Familiarity has not bred contempt between longtime foes Troy Calhoun and Ken Niumatalolo.

The pair have squared off as head coaches in all but one season since 2007, but the competition stays confined to the football field.

“Now, for about 60 minutes there, I mean, you want to ram into each other’s head about as hard as you possibly can,” Calhoun said.

But before and after the whistles blow?

“We have enormous respect,” Calhoun said. “Tremendous football coach and by and large his guys know the commitment he makes to help them as human beings in addition to being really, really good players and good teams.

“He’s always been really, really strong that way in terms of building units.”

For Niumatalolo, in his second season at San Jose State, this Saturday will mark the 35^th meeting against Air Force in the past 36 years as a player, assistant or head coach, including stints at Hawaii and UNLV.

But it was at Navy, where he was an assistant before taking over the same year Calhoun took the job at Air Force, that Niumatalolo began a longtime stint as an archrival.

None of that morphed into animosity.

“It takes a special person to serve in the military,” Niumatalolo said on Tuesday, noting that Calhoun and many of his assistants are Air Force graduates.

Niumatalolo didn’t stop at calling Calhoun “one of the best coaches in the country,” but he praised in detail the work of offensive coordinator Mike Thiessen and defensive coordinator Brian Knorr.

The style of football Niumatalolo is running for a San Jose State (3-5, 2-2 Mountain West) team that leads the nation in passing couldn’t be further away on the offensive spectrum from the triple-option he oversaw at Navy. But the coach knows there will be certain aspects that translate all the same when he’s facing the Falcons (2-6, 1-4), even as they are making their way through a trying season.

“If there’s anything I know about the United States Air Force Academy,” the longtime nemesis said, “they’re going to fight.”