Any studying of troop movements in military classes came in handy for Air Force cadets on Thursday night at Falcon Stadium.

When Air Force’s football game against Mountain West Conference power Texas Christian went to overtime, cadets and other fans began moving into the stands behind the north end zone.

Then, when TCU decided to play overtime on the other end of the stadium, the cadets swiftly moved to seats at the south end.

Air Force coach Troy Calhoun and academy superintendent Lt. Gen. John F. Regni both were on the Falcons’ sideline pointing fans in the direction of the south end zone. And the fans provided extra noise in the extra session.

“Hey, home field,” Regni said Friday after the Falcons won 20-17 in overtime. “We exercised an option at our home field....We wanted to do our little part to help the team.”

Cadets are required to attend football games, whether the Falcons are winning or losing. So Regni was pleased to see the show of spirit — and the exuberance of cadets storming the field after Ryan Harrison’s 33-yard, game-winning field goal.

“We’ve been working hard on spirit here at the Air Force Academy,” Regni said. “This is a hard place to go for a cadet. It’s important that cadets have opportunities to have fun at the same time. So spirit is a good thing.”

“You could just see the cadet wing, they were back,” Air Force senior cornerback Carson Bird said. “That’s the most excited I’ve ever seen them. I heard there were only 25,000 people here tonight, and it sounded like 109,000 at Tennessee, it really did, especially at the end of the game.”

Not much time to celebrate

Air Force took Friday off, but the Falcons will return to the practice field this morning to begin preparing for their game a week from now at defending conference champion BYU. Air Force has lost three straight to the Cougars by an average of 19 points.

Injury update

Air Force senior outside linebacker Julian Madrid sprained his left knee against TCU and did not finish the game. Senior defensive end Josh Clayton (strained right shoulder) and senior tailback Kip McCarthy (sprained right knee) both did not play. All three are questionable for the BYU game.

Etc.

TCU players remained on the field during Air Force’s raucous celebration. Whenever his team faces a military academy, Horned Frogs coach Gary Patterson makes his players stand while the academy’s alma mater is played following the game.