Air Force suffers blowout loss to TCU

Air Force thought about its game against TCU for months.

The Falcons, with experienced and talented players returning on both sides of the ball, hoped this was their chance to knock off the defending Mountain West champions, and maybe become champions themselves.

The game itself was over in minutes.

Fans had barely settled in after the pregame flyover when Air Force was stuffed on a fourth-down run, gave up a touchdown, and then gave up another touchdown to fall behind 14-0. The game was never competitive after that. TCU won 35-19 at Falcon Stadium. Air Force made the final margin look better by scoring 10 meaningless unanswered points in the fourth quarter.

“The scoreboard says it all,” receiver Jonathan Warzeka said. “For whatever reason, I don’t know if we thought we were a little better than we were, we didn’t come out to play today.”

There will be a lot of soul searching in the upcoming weeks for the Falcons, who have a bye next Saturday. A moment that summed up the game, and the recent rivalry against TCU, came in the fourth quarter with the Falcons trailing 35-9. They had a fourth-and-goal at TCU’s 4-yard line, and although going for the end zone seemed prudent, Air Force coach Troy Calhoun sent on the field-goal unit.

“Frankly, I didn’t feel very confident about us being able to knock it in at that point, against them,” Calhoun said.

From the moment Air Force was swarmed and stopped on a fourth-and-3 run on its opening drive, TCU was in control. The Falcons’ defense couldn’t get off the field on third down early in the game, allowing the Horned Frogs to convert 6-of-8 third-down conversions. TCU led 14-0 when Air Force started marching downfield, but quarterback Tim Jefferson lost a fumble. TCU made it 21-0 shortly after.

The Falcons were showing signs of life early in the third quarter. To end the first half, outside linebacker Jamil Cooks’ sack, forced fumble and fumble recovery set up a field goal on the final play before halftime. The Falcons forced a TCU punt to start the second half, but receiver Mikel Hunter was hit hard on the punt return and lost a fumble. TCU scored on the ensuing drive and a 28-3 lead.

Late in the third quarter, Calhoun pulled quarterback Tim Jefferson. He said he thought backup Connor Dietz could give the team a spark, but also, Jefferson took a couple of hits on his final drive in the game. Jefferson didn’t meet with the media after the game because he was getting some precautionary X-rays. Calhoun didn’t specify what Jefferson’s injury was, but it is not considered to be serious.

Jefferson didn’t play a flawless game, with just 83 yards on nine completions before he was taken out, but Calhoun didn’t put the blame on him.

“We got to have him play better, but that’s our whole team,” Calhoun said. “We have to coach better and we have to play better, our whole team.”

TCU was superior physically to Air Force, but the Falcons didn’t appear focused mentally either.

“We just couldn’t make as many mistakes as we did,” senior safety Jon Davis said. “Missed tackles, missed assignments, lining up in the wrong spot, guarding the wrong people, not having a person on a person – those things will lead to touchdowns and we can’t do that.”