‘A win is a win’: Air Force breaks in 16 starters and survives opening test from FCS Merrimack | Sports Coverage [Video]

On the day Air Force introduced a new topping on Falcon Stadium’s east side, it turned in the most vanilla of performances.

Content to stay almost exclusively between the tackles as they broke in a new offensive line and backfield, the Falcons found little but hard yards as they survived 21-6 against Merrimack, an FCS program coming off a 5-6 season, in front of 31,658 on Saturday.

“There’s a lot to learn in this offense,” said quarterback John Busha, who completed 6-of-14 passes for 71 yards and ran nine times for 37 yards in his first start. “I think, with time, we’ll definitely play a lot better.

“A win is a win, so we’ve just got to move on to next week.”

This was the first game played at Falcon Stadium with a completed Kucera Legacy Center on the stadium’s east side, a $95 million project.