No. 18 Utah Looks To Become Bowl Eligible With A Win Over Air Force

by Michael Rueckert on Oct 22, 2009 6:26 PM PDT in Mountain West Football

Saturday, Oct 24, 2009, 1:00 PM PDT
Rice-Eccles Stadium

TV: Versus HD

No. 18 Utah is looking for their sixth win of the season Saturday to become bowl eligible as they face the Air Force Falcons. The Utes, however, have much bigger goals than making a bowl game. The (5-1) Utes are trying to climb the BCS standings to keep any hopes of returning to the BCS alive. They will face a very tough challenge in the (4-3) Air Force Falcons.

Air Force always plays Utah tough; Always. Last season the Falcons gave the undefeated Utes one of their biggest scares of the season. The Utes had to come from behind to beat the Falcons by seven in Falcon Stadium. In 2007, Air Force beat the Utes 24-14 in Rice-Eccles Stadium. In 2006, the Utes won another close game beating the Falcons by only three points. Need I say more? This is always a good, close game. Air Force matches up very well with Utah.

Don’t let the (4-3) record for Air Force fool you. All three of their losses have been by seven points or less, including a tough three point loss to TCU. Their other two losses have come on the road. They lost by seven to Minnesota and suffered a three point loss in overtime to Navy. They are coming off one of their best performances of the season holding Wyoming scoreless beating them 10-0.

Everyone knows Air Force loves to run the ball. They are ranked fourth in the nation averaging 279.3 yards per game on the ground. The Falcons run the triple-option to perfection. Jared Tew leads Air Force with 422 rushing yards on the season for 4 touchdowns. Savier Stevens is also very productive on the ground, with 359 rushing yards on the ground as well. They love to run a lot of misdirection plays to keep the defense guessing.

Unfortunately for Air Force, Utah can stop the run. Utah currently ranks 26^th in the nation in total team defense allowing 306.7 yards per game. Last season the Utes held the Falcons to just 53 yards of rushing. Kyle Whittingham is great at devising defensive schemes to stop the Air Force attack. The Utes must execute and play all four quarters to beat a tough Falcon team that does not quit. Air Force is very tough and disciplined. Kyle Whittingham said the Utes must stay "assignment sound" on defense:

"When you prepare for the Air Force you think assignment football; that’s the first thing that comes to mind. We call it one eleventh defense where everyone on the field has their one job that they need to take care of, everyone do their one eleventh. If there are any breakdowns in that there is a potential big play. You have to match their discipline and toughness."

This Air Force team also has a very tough defense. They rank seventh in the nation in scoring defense, only allowing 11.9 points per game and fourth in passing defense allowing just 139.1 yards per game. They could pose a serious threat to quarterback Terrance Cain if he does not stay calm. Eddie Wide should continue to rush on limited carries likely staying around 18 rushes in this contest.

Utah has struggled all season long with completing drives. They must march down the field and score points on this tough Air Force defense. Utah is hoping that their crowd can get behind them and help their team execute and finish. They will face a tough defense similar to what they faced in Oregon. The Utes struggled moving the ball on the Ducks and may have difficulties with the Falcons.

The Utes will be playing this game without safety Joe Dale. The timing of this injury hurts the Utes because Dale is a good tackler which is very important for stopping the Falcons rushing attack. Justin Taplin-Ross will likely be Dale’s replacement. Taplin-Ross is a talented safety but a bit inexperienced. The Utes should be affected too much with the injury.

The Utes should win this one and improve to (6-1) on the season, but it will be not be easy by any means. They must execute and play a four tough quarters to beat this pesky Falcons team.

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the point spread started at 10.5. i took airforce and so did alot of other people

it’s down to 8.5 points. your right when you say the game’s are always close. if i remember correctly there have been two overtime games between them since the mwc has formed. i like utah to win by a score of 24 -17. tcu would have scored 34 points but they had to play along with air force in a game that had the worst weather conditions so far this year. airforce is giving around 11.7 points a game. i don’t even have to look up all there past years to say that is their best scoring defense ever at this point. peace.

by wolfmanshowlforever on Oct 22, 2009 6:53 PM PDT reply actions

Air Force actually leads the all time series against the utes

but the Utes have won 5 of the last 6

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by Michael Rueckert on Oct 22, 2009 7:27 PM PDT up reply actions

Always close

Even in 2004 when the Utes were crushing everyone the game was only a 14 point difference.

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by Jeremy Mauss on Oct 22, 2009 7:09 PM PDT reply actions

The big difference in this one should be Rice-Eccles Stadium

If this one were on the road I would be very worried.

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by Michael Rueckert on Oct 22, 2009 8:10 PM PDT up reply actions

Not only that, but the 2004 Air Force game was the only game where Utah trailed more than once.

Air Force has always given Utah trouble. 2007 springs immediately to mind, but even the wins are always gut-wrenching (particularly 2005, 38-35; and 2006, 17-14, both won by late Sakoda field goals).

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by displacedute on Oct 22, 2009 8:43 PM PDT up reply actions

i'll give you a statistic ute fans will like. there are only two teams in ncaa college football history can say

only twice in the last 40 years has a team won every game by at least 14 points or more. 2004 utes were one. if you remeber that game correctly if the utah cb or safety did not get injured they would have won by 21 points. utah was forced to take a timeout. airforce scored a td on one of the last plays of the game to make it a 14 point difference. the other team was one of tom osbourne’s nebraska’s teams that did the same thing. not sure of the year though. as for that airforce game. if the utah player did not get hurt the utes would have been the only team to win by more than 17 points in every game. i know i’m close to the facts but i’m remembering them off the top of my head. also, utah is the only college football and bsketball program to have the #1 pick in the nfl and nba. who are they? off the top of your heads only. no checking.lol

by wolfmanshowlforever on Oct 22, 2009 11:02 PM PDT up reply actions

This is going to be another close one..

I got the following we are in for a heck of a football game. All Kyle has to do motivate the players is remind them the loss Air Force put on us in 2007. This team always plays us tough, we better be ready for this one.

by utahmanami on Oct 23, 2009 1:46 AM PDT reply actions