Worthman sometimes makes solid pitch as Falcons’ QB

AIR FORCE ACADEMY» To pitch or not to pitch, that is frequently the question for Air Force quarterbacks.

For Arion Worthman, the answer in a loss at No. 7 Michigan was often to ensure the ball stayed with thine own self.

The junior quarterback kept the ball on 22 of Air Force’s first 33 plays in the 29-13 loss (albeit at least twice on called passing plays that didn’t develop). In many ways, it felt like a replay of the first meaningful action of his career when he carried the ball on 20 of the team’s final 32 snaps after entering in the third quarter and engineering a come-from-behind victory at Fresno State last October.

If that initial appearance at Fresno State represented Worthman’s default setting, it was as if he reverted to it in his seventh career start.

Worthman’s coaches saw no problem with this.

“Part of that was design,” offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Mike Thiessen said. “There were a couple of times where we could have dumped the ball out on a pitch, but he played hard, man. He ran hard. He was running the ball like a Division 1 football player on Saturday. There’s always things you can correct.”

Added coach Troy Calhoun: “He’s been pretty fair, the snaps that he’s had. More than fair, since he’s played quarterback for us.”

Calhoun’s dismissal of the issue, which he did emphatically when asked about in a news conference Tuesday, gave the vibe that the team has no concerns over a quarterback who, until Saturday, has done nothing but win.

Just look at the two games mentioned. In that first appearance, he helped bring the Falcons from four points down in a 31-21 road victory that snapped a three-game losing streak. On Saturday, he (and a stout-inside-the-red-zone defense) helped Air Force hang within one possession in the fourth quarter at the Big House. There’s little doubt this star is fine.

The Falcons are 7-1 in games in which Worthman has started or logged multiple carries. He has averaged 4.6 yards per carry, scored seven touchdowns in those eight games and has a career passing efficiency mark of 201.36 with seven touchdowns and two interceptions.

“Last week I thought I wasn’t as decisive in deciding when to become a runner, when to pitch it,” Worthman said immediately after the loss at Michigan. “So that was definitely an emphasis this week, just make my mind up and go, just play my game and not think too much and just go and react to the play.”