The second viewing didn’t lead Air Force football coach Troy Calhoun to think the Falcons won any awards Saturday for their 34-3 victory over South Carolina State.
Calhoun said Sunday he and his staff and players have a lot of things to iron out. He also said he would be making some changes in the lineup.
“We have to see progress with some things real soon,” Calhoun said, knowing the Falcons play their Mountain West Conference opener Saturday at Utah. “We’re going to flip the tape on for the players (today), and I’m sure they’ll realize we have significant work to do.”
Some coaches believe teams make the most progress of the season between the first and second games. Calhoun said the Falcons have no choice but to make some big strides.
“That’s something that can occur,” Calhoun said. “For us to be in the fight against Utah, it has to occur. But that doesn’t mean it will without a lot of hard work.”
Calhoun wasn’t pleased with a number of things. On defense, he wasn’t happy with the overall performance of some of the seniors. Calhoun credited the interior of the offensive line – center Blaine Guenther and guards Nick Charles and Caleb Morris – with a good performance, but thought tackles Keith Williams and Chris Monson, both making their first starts, were surprised at times. However, Guenther had trouble with the center snaps with quarterback Shaun Carney in the shotgun early in the game.
Calhoun talked of the need for Carney to get the offense in the right formation and pointed to tailback Kip McCarthy to do a better job in securing the football. At one point, McCarthy lost hold of the ball, but managed to pin it against his back before regaining control.
“I’ve seen Magic Johnson do that kind of ballhandling on the basketball court, but I hadn’t seen it on the gridiron,” Calhoun said.
Calhoun also was critical of second-half penalties. One moved the Falcons back 5 yards on a false start from the Bulldogs’ 1-yard line, and the Falcons settled for a field goal.
The Falcons came out of the season-opening game without any significant injuries.
EYE ON … THE UTES
AIR FORCE AT UTAH, 4 p.m., Saturday, The Mtn.
For the record: Utah is 0-1.
Streaking: Utah has won the past four games against AFA.
Who’s hot: Sean Smith, a converted wide receiver to cornerback, intercepted two passes against Oregon State in his third game at the position.
Who’s not: Darryl Poston, Utah’s leading rusher a year ago, didn’t have a carry against Oregon State in a 24-7 loss.
Key stat: Five of the past six games in the AFA-Utah series have been decided by no more than four points.
FYI: The Utes are 83-28-1 in their home openers. Air Force is 7-1 in conference openers since joining the Mountain West Conference in 1999.
Injury report: The Utes were hit hard in their opener, losing quarterback Brian Johnson for at least three weeks because of a separated right shoulder and starting running back Matt Asiata for the season because of a broken leg. Also sidelined were tight end Colt Sampson for four weeks (sprained left knee) and linebacker Matt Martinez for the season (torn knee ligament).
Coachspeak: “Obviously, we took a big hit with the injuries to Brian Johnson and Matt Asiata. However, there is no time to sit around feeling sorry for ourselves. We have other good players on this team and we need to prepare them for our conference opener against Air Force.” – Utah coach Kyle Whittingham
Staff writer Irv Moss can be reached at 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
