DENVER — Respect.
Mel Tucker’s already earned his from the most accomplished college football coach in the state, Air Force’s Troy Calhoun.
While not everyone saw this kind of a start from the Buffs under their rookie head coach, Calhoun, one of the smartest men in the sport, had prognosticated a drastic turnaround for Colorado under their new head coach.
“They are incredibly talented,” Calhoun told BSN Denver back in late August. “You look last year and there were only a half dozen teams that start off 5-0 in the country, are ranked 17th in the country, and return pretty much every one of those key components. A really, really capable football team, outstanding quarterback, unbelievable at the skill spots, especially wide receiver, and a good group up front on both sides of the ball.”
The talent, as Calhoun put it, is all there for the Buffs to bounce back from a rough 5-7 2018 season, when the Black & Gold never won again after their hot start.
“Certainly, Mel will do a tremendous job, especially on the defensive side of the football. They’re gonna be excellent and I think probably the only thing I think you can compare them to would be—you may have to go back to 1993 Auburn when they had a change there. When Terry Bowden and his first year there at Auburn with the talent that he inherited that year. They’ll be darn good, and we know that.”
The Bowden comparison is notable as he inherited a Tigers program facing NCAA sanctions and coming off a 5-5-1 year. After Bowden arrived, Auburn finished fourth in the AP rankings and went undefeated (11-0). Bowden went on to win 37 games in the four years following his first season, marking one the great turnarounds of the last 30 years in college football.
As Tucker’s legend has built over the past two weeks, with masterful half-time adjustments outscoring opponents 62-24 in the second half of the first two games, Calhoun always knew how good Mel could be with these up-and-coming Buffs.
That respect and positive forecast are just two reasons why the Air Force staff was preparing for Tucker’s defense all the way back in June.
“We’ve gone back a long time,” explained the former Gary Kubiak protégé on the process of getting familiarized with Tucker’s defense. “So, not only Georgia but also Alabama. We think he requires that kind of exhaustive, and probably more so extensive, kind of preparation.”
While the Falcons triple-option will present plenty of issues for Colorado’s new-look defense, Calhoun conceded that while Mel’s scheme starts up front with a stout and aggressive group, the real genius is on the backend.
“The various ways that they support out of the secondary,” Troy explained about what defines Tucker’s defensive scheme. “Extremely well-coached, when he was at Alabama and when he was at Miami. You can go back everywhere Mel’s been, they have been — I mean Ohio State, you pick it — has been a part of just great, great defenses.”
Tucker’s pedigree and experience combined with a hungry group that underachieved a year ago are already making Calhoun looking prophetic.
The only thing that can ruin his lofty prediction is Colorado overlooking his Falcons in Week 3, which will require an uptick in performance from that highly-touted defense.
In particular, the Buffs linebackers have been picked on in the first two games and will be tested against the triple option that few CU defenders have faced before as collegians.
It’ll take more than pedigree or talent to beat Air Force’s offense which is a product of creativity and will stress discipline and persistence—all principals that Calhoun’s offense is built around.
While Tucker’s scheme can match Calhoun’s complex offense, matching the Falcons’ discipline and persistence will be key, as CU must give the same respect to Air Force that their coach has given them.
If they don’t, the prediction from one of the smartest men in college football could all fall apart.
