BT,
You might be right if the opposition was kind enough to give you warning and 6 months to deploy before kick off. But as they have concentration of force already in the area it might make deploying a bit problematic if they kicked off before telling you when the game was supposed to start.
It is no secret that the small Raptor buy and the maintenance of air superiority is a big headache in the Pentagon. In many ways it was a very arrogant decision to cut the F-22 buy. Certainly a lot is now riding on how well the F-35 works in air-air. No doubt it is a big gamble and the die cast for at least a couple of decades.
On the other hand, how well the F-35 works as a CAS platform will not have much sway on who gets on the winners podium.