Air Force Academy

Type of Offense: Option. Very rarely used by 1-A colleges, the option forces a defense to contract their playbook and play the game according to the offense. It is built on misdirection and players not playing their responsibilities up to par. The run/pass ratio is nearly 9/1 in a successful team with the pass being set up over a long set of plays to go over the top for a big yardage gainer. When ran to perfection, the defense cannot set on one single player because the FB the SB and the TB can all get the ball on any play in addition to the QB keeping it. The TE is mainly used as an extra tackle whose job is to run block and occasionally leak to open areas on play action passes. The beauty of this offense is that no one practices against it on a regular basis therefore the offense can exploit the lack of practice time of the defense and normally rack up lots of rushing yards.

Type of Defense: 3-4. The defense that is in vogue for professional football is only used by teams that have a skill set of: a large NT that can take up space and blocks, 2 DEs that can also handle multiple blockers and read blocks to make plays, a couple MLB that can make lots of tackles in the run game, a WLB that can cover all over the field on passing plays, and a SLB that is stout versus the run and can make plays at the LOS. The attractiveness of this defense is the ability to blitz all 11 players in many different ways. On the average play, 1-2 players are blitzing and the offense can never settle into a pattern that is more likely in a 4-3 base defense. A team must have DBs who can cover but aren’t afraid to hit people and break up plays in the backfield on blitzes. 

• Run/Pass %: 82/18
• Run/Pass Attempts: 748/168
• Points Per Game: 30.8
• Points Allowed Per Game: 21.1

Key Returning Players:
• Tim Jefferson, QB: Passed for 1459 yards and 10 TDs to go along with 794 yards rushing and 15 TDs in 2010. Played well in an extensive running attack but could be able to bring up the passing stats somewhat in 2011 and give the Falcons a chance to do even better in 2011.
• Asher Clark, RB: Leading returning rusher for Air Force had 1031 yards and 5 TDs in 2010 to go along with 4 receptions. Splitting carries in the option attack of Air Force will probably keep Clark in the 1000-1200 yard range in 2011.

Key Incoming Freshmen:
• N/A 

Overall Assessment:
Air Force had a 9-4 season that was somewhat deceiving. The only losses in 2010 were to Oklahoma, TCU, Utah, and SDSU, making up four top 25 teams in 2010. Of those 4 losses, 3 were by 5 or fewer points with Air Force having a chance to pull out the win in the 4th quarter. If the Falcons can pull out one or two of those types of wins in 2011, it could be a year that the service academy breaks the top 20 or possibly even the top 15 at season end. The schedule will be far from easy with trips to Navy, Notre Dame, and Boise as well as home games versus TCU, SDSU, and Army. This makes for a challenging schedule that could pay huge dividend if they can handle it. Overall, with the incredibly difficult schedule in front of them, a 9-4 season may be enough to break the top 25 in 2011 and show that this service academy is one of the finest football programs in the nation.