Air Force Academy – Troy Calhoun came to the Air Force from the NFL, but don’t let the fancy schemes and impressive reference list fool you. He’s one of them, one of the cadets.
He has eaten at attention as a freshman. He has broken eyeballs studying for mind-torturing midterms. He has strapped on a helmet and taken on teams with prep All-Americans and future first-round picks. And beaten them.
He knows what makes cadets tick. Only three games into his head coaching career, Calhoun already has his Falcons responding like few in the country ever expected. Air Force, coming off three losing seasons and picked eighth in the Mountain West Conference, is 3-0 overall and 2-0 in league play – and a win at Brigham Young on Saturday from having the rail position on the conference title.
That’s not to mention becoming one of the surprise teams in the nation. Not that they’re a surprise to themselves. Not anymore.
“The expectations are different,” senior tight end Travis Dekker said. “We go out on the field knowing that the goal is to win every time. It’s not just to compete. I think it’s a whole different mind-set compared to the last couple of years.”
That’s not a backhanded swipe at Fisher DeBerry. To a man, the Falcons still behold the 23-year coach in regard usually reserved for former generals of foreign wars. But in recent years, Air Force football and its triple-option offense had become as stale as yesterday’s soup.
Enter Calhoun from the Houston Texans. The former Air Force option quarterback (1985-88) and Denver Broncos assistant pledged a more balanced attack with the same undersized players. He did so with a youthful appearance of a cadet still looking for the library.
Excuse the nation for its smirk.
But Calhoun, 40, dug in with his players. He watched their weight training. He joined them for meals. He saw where they lived. He visited all 40 squadrons that make up the student body. He became one of them.
“From Day One, practices started changing,” Dekker said. “Coaches became much more integrated with all parts of our lives.”
Talk to Calhoun and he sounds like he’s recruiting to the military as much as he is a football team. He speaks of commitment and pride and challenges and leadership, the qualities he and his younger sister embraced during their time at Air Force.
It had been 13 years since he strolled the academy’s massive grounds, but the basics he bought into remain.
“There are some things we did on both sides of the ball, even on special teams a little bit,” he said, “but I just wanted to make sure our focus was upon attitude and energy and all the things you think of when you interact with academy kids.”
The attitude is a constant at Air Force, despite the coach or record, but ask players the difference this season and they launch into soliloquies worthy of oral final exams.
“Where do I begin?” senior linebacker Drew Fowler said. “The biggest thing I tell people is tempo, starting from practice. Everything we do is fast-paced, getting as many reps as we can get and utilizing every bit of time we got, whether it’s going to the weight room or practice or morning meetings.
“It’s like he brought the NFL mind-set down to us.”
Calhoun isn’t taking all the credit. Despite last year’s 4-8 record, DeBerry didn’t leave the cupboard bare. Ten starters returned, including seniors in quarterback Shaun Carney, halfback-turned-receiver Chad Hall, safety Bobby Giannini and Fowler.
“It helps to have guys who are seniors who’ve played a lot of football,” Calhoun said. “You look on defense, our defensive line, every one of those guys has played a lot of football.”
Yes, take away the rah-rah, the commitment to academy pride and all that, in the X’s and O’s department the defense has turned around this program. New coordinator Tim DeRuyter came from Nevada, where his spunky Wolf Pack led the nation in takeaways last year and nearly beat Miami (Fla.) in the MPC Computers Bowl.
Scoring defense has improved from 25.2 points per game to 10.7, rushing defense from 141.2 yards per game to 77.3 and total defense from 354.7 to 294.0, and sacks have risen from 1.5 a game to 2.67.
DeRuyter is attacking offenses. Fowler estimates Air Force blitzes about 80 percent of the time, 50-75 percent more than a year ago.
“(DeRuyter) put it in this perspective,” Fowler said. “When we step on the field, we’re not trying to beat the offense. We’re trying to beat the other team’s defense. Beat them in every category. If we do that, we have a great chance of winning.”
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham snarled after Air Force’s 20-12 win that it’s the same Falcons offense. Not true. Yes, they ran 63 times at Utah, but in last week’s 20-17 overtime win over Texas Christian, the conference preseason favorite, Carney hit 17-of-28 passes for 193 yards.
Air Force hadn’t thrown that many passes in two years. Air Force pass? Suddenly, Mountain West defenses needed to throw out the old Air Force game plan.
“When you do it on a yearly basis, we were playing against guys who played safety, which is a key position, and we were attacking the same way and he was meeting us at the line of scrimmage,” Carney said. “It was difficult to run. We’re able to attack in so many different ways, and it makes the safety not be able to commit so much.”
Sure, Air Force may do its usual second-half fade. Then again, maybe not. Calhoun promises to ease up on practices when heavy midterms roll around this month. Remember, he was one of them.
Still is.
The lowdown
AIR FORCE (3-0)
Player to watch | TE Travis Dekker
The tight end position has prospered in Air Force’s new offensive scheme, which has made the tight end a featured player. The senior Dekker leads Air Force receivers in yardage with 160 on nine catches, including a 10-yard touchdown in the opener.
Key for the Falcons | Slow down a scoring machine
Air Force has to put the brakes on BYU’s touted offense, which has left the Falcons in the dust in the past three meetings (averaging 540.3 yards and 45.3 points). But Air Force’s defense has been surprisingly stingy, allowing a total of 22 points in three games. The Falcons probably can’t win a scoring race and need to remain close into the fourth quarter to have a chance.
BYU (1-2)
Player to watch | Safety Quinn Gooch
In the past, opposing safeties could race to the line of scrimmage and meet Air Force’s ground game before it got started. Against these Falcons, hesitation is in order to protect against the pass. Gooch, a fifth-year senior from Tucson and the youngest of eight children, got some attention for the preseason all-Mountain West defensive team.
Key for the Cougars | Keep the offense rolling
BYU had averaged 507 yards and 28 points in its first three games. The Falcons probably can’t win a high-scoring race against the Cougars.
IRV MOSS
Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
