Air Force notes: Preparing for anything against Wyoming

Air Force entered Wednesday’s game knowing it was facing a much different Wyoming team than the one it faced in the first meeting on Jan. 22, but the Falcons couldn’t prepare for all the potential changes.

Fred Langley took over as Wyoming’s interim head coach on Feb. 7. The Cowboys immediately changed some things, such as going away from the ineffective zone defense that caused them so many problems during Heath Schroyer’s time as head coach.

But the Falcons were aware the Wyoming finally had a week off, which gave the coaching staff more time to add in new wrinkles they would have no chance to prepare for. Also, Air Force had just three game tapes to study of the Cowboys under Langley.

“It’s a little bit going into the unknown,” Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said Monday. “When there was the coaching change, they probably didn’t have a significant time if they were going to institute changes, if he was going to make changes.”

No last place

Air Force finished in last place in the Mountain West in 2009, finished in last place in 2010, and was picked to finish in last place in 2011. So while clinching a non-last place season isn’t a big deal for many teams, it is progress for the Falcons.

With Utah’s win over TCU on Tuesday, Air Force knew it could finish no worse than eighth place. TCU fell to 1-13, and could finish with no more than three conference wins. Air Force came into Wednesday night’s game with four conference wins.

Getting to 70

If there is one solid indicator of success for Air Force, it is reaching 70 points in a game. Coming into Wednesday’s game, the Falcons were 8-0 when scoring at least 70 points, and 5-12 when they didn’t reach that mark.