Air Force faces tough 4-week stretch

Take a glance at Air Force’s 2007 schedule, and the month of September about jumps off the page.

After warming up against South Carolina State of the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) in the season opener Saturday, the Falcons will face four of their toughest opponents in consecutive weeks, with three games on the road.

The stretch starts Saturday, when the Falcons play at Utah at 4 p.m. Following that game, Air Force has just four days to prepare for a Thursday night showdown against nationally ranked TCU. Road games at defending Mountain West Conference champion BYU and Navy follow the next two Saturdays.

So by the end of the month, Air Force will have played the teams predicted to finish first, second and third in its conference in a preseason poll, along with its top rival.

“Having the top two, three teams (in the conference) and Navy too really kind of caught our attention, and it’s going to be a tough stretch,” senior safety Bobby Giannini said. “I feel like if we can get through with a bunch of wins, then we’re set for the rest of the season.”

Indeed, should the Falcons go 2-2 or better in this stretch, they will be primed to make a run at their first bowl game since 2002. But it won’t be easy. The past three seasons, Air Force has gone 0-11 against its next four opponents. And it likely will be the underdog in each game. (Oddsmakers favor Utah by about a touchdown.)

“Huge,” senior receiver Mark Root said of the Falcons’ next four games. “If we can get through this stretch without taking too much damage, then we’ve got maybe a really good outlook on the rest of our season.”

When the schedule was released, Air Force coach Troy Calhoun did not complain about his team having to play its 12 games in 12 consecutive weeks without a bye. And this week, while acknowledging his team has a difficult stretch ahead, he said his team has no choice but to dive into the fire.

“Any time you go to the Air Force Academy in the first place, it is the blacksmith approach,” he said. “We throw you into the fire and we hammer away at you to build a little more metal. That’s fine. We’re going to have to play those conference games anyway at some

point, and when that happens, it’s our responsibility to make sure we’re ready to go.”

While recent head-to-head history is not on the Falcons’ side (they haven’t beaten Utah or Navy since 2002, haven’t beaten TCU since 1987 and haven’t beaten BYU since 2003), they can take solace in the fact that they have played better early in the last few seasons.

Last year the Falcons came within a failed 2-point conversion of beating nationally ranked Tennessee in Knoxville in their opener, and then won three of their next four games before fading down the stretch.

“You could say that we’re fortunate because, typically, in years past, we have played better at the beginning, so that’s a good thing,” senior inside linebacker Drew Fowler said. “But we just really need to focus one game at a time. I like how none of the coaches have brought up Navy. They haven’t brought up BYU or anything. It’s all Utah now.”