Tues 9-13-11

Word out of the Academy is the Falcons lose two starters following the loss to TCU. Ryan Gardner is out with a knee injury, and LB Patrick Hennessey is lost with a broken bone in his thumb. Both could be gone 8-10 weeks. This is a huge blow to this football team. I thought the Falcons rush defense was really hurt last year when Garnder missed several games with injury. Cody Miller and Nick Dejulio will see more time on the defensive line. Hennessey has been a stalwart at LB but has had injury problems throughout his career. Sounds like Jamil Cooks will slide over to replace him, which gets both Cooks and Alex Means on the field at the same time......I am not a big fan of Air Force playing Football Championship Subdivision opponents. I understand why its done but I disagree with it. I don't think it does anything to help you get ready for a bigger faster stronger D-1 team the following week. And so here we go again., with Air Force slated to play Tennessee State September 24th, followed by Navy Oct 1st. If you beat Navy then the Tennessee State game means nothing. But if you lose to the Midshipmen and somehow Tennessee State pulls the upset, it would leave the Falcons answering a lot of questions......It is a long football season, and there's no reason to panic after 2 games and 1 loss. But the season could have started under better circumstances.