The search continued Sunday as Air Force pondered its fifth consecutive loss to Navy, but coach Troy Calhoun made it clear that by today the attention will be on the Mountain West Conference and Saturday’s game against UNLV.
“We didn’t play with poise and discipline,” Calhoun said. “We have to play with poise and discipline if we’re going to win any game.”
As has been the case the past five games, Navy’s 31-20 victory in the first leg of the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy race left the Falcons (3-2, 2-1 MWC) befuddled.
“Very frustrating is the best way to describe it,” linebacker Aaron Shanor said. “You play as hard as you can and after a game like that, you keep thinking, ‘What else could I have done?”‘
The Rebels are led by running back Frank “The Tank” Summers, who has rushed for a combined 310 yards the past two games.
“We did show some signs of life against Navy,” said linebacker Drew Fowler, who had 16 tackles. “UNLV is going to be a different type game defensively for us. They have a good back, and we have to get this bad taste out of our mouth. We have to be consistent defensively and we haven’t played that way.”
Calhoun put a timetable on his team’s improvement.
“Nobody wants to wait five years,” Calhoun said. “But we’re one of those teams that has to play extraordinarily well. We can’t be riding a roller coaster in terms of playing consistently.”
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
