Ramsey: Conservative strategy doomed Air Force
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Air Force refused to take the risks required to defeat Navy.
The Falcons marched into the kingdom of service-academy football with a conservative, unimaginative and futile strategy.
Yes, Saturday’s 16-13 defeat to Navy was achingly close. And that just makes the loss sting even more.
On the next-to-last play of the game, Air Force coach Troy Calhoun faced a third and 9 at the Navy 13. A few plays earlier, he had taken, and won, a massive gamble on fourth and 18 inches.
He needed to keep gambling. He needed to test the Navy secondary. That was the right call. That was the only call. The Falcons were averaging 3.5 yards per carry and had no chance of running to a first down.
Guess what?
Calhoun sent fullback Jared Tew straight into the unforgiving center of Navy’s defense and – surprise, surprise – the Midshipmen engulfed him for a 1-yard loss.
It was the third straight run up the gut. It was a call that leads to noble defeats, and this kind of strategy could keep the Falcons running behind the Midshipmen for a long, long time.
The play after Tew’s loss will live in Air Force sports infamy. Erik Soderberg missed the game-tying field goal wide left.
I was standing on the Falcons sideline as the kick wandered away from the goal post. Women and men in blue stared at the fake grass. Stunned players fell to their knees. A few wept.
No one should have been surprised.
The Falcons spent the entire afternoon chasing the Midshipmen and never found the nerve required to burst into the lead.
Sure, there were moments. Anthony Wright Jr. transformed the game with a 67-yard sprint to the end zone with an interception. The defensive line was relentlessly violent.
But the run-obsessed offense fizzled. The Falcons delivered only one gain of more than 10 yards in the second half. With the Midshipmen reeling and one knockout blow required for victory, the Falcons stuck to a tired strategy.
It’s a proven path to defeat.
The Midshipmen have dropped the Falcons seven straight times by a total of 36 points. Each game has been remarkably similar. The Falcons hang close, but walk out of the stadium every year with a mind-numbing defeat.
The Falcons were given every chance to win this game. The roughing-the-passer call on Navy in the final minute of regulation was a thoughtful gift from officials and led to Soderburg’s game-tying field goal.
Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo described the roughing call as “horrible,” and he’s right. Yet even with the gift of what Calhoun called “a second life,” the Falcons still marched to defeat.
Calhoun said the key to converting this annual defeat to an annual victory is diligent labor. Everyone, he said, must work harder.
He’s right, of course, but only to a point.
What’s required is fresh thinking. Navy defenders and coaches understand the option offense. They see it every day at practice.
Next season, the Falcons must pass when the situation demands a pass.
We’ve already seen what happens when the Falcons take the predictable approach of running up the middle.
They arrive, year after year, in the land of losers.
