Air Force waited for its offense to spring to life.
It never did.
The Falcons lost 17-7 to San Jose State in front of 22,478 on Saturday at Falcon Stadium as they generated just 197 yards, went 3 for 16 on third down and, for the second straight week, failed to generate the kind of ground attack that has long been the team’s strength.
“It’s at every place,” coach Troy Calhoun said. “It’s not only a back or a receiver or upfront. It’s coaching. It’s all of us.”
The struggles on offense stand out as most glaring.
The Falcons averaged just 3.1 yards on 46 rushing attempts as they opened the Mountain West schedule. They had just two drives in the game with more than one first down and quarterback John Busha completed just 7 of 20 attempts.
The only points for Air Force (1-1, 0-1 Mountain West) came on a 14-yard drive, set up by an interception from Jerome Gaillard Jr. And even that short drive required a fourth-down conversion.
“I think we’ve just got to do a better job overall,” said Cade Harris, who scored the team’s lone touchdown on a 6-yard fourth-down run and led the Falcons with 50 rushing yards on eight carries. “We’re just a block short or an assignment short of making a big play. We’ve just got to trust the process and keep it rolling and trust ourselves, and just get this thing going.”