AIR FORCE ACADEMY — It’s trophy time.
While Air Force coach Troy Calhoun and his team were focusing on a game plan for Saturday’s game against Army at Falcon Stadium, talk of the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy was mingled into the conversation.
Air Force (4-4) has a 35-34 victory over Navy in overtime, and all that’s standing in the way of securing the trophy for a second consecutive year is an Army team (3-5) that has its sights on the trophy as well. An Air Force victory Saturday settles the issue.
“It’s mentioned,” Calhoun said when asked if there’s much talk in team meetings about the trophy. “Our players know what’s at stake. They don’t need to be reminded of the importance of this game.”
Senior linebacker Brady Amack said the Falcons are ready for the challenge.
“We want to keep the trophy,” Amack said. “We’ve focused on each game all season, but after we beat Navy, our game with Army has been in the back of our minds.”
Amack has a special interest in the outcome Saturday. If the Falcons win the trophy again, the seniors on the team will go to Washington to meet with President Barack Obama.
Amack prefers Air Force’s method to Navy’s, which sends its entire team to Washington if it wins the trophy.
“If all members go, it’s like been there, done that,” Amack said. “It’s more of a reward when only seniors get to go.”
Trophy or not, the annual game against Army is special for Calhoun. He often talks about his high regard for West Point and its players.
Calhoun, a 1989 Air Force graduate, noted the history of West Point graduates with the early days of the Air Force Academy.
“The only Heisman Trophy winner that we’ve had connected to this program is Doc Blanchard,” Calhoun said. “He won the trophy playing for Army in the 1940s and was on our (coaching) staff here at the Air Force Academy some years ago.”
Calhoun said there’s special inter-action between the players from both teams in a service academy game. There’s also national pride involved, as indicated by Saturday’s game being televised by CBS.
“We want to play hard and we want to play well,” Calhoun said. “We want to see how well we can play football for three hours on Saturday.”
While the focus was on football on the practice field, junior linebacker Alex Means said it wasn’t difficult to tell that it’s Army week.
“You can hear it in the hallways and in the conversation going on,” Means said. “We have some transfer students from Army, and they’re getting it pretty good.”
Means said one of the Army cadets found only a red dress in his closet and had to wear it all day in class. His room had been stripped clean.
