It’s time to start respecting the Air Force Falcons

The Air Force Falcons have been one of the Group of 5’s mightiest powers in recent memory. When will they finally get adequate love for it?

The Mountain West Conference has been highly regarded for both its dominance and depth at the Group of 5 level, with some folks (myself included) going as far as to not only call it the best GO5 league today but also to humor its potential as the Pac-12’s successor in the Power 5.

Multiple programs have contributed to the MWC being given such praise over time, with the most recognizable being Fresno State, San Diego State, and the iconic Boise State. There is another, though, that has done more than enough to be placed in that same category of respectability: The Air Force Falcons.

In the several years that have preceded this one, Air Force was rather sporadic in their greater success, always having a winning record within reach, but obtaining just two 10-win seasons in 2014 and 2016. Yet since 2018, the Falcons have established a level of consistency that only the biggest and worst programs can achieve, with every full season they’ve played breaking that same 10-win threshold.

And Air Force has wasted no time in proving that such a standard is still alive and thriving, as the Falcons are currently sitting at 7-0 on this season (a start they haven’t seen since 1997). When combined with the five victories they ended 2022 with, that means that they have an active win streak of 12 games. Those 12 wins have included beating Power 5 competition (30-15 over Baylor), rival military academies (13-7 over Army, 17-6 over Navy), and fellow MWC contenders (34-27 over Wyoming).

So the past has been good and the present is even better, but what about the future? Well, that is yet another piece of this Air Force story that’s worthy of attention, as the likelihood that its winning continues appears to be very high. This can be seen by taking just the slightest of glances at its five remaining foes, where only one, UNLV, sits with a winning record today—and the Rebels will be heading into Colorado Springs.

Now hold on, let’s just make sure we’re all on the same page: The Air Force Falcons play in the toughest GO5 conference, have consistently been one of the top names at that level, are on a colossal win streak, and are in perfect shape to run the table. With that much under the belt, this is surely a bunch that has gotten an appropriate amount of sugar for all of its glory—right? Wrong.

Air Force has hardly gotten an ounce of the props it’s devoted years to earning

Despite their diamond-encrusted circumstances, the Air Force Falcons have gotten virtually no press and are lucky to be a top-20 team today. Why?

To some, that is a question with a simple answer: They haven’t played any Power 5 competition. Why should they get any high-profile recognition if they haven’t beaten any high-profile schools? I’d normally accept such a counterargument, as I can agree that AP voters aren’t going to blindly shower you with love if you’ve done next to nothing to prove the reach of your potential. However, if any Group of 5 team has done that as of late, it’s Air Force.

The last time the Falcons lost to a Power 5 adversary was in 2017 (at Michigan). Since that point, they are 5-0 against opposition from that level. Of those five, three fell to Air Force in bowl games—which shows that they held at least some degree of formidability—and three did so by double-digit margins. If that doesn’t say “we can handle some bigger fish,” I don’t know what does.

Assuming that I’m able to accurately gauge the predictability of Air Force’s doubters a second time, I would bet the rebuttal they’re now giving crutches the fact that those wins are old and therefore hold no relevance in how the Falcons are being treated in this week’s rankings. Again, I’m not beyond humoring that kind of stance. But, why should I be expected to consistently practice that mindset when the voters themselves don’t?

Think about it: Especially when it comes to bluebloods such as Alabama or Texas, haven’t you ever viewed a team’s ranking and felt that it may have stemmed more from what the team’s done before/what it could go on to do than what it had actually done in that particular time frame? Heck, isn’t it that exact type of stuff that the AP Preseason Poll is crafted around almost solely?

If voters can do that with any team they want at any time they want, I can do it with the Air Force Falcons just this once. When they’re the Group of 5 squad of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, that’s the least they deserve.