponents. In addition to the Northwestern game to which you alluded (52-3 in 2002), I also remember watching the 1998 42-0 win against Wake Forest on TV. And I had the fun of watching OOC wins against Cal and Washington in person and it is tuly enjoyable to sit in the home team's stadium and hear all the complaints about how the BCS teams should be able to handle the "little" Falcons. If AF beats the Gophers, let me know if you hear similar comments. I can still remember leaving the AF @ ND game two years ago and having one of the ND fans ask me, "Is Chad Hall really only 5' 8"?
Enjoy the game.