Air Force football pushes sentiment to the side as it preps for Sam Houston State at Houston's NRG Stadium

Once upon a time, Troy Calhoun thought Houston and NRG Stadium would be a longtime home.

“Initially, I was like, there’s no way we want to leave,” said the Air Force coach, reflecting on his 2006 stint in his wife’s hometown as the Houston Texans’ offensive coordinator. “We had Amanda’s family right there, so the kids being able to hang with all their relatives was a pretty cool deal.

“How much they love football there, and the commitment of that organization,” he added. “You just kind of felt, you know what, you can build something and you can win.”

But then his alma mater came calling, hiring Calhoun in 2007. And 17 years later, Calhoun is returning to NRG Stadium, this time bringing the Falcons into town to face the newest member of the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, Sam Houston State, at 6 p.m. Saturday.

“Yeah, that was hard,” Calhoun said. “What was probably, in time, what you realize is the quality of young men, young women who are here at the Air Force Academy and the commitment that they make to go serve is pretty neat, too.”

Asked if returning to his former home will stir up a sense of nostalgia, Calhoun was succinct.

“Not right now. Zero. We’ve got enough on our plate right now just with who we’re going to play,” he said.

There is no shortage of intrigue in this matchup, which was added to the schedule about 18 months ago after New Mexico State shed its independent status and joined Conference USA, meaning it had to drop a home-and-home nonconference series with Air Force.

Playing Sam Houston State – located in Huntsville, Texas but playing this game in Houston – is a chance for the Falcons to visit one of their most fertile recruiting areas. Texas is home to at least 16 current Air Force players, including four from the Houston area.

“It is cool how much hype this game is getting,” said senior free safety Trey Taylor, a native of the Dallas area. “There are a lot of people from the Houston area, and that’s all they’re talking about right now is getting tickets and how excited they are to be home and stuff like that. Not just for me, but the team as a whole, everybody’s really, really excited to get down there.”

It will be Air Force’s fifth game in Texas in the past 23 months, following a two-game series against Army at Globe Life Field, the 2021 First Responder Bowl vs. Louisville and the 2022 Armed Forces Bowl against Baylor. The Falcons dropped the first matchup with Army in overtime, then won the next three.

“We’ve been in Fort Worth, we’ve been in Arlington, we’ve been in Dallas,” Calhoun said. “Now we’ll be in Houston, too. We’d love to be able to do that a bunch, it’s just, for us, it has to be via the non-conference route.”

The Bearkats will make a return trip to Air Force in Sept. 2025.

From a football perspective, this could be a test far more thorough than the current betting line that has Air Force as 13.5-point favorites or what might generally be expected from a program making its debut at the FBS level.

Sam Houston State has long been one of the top FCS teams, winning a national title in 2020 and eight conference titles over the past 22 seasons. The Bearkats redshirted around 20 players last year to prep for the jump, then added transfers. There are 17 transfers from FBS programs on the roster, including those from Power Five programs Arizona, Georgia Tech, Texas, TCU and Washington State.

“We just aren’t talking apples to apples,” Calhoun said of what he views as a talent discrepancy.

Sam Houston State opened at BYU, now a member of the Big 12. A penalty negated a blocked punt returned for a touchdown that would have tied the game 7-7 in the second half, giving an idea of how close the 14-0 BYU victory truly was.

“Watching film on them and watching the BYU game, they look pretty good,” Air Force offensive tackle Adam Karas said. “Their defensive line is pretty stout. They’re big, muscular and very athletic.”

The Bearkats placed four players on the preseason Conference USA watch list – wide receiver Ife Adeyi, offensive lineman Ethan Hagler, defensive lineman Markel Perry and linebacker Kavian Gaither.

This is Air Force’s final tuneup before opening Mountain West play vs. Utah State on Sept. 15. But to say this doesn’t have something special riding on it wouldn’t be accurate, even if the coach is able to brush aside any sentimental feelings that come with a return to Texas.

“I think it is pretty special for all of our Texas players,” Karas said. “It’s all the talk in the locker room right now if anyone has extra tickets.”