Blane Morgan ran for one touchdown and passed for another as Air Force upset No. 23 Colorado State 24-0 Saturday night.
The Falcons, avenging a bitter loss last year in which Colorado State rallied for 28 points in the final 20 minutes for a 42-41 win, played ball control with their wishbone offense and frustrated CSU passer Moses Moreno.Morgan ran for 89 yards and fullback Spanky Gilliam had 97 as the unbeaten Falcons (4-0, 3-0 in Western Athletic Conference) snapped a five-game losing streak to CSU (2-2, 0-1).
Morgan ran for a 3-yard touchdown in the second quarter and hit Matt Farmer on a 47-yard scoring pass in the third. Alex Wright tacked on a 32-yard field goal early in the final quarter, and Gilliam plunged 2 yards for the last TD with 3:16 left.
Moreno completed only 2 of 9 passes for 37 yards through three quarters, throwing errantly when he wasn't being harassed by a Falcon defense led by linebacker Chris Gizzi.
Early in the third quarter, Farmer slipped behind cornerback Eason Ramson and hauled in Morgan's pass in-stride at the 5-yard line for a 14-0 lead with 11:35 left in the period.
Moments later, Moreno appeared to have completed a 59-yard pass to Geoff Turner, but the play was nullified by a holding penalty - moving the Rams back from the AFA 13-yard to their own 14, a difference of 73 yards. Gizzi sacked Moreno two plays later.
Colorado State's Damon Washington ran for 31 of his 155 yards late in the quarter, setting up an apparent 34-yard field goal by C.W. Hurst. A false start - one of many costly penalties by CSU - forced Hurst to re-kick a 39-yarder, which was low and wide.
Air Force then mounted a scoring drive, kept alive when Morgan fumbled the ball away but was ruled down. Gilliam's 30-yard run highlighted the 15-play, 63-yard drive which consumed 7:51 and was capped by Wright's field goal.
Both teams had field goal attempts blocked in the first quarter on a field made soggy by two days of rain.
Rice 40, Northwestern 34
At Evanston, Ill., Michael Perry scored three touchdowns, the last with 1:24 to play, to lead Rice to a victory over Northwestern.
With 6:34 left to play and the scored tied at 34, Rice started from its 23 with Rodd Newhouse gaining 13 yards. The Owls (2-1) held the ball until Perry's touchdown with 1:24 remaining.
Wisconsin 36, San Diego St. 10
At Madison, Wis., Ron Dayne's four touchdown runs and shoddy special teams play by San Diego State helped revitalized Wisconsin rout the Aztecs.
Mike Samuel completed 12 of 13 passes for 176 yards and Dayne gained 145 yards on 26 carries as the Badgers won their third straight game after getting thumped by Syracuse in the Kickoff Classic.
Oregon 43, Fresno St. 40, OT
At Eugene, Ore., Jason Maas, benched early in his first collegiate start after throwing two interceptions, scored on a 1-yard keeper in overtime as Oregon held off Fresno State.
The Ducks (3-0) had a 17-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but Fresno State (1-3) rallied behind quarterback Billy Volek, who completed 13 straight passes at one point and finished with 288 passing yards and three touchdowns.
Missouri 42, Tulsa 21
At Tulsa, Okla., quarterback Corby Jones ran for three touchdowns and threw a 26-yard TD pass in Missouri's victory over Tulsa.
The Tigers (2-1) scored twice in the fourth quarter to hold off the Golden Hurricane (0-3), off to the worst start in coach Dave Rader's 10 seasons.
Navy 46, SMU 16
At Dallas, Enrico Hunter and Rashad Smith returned interceptions for touchdowns and Chris McCoy scored twice in the second half as Navy rolled to a victory over Southern Methodist.
Navy (2-1) sputtered on offense in the first half but McCoy, who always has big games against SMU, scored twice on 4-yard runs to climax second-half drives of 61 and 63 yards against the Mustangs (1-2), who shocked Arkansas 31-9 last week.
Vanderbilt 40, TCU 16
At Nashville, Tenn., Damian Allen threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score as Vanderbilt beat Texas Christian for its first 2-1 start in five years.
Running back Jimmy Williams added touchdown runs of 3 and 23 yards for the Commodores, who scored 30 points in the second half. Williams, a freshman, finished with 77 yards on 15 carries.
Wyoming 30, San Jose St. 10
At Laramie, Wyo., Marques Brigham rushed for 105 yards, including 60 in a fourth-quarter scoring drive, to help Wyoming to a victory over San Jose State.
Brigham capped the eight-play, 87-yard scoring run that the Cowboys followed with a 2-point conversion.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
WAC standings
Conf. Overall
Mountain Division W L W L
Utah 2 0 3 1
New Mexico 1 0 4 0
BYU 0 0 1 1
SMU 0 0 1 2
Tulsa 0 0 0 3
Rice 0 1 2 1
TCU 0 1 0 3
UTEP 0 2 0 3
Conf. Overall
Pacific Division W L W L
Air Force 3 0 4 0
Wyoming 2 0 3 1
San Diego St. 0 0 1 2
Fresno St. 0 0 1 3
Hawaii 0 1 2 1
Colorado St. 0 1 2 2
UNLV 0 1 0 2
San Jose St. 0 1 0 3
Saturday's games
BYU 13, Arizona St. 10
Utah 56, Texas-El Paso 3
New Mexico 25, Utah St. 22
Air Force 24, Colorado St. 0
Rice 40, Northwestern 34
Wisconsin 36, San Diego State 10
Wyoming 30, San Jose St. 10
Oregon 43, Fresno St. 40, OT
Missouri 42, Tulsa 21
Navy 46, SMU 16
Vanderbilt 40, TCU 16
Hawaii at UNLV, late