GBK’s 2018 Preview: Air Force Special Teams and Miscellaneous Statistics

In our first two preview articles we took an in-depth view of the Air Force offense and defense. We conclude the series with a quick look at special teams and a look at some significant statistical comparisons that we didn’t present in the previous articles.

Air Force lost its All-MWC place kicker, Luke Strebel, to graduation, but their starting punter from last season did return to start the 2018 season.

AF Junior Jake Koehkhe has taken over for Strebel as the primary place kicker and has converted 5 of his 7 field goal attempts and all 20 of his PAT attempts this season. Koenkhe’s longest field goal is 43 yards and he had one blocked kick in the Utah State game. He has handled the punting for Air Force in the last three games, punting 8 times with an average of 42.4 yards per punt and a career long of 52 yards. He has kicked off 34 times with an average of 61 yards per kickoff.

AF Senior Matt Philiche saw action in the opening game against Stoney Brook where he converted 1 of 2 field goal attempts, but he has not been called upon to kick since.

AF Junior Charlie Scott was the Air Force punter in 2017 and handled the punting duties in the first 6 games of 2018, but has not punted since. Scott has 26 punts for 1013 yards with a long of 51.

Jeff Monken started the season with Landon Salyers kicking field goals and PATs, but replaced him with senior John Abercrombie after Salyers converted only 1 of 4 FG attempts. Abercrombie is a perfect 5 of 5 in field goals with a long of 37 yards and he is 20 of 20 on PATs.

Monken uses two different punters depending on the situation. Junior Zack Potter handles short punts while Nick Schrage does the punting when the Black Knights are deeper in their own territory. Knowing how much Monken hates to punt, it should come as no surprise that Army has punted the ball only 23 times this season. Schrage was averaging nearly 50 yards per kick before last week’s game with EMU; but after those two anemic punts, his average is down to 45.5 yards with a season long of 61.

It would appear that Troy Calhoun has taken advantage of the new kickoff rule, although not quite as much as Jeff Monken. The Black Knights have returned just 5 kickoffs for 56 yards, while the Falcons have returned 8 kickoffs for 176 yards. Air Force has returned more punts than Army West Point with 9 returns for 107 yards compared to Army’s 5 returns for 74 yards.

AF Sophomore tailback Joseph Saucier has returned 3 kickoffs for a total of 95 yards, including 1 return for 66 yard.

AF Senior Ron Cleveland started the season as the Falcon punt return specialist and had 8 returns for 83 yards before he was sidelined by injuries. His replacement, senior Garrett Kaupilla has 1 punt return for 19 yards.

Kell Walker handles most of the kickoff returns for the Black Knights and has returned just 3 kickoffs for 38 yards this season. Taking the fair catch has provided Army better starting field position most of the season.

Senior Mike Reynolds returned punts for Army West Point the first 7 games and had 4 returns for 66 yards. Sophomore Elijah Riley returned punts against EMU and had 1 return for 8 yards.

Turnovers

Army West Point has fumbled the ball 6 times this season, but has recovered 4 of its 6 fumbles. Army’s opponents have fumbled the ball 8 times and Army has recovered all 8.

By contrast, Air Force has fumbled the ball 10 times and lost it 7 of those times. AFA’s opponents have fumbled 9 times and lost the ball 5 of those times.

Air Force quarterbacks have been intercepted just twice this season, while Kelvin Hopkins has been intercepted 3 times.

The AF defense has 4 interceptions to Army West Point’s 2 this season.

Army West Point is +5 in turnovers, while Air Force has lost as many turnovers as they have gained.

Red Zone Offense

Air Force has scored 29 of 31 times they’ve reached the red zone. 24 of those times they scored a touchdown, and they settled for a field goal 5 times.

Army West Point has scored 28 of 32 times they’ve reached the red zone. 22 times they scored a touchdown, and 6 times they’ve settled for a field goal (3 of those in the last game against EMU)

Strength of Schedule

Air Force Opponents played to date have a combined record of 37 wins and 29 losses and Army West Point opponents have an identical combined record of 37 wins and 29 losses.

Air Force opponents have an average Sagarin rank of 89.375 while Army West Point opponents have an average Sagarin rank of 86.625.

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