2006 Week 12

The Falcons kept right on rolling this Saturday, beating a ranked opponent at home for the second consecutive week, and causing a surge in their recruiting efforts. There would be no let down a week after upsetting top ranked Notre Dame, as the Falcons continued to use their more conservative defensive game plan combined with a ball control offense to topple Utah 30-7.

With Carney running the ball as well as ever, the Falcon offense doubled that of their counterpart, and Carney rushed for the first three scores of the game. After his third TD run, one of the few bright spots in the game for Utah took place when Paul Soliai blocked Zach Sasser's extra point attempt. The Utes would score their only touchdown of the game three minutes later, but it wouldn't be enough to stop the Falcon team that seems to have found a new groove on the season, and the Falcons would go on to close out another big victory.

After the game, coach Hemmen attributed much of his team's recent success to a change in philosophy on both sides of the ball. He described that the defense was playing much more Cover 3 with fewer blitzes, lead to fewer long pass plays. The pressure was on the defensive line to cause disruption in the backfield, and despite few sacks, they were causing opposing quarterbacks to adjust and try to pass into coverage. On offense, Hemmen described a switch from "pass to set up the run" to "run to set up the pass." "When we control the clock and don't make mistakes, we keep our defense rested and we win games," Hemmen said. Who could argue, after Air Force offered up their second convincing win over a ranked opponent in as many weeks?

The Falcons now go on the road to close out the season, facing 2-loss UNLV and 1-loss TCU. Time will tell if this new Falcon philosophy continues to soar.

[video] - Gilberto Perez comes up with a sack thanks to good coverage in the secondary.
[video] - In what's becoming a regular occurrence, the Falcons force a fumble after a kick is fielded, setting up great field position for the offense.
[video] - Shaun Carney finds Victor Thompson for a long pass deep into the redzone, but he fumbles it away after the defense hits him.
[video] - Sasser's extra point attempt is blocked.
[video] - The Falcons recover their 3rd fumble of the day.