Now onto the 49th spot, with the Air Force Falcons. The Falcons are a fun and exciting program to watch (even as an Army vet, I find myself getting wrapped up in the excitement and explosiveness of this program), but fluffed stats and an extremely weak schedule lands them near last on my Top 2020 College Programs Preview.
The Falcons were #2 in the nation in rushing offense, they were also #7 in the nation with their rush defense and even their total defense was ranked 320 in the nation. But, that is easy to do when half of your schedule is against the weak Mountain West Conference with your opponents having a combined record of 12-36.
Air Force Falcons 2020 Schedule (projected 8-4, 5-3 MW) – *BOLD is projected wins
Sept. 5 Duquesne
Sept. 12 Boise State
Sept. 19 at Purdue
Sept. 26 at Fresno State
Oct. 3 Navy
Oct. 10 at San Jose State
Oct. 17 Hawaii
Oct. 24 at Wyoming
Nov. 7 at Army
Nov. 14 Colorado State
Nov. 21 New Mexico
Nov. 28 at Utah State
Offense
Donald Hammond III gives the Falcons the opportunity to be the most explosive and efficient offense in the Mountain West Conference. Hammond had an average of 50 yds a pass on his 13 TD passes, but more importantly…he is ranked THIRD nationally in passing efficiency.
Paired up with the nation’s #2 running attack in tailback Kadin Remsberg (1,050 yds, 8 TDs), the Air Force has the potential to be the must watch offense of the Mountain West. This of course, all depends on replacements Brandon Lewis and David Cormier at the receiver position.
Sprinkle all that together with an all senior front offensive line, giving this offense the experience and chemistry that is needed to protect Hammond and blow holes wide open for Remsberg to show the nation why they are possibly the #1 run offense.
Defense
The nation’s #7 defense against the run has a lot to prove this season. Was last year just a fluke? Can they show up against legit offenses, not just a weak Mountain West Conference run game?
The “Beefy” linebackers of senior Demonte Meeks (Falcon’s top tackler) and former top recruit TD Blackmon will be the key focus point of this run stop defense. Lakota Wills will provide experience and a veteran leadership as a rare four-year starter at Air Force.
An already weak pass defense will have to catch up fast in order for Air Force not to get destroyed, breaking in three new starters.
Special Teams
The Falcons have their work cut out for them in this area, losing both place kicker and punter. The biggest hit was losing K Jake Koehnke, who went 13-for-13 last season.
Final Thought
The Falcons wrapped up 2019 with EIGHT straight wins, making 2020 begin with high expectations. Don’t let that fool you, the Falcons had an extremely easy schedule on the back-end (even my local high school could have made that eight game run with that schedule). The 2020 season looks to be the same. A couple bumps in the road early on, then it will be high scoring, high flying and a fun end to the 2020 season.
1 thought on “#49 Air Force Falcons”