Introducing Chad Hall and the Air Force Falcons

by CW on Nov 9, 2007 12:08 PM EST in Notre Dame Football Comment 0 comments

Armando Allen went off for 226 all-purpose yards against Navy Saturday, but Air Force's Chad Hall one-upped him against Army, springing for a Falcon record 333 yards as returner, running back (275 rushing) and receiver. USA Today, in an attempt to strike fear into the hearts of Notre Dame fans everywhere, previewed Hall earlier this week.

The senior jack-of-all trades could line up at wide receiver, slot receiver, tailback or quarterback. He handles reverses, options, slant patterns and returns with ease.

Hall is the only Division I-A player leading his team in rushing, receiving and all-purpose yards and is a major reason Air Force brings a 7-3 record into South Bend, Ind.

"He's a kid who certainly isn't tall (5-8), isn't a big kid weight-wise (180 pounds) and doesn't have breakaway speed," says first-year Falcons coach Troy Calhoun. "But he has quickness and good hands and gives us someone with a little electricity, someone who can make the other guys miss in the open field."

Hall is averaging 112 rushing yards with 12 touchdowns in an offense that ranks fourth in rushing at 273 yards a game. He has 426 receiving yards and another score and averages 13.5 yards on punt returns and 21.4 yards on kickoffs.

Fisher DeBerry is gone, and Air Force is running a spread, which may or may not bode well for the Irish defenders. Purdue went spread against Notre Dame, and alternated between startling efficiency in their destruction (first half) and failure (most of the second half). The Academy's record is 7-3 this season, with all of their losses being respectable (a blowout loss to BYU, eleven point loss to the Midshipmen and a 3 point loss at New Mexico) with some decent wins mixed in (defeated Cavalier-slaying Wyoming, Utah, UCLA-upsetting UNLV and TCU).

Calhoun returned to the Academy after three years as an assistant with the Denver Broncos and a year as the Houston Texans' offensive coordinator. He tabled the Falcons' option offense and went to a spread attack with the flexibility to move the "z-back" at will. That was fine with Hall.

"It's a great position. I line up in the slot and get to do a ton of different things," he says. "It gives me a lot of opportunities to get the ball in open space."

Although the style of attack will be different, the methodology will be very similar to what Notre Dame saw against Navy: Run run run, be efficient when you throw. The Falcons have the 4th best rushing offense in the nation, led by Hall, rolling out 273 yards a game. Their overall passing offense is a scant 118th, but a lot like the Midshipmen, they're good when they do throw, coming in at 38th in their efficiency rating.

Another number that jumps off the page is their scoring defense, 19th best in the nation. They gave up some points to Navy and BYU, but managed to suffocate a lot of their other opposition.

Although Notre Dame is 1-8 and just lost to Navy for the first time in 43 years, Calhoun considers the Irish a team loaded with future NFL players who will be in a foul mood come Saturday. Hall is looking forward to the challenge.

"We've tried to make it a normal week, doing the same stuff, but I've never been to South Bend," Hall says. "This game is one we've all been looking forward to."

Great, so Hall's ready to make a nice little splash on the national stage via Notre Dame Stadium. If anyone is capable of turning a 5' 8" white guy into a hero, it's the Fighting Irish. Granted, Corwin Brown managed to contain Navy's wunderkind, Reggie Campbell, until the final overtime session, so perhaps he can institute a similar gameplan versus Hall.

We'll have to approach this game with the same ideology as the Navy one: get up early and force them to play catch up, only don't run fake field goals on 4th and 15 and maybe kick 41-yard field goals at the end of regulation when we have a chance to win. Sigh.

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