Air Force and the Mountain West Conference

Last week head football coach Troy Calhoun made some remarks questioning the continued membership of the Air Force Falcons and their membership in the Mountain West Conference.  From reading the article above, it seems that Calhoun is concerned about travel (away game at Hawai'i) and possibly the level of competition.  Regarding travel, I don't have much to say.  Regarding the level of competition, here are a few observations.

First, let's look at all of the teams (like Air Force) that have been members of the Mountain West Conference since the 2008 season.  Below is a graph of those teams total production ranking using  the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model and the aggregate data provided from www.cfbstats.com.  As you can see below, other than San Diego State, Air Force has been one of the more productive teams among Mountain West Conference members with longevity.

But, there have been a number of teams that have been added as members since 2008.  Looking at those teams below shows that Air Force has not performed as well overall.  These numbers also come from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model and the aggregate data provided from www.cfbstats.com.

One last thing to keep in mind.  Currently Army is a football independent and now has a relationship with CBS Sports in which many of the Army games are now televised.  It is possible that Calhoun thinks that following Army to be independent is better for Air Force.  I think this is what Calhoun is thinking, but I do not know any "inside" information - so its just a guess on my part.