Air Force tries to stay positive about 7-6 football season

Shortly after Air Force’s Military Bowl loss to Toledo, senior receiver Zack Kauth looked off in the distance, pausing for a while as he searched for the right way to describe the Falcons’ season.

The seniors said often during the season that it hadn’t gone as they hoped. They wanted to compete for a Mountain West championship, and finished fifth instead. They won the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy and made a bowl game, but even that ended like most of the rest of the season, with high hopes but ultimately a disappointment. Kauth brought the Falcons within a point in the Military Bowl with 52 seconds left on a long touchdown, but they tried a fake extra point for the 2-point conversion and the win, and came up short.

Kauth tried processing the past four months as the disappointment of the bowl loss settled in, and then finally had an answer.

“I think this team will be known for coming together in the most difficult situations we’ve been in,” Kauth said. “Army and Navy are classic examples. We had comebacks in both games to win. We had a ton of injuries that we didn’t count on, but we played through it. We had success offensively and success defensively, just not in the same game.”

Kauth paused again, and found the word to sum up his senior season.

“Grind. That’s the word I would choose: grind,” Kauth said. “Every day we’d show up ready to go, no matter who we were facing, what kind of offense or defense they were running, they were ready to go.”

This season wasn’t supposed to be a grind for Air Force. With a large group of talented seniors coming back, it was supposed to be the best of Troy Calhoun’s five seasons as Falcons coach. Instead, the 7-6 record was Calhoun’s worst as Air Force’s coach. Two of those wins came against Football Championship Subdivision teams and the other five came against teams that ended the season with losing records.

Injuries were a major factor, especially on defense. The Falcons played most of October without any of their starting defensive linemen, and at one point early in the season, five defensive starters were out because of injury. There were also some tough losses, particularly home defeats against San Diego State and Wyoming when untimely turnovers – which wasn’t a problem in Calhoun’s first four seasons – were the Falcons’ undoing.

Air Force’s players didn’t want to dwell on the negatives after the bowl loss. They were proud to beat Army and Navy, and proud to battle until the end in the Military Bowl.

“I don’t think it was a disappointing season,” offensive tackle Jason Kons said. “Were we where we wanted to be at the beginning of the season? No. But we played some good teams. Take a couple plays a different way, and the season has a different tone.”

Contact Frank Schwab: 476-4891

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