Mountain West Football: 12 most important 2017 non-conference games

For Air Force, there is nothing quite like the two battles against the other service academies. The Falcons have taken the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy two of the past three years. The games against Navy and Army, therefore, have their own significance. But that significance falls largely outside of what is more important for the Falcons on a national level.

Instead, the September 16 trip to Ann Arbor will have its own weight for Air Force. Both previous trips to the Big House ended in defeat for the Falcons. The first was a 17-point loss in 1964; the more recent was a two-touchdown defeat five years ago. None of the players were around for that contest, making this another clean slate for the two teams.

For Troy Calhoun’s squad, this game comes at a time when Michigan could regress from last year’s 10-win results. A lot of the veteran roster from 2016 is now gone from the Wolverines, and Air Force could catch them at the right time. At the very least, they have a real opportunity to at least keep it within a single score.