Colorado State Throttled By Air Force, 42-21

On Friday afternoon, the Air Force Falcons walked into Canvas Stadium to face their rivals, the Colorado State Rams, in their final scheduled matchup of an in-state rivalry that has taken place near-annually since 1957.

In a game where the Falcons never trailed, Air Force (4-8, 3-5 MWC) beat the CSU Rams (2-10, 1-7 MWC) by a final score of 42-21, putting an end to an unfortunate season for the Colorado Springs unit, one where they lost their first five FBS games while averaging 36.2 points per contest.

Colorado State’s season is over, and with it, one of the founding members of the Mountain West Conference has played its final game as a member of the conference, and what a disappointing end it was.

Game Recap

Air Force started off the game strong, eating up over 11 minutes of the first quarter, capping each of their two drives with touchdowns to go along with holding the Rams to two three-and-outs and -2 total yards of offense.

After the Rams’ defense locked down the Falcons and allowed the offense to drive down the field for a touchdown of their own, Air Force responded with another extremely long touchdown drive, this time covering 75 yards over the course of 17 plays and over eight and a half minutes of game clock being burned. This prevented the Rams from getting into field goal range due to them having only 14 seconds to score once they finally got the ball back.

The teams traded touchdowns to open the second half, but the game effectively ended when Ram kicker Isaiah Hankins missed a chip-shot 36-yard field goal as the third quarter clock expired. The teams once again traded touchdowns to open the fourth quarter before Air Force officially clinched the game by going up by 21 with just 3:05 left in the 4th quarter. After the Rams punted it back, Air Force ended the game rather appropriately, by running out the final 1:53 of the game on just three plays.

Time of possession was always going to be the story for the Rams when going up against a military school, but that doesn’t make Air Force’s 40:47 ToP any less ugly for CSU’s defense. Falcon QB Josh Johnson only attempted four passes all game, yet all four were completed for a total of 104 yards and 2 touchdowns.

As for CSU’s league-worst run defense, most reading could probably guess what happened against the Falcons’ #1-ranked rushing attack. 10 players carried the ball for the Falcons on a total of 61 attempts. On those attempts, they combined for a total of 316 yards and 4 TDs. Star back Owen Allen led the way with a 25-for-107, 2 TD line.

Owen Long was again the only player on the Rams’ defense that felt like he was performing at an elite level. Long had the Rams’ lone sack and compiled 17 total tackles, finishing the year with 134 total tackles, placing him back into the current lead in all of college football.

Offensively, the Rams felt the benefits of facing the Falcons’ second-worst defense, but it sadly was not enough in the end.

With Darius Curry suspended by the university for spitting on Boise State LB Jayden Virgin-Morgan, Jackson Brousseau was once again thrust into the starting lineup to try and end the season on a high note. To his credit, Brousseau performed admirably, turning in his best performance of the season. He went 28/37 for 323 yards and 2 TDs while leading the offense to their first turnover-free outing since their last triumph against Fresno State.

The Rams’ run game was stuck in neutral yet again, with just 9 total rushing attempts (two due to sacks allowed by the Rams’ O-Line) due to always needing to score quickly to keep up with the Falcons. Lloyd Avant had a 3-for-11, 1 TD statline, and that was enough to lead his team in a truly awful showing on the ground.

Avant undoubtedly did more damage as a receiver in the contest, leading his team with 8 catches for an impressive 135 yards and a long of just 38 yards, emphasizing consistency over one explosive play. Tay Lanier continued to show the talent I praised so heavily in the preseason, outdoing Avant as Brousseau’s favorite target with 9 catches, going for 73 yards and a touchdown. Rocky Beers continued his impressive streak by catching two passes for 42 yards and a touchdown of his own, while Lavon Brown and Tommy Maher joined their teammates in exceeding 30 yards.

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter

9:50 – Bruin Fleischmann 55-yd pass from Josh Johnson (Reagan Tubbs PAT)

Air Force 7 – Colorado State 0

2:26 – Owen Allen 6-yd run (Reagan Tubbs PAT)

Air Force 14 – Colorado State 0

2nd Quarter

8:48 – Tay Lanier 20-yd pass from Jackson Brousseau (Isaiah Hankins PAT)

Air Force 14 – Colorado State 7

0:14 – Kemper Hodges 1-yd run (Reagan Tubbs PAT)

Air Force 21 – Colorado State 7

3rd Quarter

11:19 – Lloyd Avant 5-yd Run (Isaiah Hankins PAT)

Air Force 21 – Colorado State 14

5:37 – Josh Johnson 3-yd run (Reagan Tubbs PAT)

Air Force 28 – Colorado State 14

4th Quarter

9:09 – Bruin Fleischmann 6-yd pass from Josh Johnson (Reagan Tubbs PAT)

Air Force 35 – Colorado State 14

6:51 – Rocky Beers 38-yd pass from Jackson Brousseau (Isaiah Hankins PAT)

Air Force 35 – Colorado State 21

3:05 – Owen Allen 7 Yd Run (Reagan Tubbs PAT)

Air Force 42 – Colorado State 21

Final: Air Force 42 – Colorado State 21

At Rivalry’s End

This was yet another chapter—currently the final one—of the Ram-Falcon rivalry, one dominated by the Falcons since its inception. Air Force snagged their 40th win over the Rams all-time, leading the series 40-22-1. Notably, the Rams won just three of the series’ final 20 games.

Despite largely being a lopsided rivalry, it was among the most intense for each school due to the close proximity of the teams, with many fans, young and old, growing mutually distasteful for their opponents as matchups drew on through the years. Such are the nature of rivalries, and I am sad to see yet another longtime rivalry take its final snap—at least for now.

I have zero doubt that this matchup will resume when both the Rams and Falcons inevitably find themselves to have an empty slot on their schedule one year, but this rivalry even coming to a close for any period of time signifies the continuation of a new era of college football where all that truly matters is the bottom line. We already witnessed this several times in the conference this year, as longtime rivalries such as Fresno State-Hawaii, San Jose State-San Diego State, and my personal favorite collegiate rivalry; Boise State-Nevada, met in what many fans hope will not be their final matchups earlier this year. This was simply the final domino to fall.

It’s sad, but it really is a fact of life that things will always change. And as the Rams, Bulldogs, Broncos, Aggies and Aztecs move on to begin their quest to rebuild the Pac-12, things will certainly look different for a while, and it will feel weird at times to no longer be playing these games. But no matter what, no matter how far apart they go or how different these teams become, we will always have the memories we all made along the way, and a shared hope that maybe, just maybe, one day, our beloved enemies may step onto the gridiron together once again.