Memorable Moments: Last Flight with the Falcons

After nearly 70 years, the Colorado State Rams will take on the Air Force Falcons for what could be the last time in many years. The 2025 game marks the end of an era as CSU moves to the Pac-12 Conference and Air Force will remain in the Mountain West for the foreseeable future. On Friday, a post-Thanksgiving Day game at Canvas Stadium will see these two long-time rivals match up to play for the Ram-Falcon Trophy.

The first time these two schools met on the football field occurred on Nov. 30, 1957, at the University of Denver Stadium and the Rams came out winners 20-7. Air Force was the newest military academy, established in 1954 and the campus we know today was under construction in Colorado Springs until 1958. Lowry Air Force Base in Denver served as the temporary home of the Air Force Academy from 1955 to 1958, until the current campus opened. The Falcons played home football games at DU Stadium from 1955 until the privately funded Falcon Stadium opened in 1962.

Air Force played as an independent school until 1979, but CSU played their in-state rivals whether in the Skyline Conference, as independents or in the WAC. CSU played the Falcons 18 times from 1957 to 1979, with Air Force dominating the series 11-6-1 over the course of 23 seasons. However, that did not mean the games these two schools played in were not memorable.

While CSU only beat Air Force one time in Denver, they were honored to play the first game at Falcon Stadium when it opened in 1962. The newest and most state-of-the art football stadium in Colorado at the time outshined any sporting venue in the state. The Rams lost big, 34-0 in what was also Rams coach Mike Lude's first game as CSU's mentor.

The Falcons continued to dominate the Rams in 1963 and 1964, not playing them in 1965. All games had been road games for the Rams, so in 1966, Lude knew he had his best team on the field and beat the Falcons 41-21 in a stunning upset victory in Colorado Springs. That game set the stage for the best CSU team of the 1960s to go 7-3 on the season. The only tied game in the rivalry occurred in 1967.

In 1968, the Falcons finally made their first trip to Fort Collins to help open Hughes Stadium during its inaugural season. While they were not the first team to play at the new venue, the Falcons were invited to play at the dedication game, officially naming the stadium Hughes Stadium in honor of the great Aggie head coach Harry Hughes. That game was also a colossal loss, 31-0.

From 1969 to 1972, CSU football continued to falter, and Falcons football was on the rise, ranked in the national polls in each game the two played during that time. Then, the tables reversed, and coach Sark Arslanian came to CSU with a winning attitude, beating the Falcons in 1975, 1976, 1978 and 1979 to begin one of the longest win streaks against Air Force.

In 1980, the longtime rivalry took a new twist as Air Force finally joined an athletic conference, joining the Western Athletic Conference with CSU. At the time it was decided that since the two schools would now play one another every year, a traveling trophy should be made to go along with the Bronze Boot for the Wyoming rivalry. The Ram-Falcon Trophy depicts a Ram and Falcon carved in wood facing off against one another.

The 1980 season opener for both teams was also the first WAC game played by the Falcons on Sept. 6. A hot and sunny day at Hughes Stadium greeted both teams and Arslanian had a trick up his sleeve. In a 2007 interview with Arslanian, he stated, "I knew it was going to be hot, so I declared ahead of time that the Rams would wear their road white jerseys, forcing the Falcons to wear their dark blue jerseys in the heat." Whether that paid off or not, the Rams beat the Falcons in their first conference game 21-9.

CSU sank into the doldrums of college football in the 1980s and the Rams only won one more game against Air Force during the decade. By 1990, the best years of the rivalry began when coach Earle Bruce's Rams beat the Falcons in the season opener to begin the most exciting 16 years of the series.

It was not until Sonny Lubick arrived when the Ram-Falcon rivalry really kicked in, Lubick beating Air Force in 1993 for his first win as CSU's new head coach and then a thriller in Colorado Springs in 1994. From 1992 to 1996 the Rams won all five games against the Falcons and were WAC champions two times, but no game in the rivalry can stand up to the 1996 comeback of the ages.

On a cold November night at Falcon Stadium the Rams had fallen behind 41-14 in the third quarter and many fans contemplated leaving early. CSU then went on a tear, scoring 28 unanswered points, including a fingertip diving catch in the endzone by Jeremy Calhoun to tie the game with little time left on the clock. After a celebration penalty, CSU kicker Matt McDougal kicked a long extra point to win the game 42-41, the difference being a missed extra point by Air Force. It still ranks as one of the greatest road comebacks in school history.

During Lubick's tenure as coach, he and Falcons coach Fisher DeBerry battled it out in 15 games, with Lubick ending up with a 9-6 record, the best any Rams head coach has ever posted against the Falcons. From that point forward, the rivalry became one-sided, with CSU only winning three games since Lubick's departure, the last time in 2024 at Falcon Stadium.

While this rivalry has not seen the same excitement as a CU or Wyoming rivalry, the Rams and Falcons have seen their share of great football between the two schools. There are no plans for the schools to face off again in the future, the winner of the 2025 game will hold onto the Ram-Falcon trophy, conceivably forever.

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