Nov. 18, 2000
Air Force 45, San Diego St. 24 By JOHN MOSSMAN
AP Sports Writer
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- Sometimes, against a triple-option attack as potent as Air Force's, a defense is forced to choose its poison.
Intent on stopping the fullback up the middle, San Diego State left the flanks largely unprotected, and halfback Qualario Brown ran outside for 140 yards and three touchdowns in the Falcons' 45-24 victory Saturday.
"They stuffed our fullback game," Brown said. "They had it tightened up inside, but that gave us an opportunity on the corner and we took advantage of that."
Air Force, the nation's third-best rushing team, had 418 yards on the ground and 540 yards total.
The bowl-eligible Falcons (8-3, 5-2 Mountain West) finished their regular season with three straight victories and snapped San Diego State's four-game road winning streak in conference play.
With Colorado State having clinched the Mountain West Conference title and an automatic Liberty Bowl berth, Air Force will go to either the Las Vegas Bowl or the new Silicon Valley Classic - the other two bowls that have guaranteed MWC berths.
Lon Sheriff passed for 269 yards and two touchdowns for the Aztecs (3-7, 3-3), who cut the deficit to 31-24 late in the third quarter before Air Force iced the game with touchdowns on its next two possessions.
Mike Thiessen's 40-yard touchdown pass to wide-open tight end Chris Jessop made it 38-24 early in the final period. Scott Becker's 4-yard run then capped a 70-yard drive with 5:33 remaining.
San Diego State had allowed only 13 second-half points in its previous five conference games, but the Falcons tallied 21. The Air Force defense, meanwhile, held SDSU to three points, two first downs and 68 total yards in the second half.
Air Force converted all three of San Diego's turnovers into touchdowns by Brown.
"Certainly, the turnovers today were big," AFA coach Fisher DeBerry said.
San Diego State coach Ted Tollner said the Falcons "don't leave you much margin for error. To beat them, which we thought we could, we had to go turnover-free. Had we done that, I think the game might have been closer."
The oft-injured Brown, who played in only three games last season, had 87 yards and two touchdowns in the first half to spark Air Force to a 24-21 lead.
San Diego State went 70 yards on the first two plays of the game but fumbled at the Air Force 15, and the Falcons responded with an 85-yard touchdown drive, capped by Brown's 19-yard run.
The Aztecs countered with a score of their own, going 80 yards. Derrick Lewis leaped to take the ball away from safety Wes Glisson for a 50-yard pass play, and James Truvillion ran the final 6 yards.
Brown's 27-yard gain on a pitchout helped set up Dave Adams' 25-yard field goal.
Lewis, who had three catches for 114 yards in the half, returned a punt 41 yards to the Air Force 13 early in the second quarter. Three plays later, Sheriff beat the blitz, finding Brian Gelt wide open on a tight-end screen for a 17-yard scoring play and a 14-10 lead.
Air Force scored touchdowns on its next two possessions, taking a 24-14 lead.
Thiessen had runs of 16 and 25 yards to set up his own 5-yard scoring run.
Less than four minutes later, after a San Diego State fumble, Brown scored on a 10-yard pitchout with 3:52 left in the half.
San Diego then drove into Air Force territory, but the drive stalled when Sheriff was sacked twice by linebacker Michael Gallagher. After an exchange of punts, SDSU's J.R. Tolver took a pass in the right flat and split two defenders for a 22-yard scoring play with 13 seconds remaining in the half.
Following an interception by Air Force safety Sam Meinrod, Brown's third score, on an 11-yard run midway through the third period, made it 31-21.
Air Force's only turnover of the game - safety Garret Pavelko's interception and 34-yard return - set up Nate Tandberg's 18-yard field goal late in the quarter.
Adams tied the Air Force single-season record for field goals with 19, Dave Lawson had 19 in 1974.
Thiessen's 1,687 yards passing are the most in a season since the Falcons went to the wishbone in the early 1980s and the third-most in academy history. Thiessen also broke the record for TD passes in a season during the option era (13), and Ryan Fleming broke the record for single-season receptions in the option era (52).