After Air Force closed out an 8-4 season Thursday night with a 35-20 victory at Nevada-Las Vegas, Falcons coach Troy Calhoun talked as if his players had just completed a marathon.
At halftime while trailing 17-14, the Falcons may have appeared to have hit the wall at the 20-mile mark of a 26.2-mile run.
“We played 12 games in 75 days,” Calhoun said of not having a bye week this season. “And for our players to dig down and find a little more was incredible.”
At halftime, the Rebels had the edge in offensive plays at 43-29, in total yards at 241-181 and the three-point lead. UNLV quarterback Omar Clayton had completed 10-of-19 passes for 146 yards and a touchdown, and running back Tim Cornett had 64 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries.
The Rebels got three more points and Cornett 5 more yards in the second half.
“We didn’t play well in the first 25 minutes, and that was unacceptable,” Calhoun played. “We altered our chin straps and played really good football in the last 28 minutes of the game.”
Air Force’s rushing game collected 343 yards and 20 of its 26 first downs. By the end, the Falcons had run four more plays, 71-67, than the Rebels.
Midway through the season, Calhoun maintained his team was playing the toughest schedule ever for a service academy. The Falcons played Oklahoma, TCU and Utah when they were all ranked in the top 10, as well as the Mountain West Conference schedule and battles with Army and Navy.
Even so, the Falcons won at least eight games for the fourth year in a row and won the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy for the first time since 2002. Only the 1982-85 teams, while playing in the Western Athletic Conference, had won at least eight games in four straight years. The 1983 team was 10-2, and the 1985 team was 12-1.
What’s next?
Calhoun prescribed time off for the immediate future.
“We have to get our players out of here for some time,” he said. “It’s not going to hurt them to go home for a few days.”
After going home for the Thanksgiving holiday and weekend, the Falcons will return to practice the first week of December to begin bowl-game preparations.
“We’ll get back in the weight room and do some running to get back into shape,” Calhoun said. “Hopefully we may get some injured players back on the field.”
Calhoun’s injury list includes fullback Jared Tew, receiver Kevin Fogler, linebackers Brady Amack and Patrick Hennessey, safety Brian Lindsay and defensive linemen Zach Payne, Ben Kopacka and Bradley Connor.
Safety Jon Davis said the Falcons handled the tough schedule well.
“After our time off, we’ll be ready to play game No. 13,” Davis said.
The Falcons most likely will play either in the Dec. 27 Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La., or the Dec. 22 Las Vegas Bowl.
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
