Army Defeats Air Force; Falcons Eliminated From Commander-In-Chief Trophy
The 21-0 final score was not as close as it seemed.
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Quite a few streaks ended for Air Force in this Army loss.
Air Force had dominated the all-time series against Army with a 36–14-1 and the Falcons had won 18 of 21 heading into Saturday’s game. The Black Knights came into Colorado Springs already bowl eligible and had its eyes set on positioning itself for the Commander-In-Chief trophy.
Army were the victors by topping Air Force 21-0, but the final score was not as close for those who did not view this game. The Falcons offense has stifled in this game and rushed for only 95 yards on the game and just 3.1 yards per game.
The last time Air Force was held to fewer than 100 total yards rushing was back in 2008 when they fell to Utah 30-23 and had just 53 yards and that is a span of 121 games.
Army has also historically held Air Force in check on the ground with five times holding the Falcons under 160 yards dating back to 2008.
Another streak that came to an end was Air Force’s shutout streak which spanned 306 games. The last time the Falcons were held scoreless was 25 years ago in the 1992 Liberty Bowl when Ole Miss won 13-0.
Nov. 1, 1980 was the last time Air Force was shutout at home when it fell to Boston College, 23-0.
As expected the amount of possessions were limited in this game with just seven for Army and six for Air Force. The Black Knights had three drives over seven minutes each with a long of 10:42 and that did not even result in any points.
The Falcons did not have any three-and-outs but were unable to move the ball consistently. One unique drive was one that was nine plays that only netted nine yards.
The Army defense was all over Arion Worthman in his game as he was sacked three times and officially hurried two more times. The Black Knights had 5.5 tackles for loss and held that Falcons rushing attack to not just 95 yards but only 2.8 yards per rush. All of those negative plays added up to 50 total lost yards for Air Force.
The passing game was used more than usual as Worthman was 6 of 11 for 95 yards but it did not matter as there were a few over throws and Air Force did not have any deep passes in this game, the longest pass was a 19 yard competition to Ronald Cleveland.
This loss eliminates Air Force from winning the Commander-in-Chief trophy as they lost to Navy earlier in the year, and getting to a bowl game just got a little bit harder. Air Force is 4-5 and have three games left where they host Wyoming, travel to Boise State and then end the season at home against Utah State.