Air Force defeats Utah 20-12

SALT LAKE CITY -- For the past three years, Air Force football seasons have been defined by maddening losses in which the Falcons did enough to stay close but too little to win.

On Saturday, Air Force provided evidence that this year could be different.

Before an announced crowd of 43,454 at Rice-Eccles Stadium, the Falcons defeated Utah, 20-12, by making big plays at crucial moments. The last two came with less than two minutes to play when the defense stuffed the Utes on consecutive plays from the 1-yard line. Air Force then ran out the clock to seal its first victory over Utah since 2002, improve to 2-0 and 1-0 in the Mountain West Conference and finally come through in the kind of situation where it consistently had fallen short recently.

The Utes, who were considered a conference title contender in the preseason, fell to 0-2 and 0-1.

“You get right in a fight, and to pull one out, especially the way it happened with the stand there at the end, it can only be a boost for the rest of our season,” coach Troy Calhoun said.

Air Force led 20-12 after kicker Ryan Harrison booted a 31-yard field goal with 3:11 to play. But Utah drove from its 20-yard line to the Falcons’ 1-yard line in 10 plays and seemed poised to score and send the game to overtime with a 2-point conversion.

Air Force’s Aaron Shanor and Reggie Rembert combined to stop Eddie Wide on third-and-goal. And, on fourth-and-goal, Air Force linebacker Drew Fowler burst through a gap to corral Utah’s Darryl Poston, and the Falcons’ Hunter Altman finished the tackle by hitting Poston high.

“Fourth and a few inches, it was almost like it was in slow motion,” Altman said. “I saw Drew hit the guy straight up, so I just came in high, like you see on TV sometimes. Great goal-line stand.”

In addition to that stand, the defense picked off two passes, limited Utah to 73 yards on the ground and, after Utah closed within 17-12 with 6:24 to play, stuffed the Utes’ 2-point conversion attempt.

On offense, the Falcons relied on an old friend — the triple-option. Air Force ran the ball 63 times and rolled up 334 yards on the ground in large part thanks to the play former coach Fisher DeBerry made famous at the academy.

Air Force drove 53 yards for a touchdown on its first possession of the second half to go up 10-3, using only running plays. After Utah cut the lead to 10-6, the Falcons took advantage of a Chris Thomas interception, going 64 yards on three rushes to take a 17-6 lead. When the Utes closed to 17-12 with a 34-yard touchdown pass from Tommy Grady to Derrek Richards, Air Force responded with a 51-yard drive, again all on the ground, to set up Harrison’s field goal.

From there, it was left to the defense.

“This senior class, that’s all we’ve had is close losses our whole time at the academy,” Fowler said. “Plays that we have been missing, we had tonight. It was fun.”