Following Air Force’s 28-27 win over Wyoming last Saturday, Cowboys coach Dave Christensen accused Air Force quarterback Connor Dietz during a post-game press conference of faking a head injury after losing his helmet during a play so that the Falcons could get an injury timeout. College football’s new helmet rule states that players who lose their helmets must sit out one play before returning.
Later, Christensen issued a public apology to Air Force and coach Troy Calhoun, who he apparently had some choice words for after the game.
“I want to apologize to Wyoming fans, the Mountain West Conference and the game of college football for my actions and for the comments that I made after our game against Air Force,” Christensen said. “I let my emotions, my passion for our football program and the frustrations of the first half of the season get the best of me, and my actions reflected negatively on our program.”
The apology seemed a bit unnecessary and not newsworthy at the time. Football is an emotional game and it wouldn’t have been the first time two coaches had some words to say to each other after the final whistle.
Then a video of the skirmish surfaced, and by skirmish, I mean Christensen losing his freaking mind. Because of the very NSFW language coming out of Christensen’s mouth, we can only link to the video HERE.
It’s one thing to exchange unpleasantries or drop a single “Felix Unger” after the game and move on -- what TV viewers and game attendees experience is an extremely filtered version of what’s said on a football field -- but it’s another to lose it entirely, and that’s what Christensen did. It’s not clear if the Mountain West is already aware of the video or not, but more than an apology is necessary here.
When you add in that Wyoming is 1-5 on the season, and I would venture to guess that played a role in Christensen blowing his lid, it will probably take five wins in the next six games for this matter to be considered over... and for Christensen to keep his job (although,"go do your f------- press conference, Flyboy” was pretty spectacular, and on Military Appreciation Day no less).