Colorado Springs, Colo.------ The San Jose State-Air Force football game started out like the Spartans' wins over Northern Colorado and Arkansas. The Spartans took the opening kickoff, marched down the field and scored a touchdown.
But after that, a determined Air Force team (3-1, 1-1 Mountain West) ran for 382 yards and five touchdowns in a 41-24 Mountain West win over the Spartans.
For San Jose State (2-2, 0-1 Mountain West), it was a night of missed opportunities and an inconsistent running game. Even though the Spartans trailed 21-10 at halftime, San Jose State had two third-quarter possessions inside the Falcon 5-yard line and failed to score a point on fourth-down incomplete passes in each case.
One of those opportunities was set up by a Nehemiah Shelton fumble return of 27 yards and with a 15-yard personal foul on Air Force after the return, San Jose State had the ball on the Falcon 15-yard line, but cam up empty when quarterback Josh Love and tight end Derrick Deese, Jr., were unable to connect in the right corner of the end zone.
The Spartans rushed for 98 yards, only three less than the week before in the Arkansas win, but could not get the yards they had hoped consistently in the game.
Conversely, Air Force found ways to keep drives alive and only passed the ball 10 times. One of them was Donald Hammonds III taking advantage of the best single-play pass protection of the night and found Geraud Sanders wide open for a 64-yard touchdown pass play that gave the Falcons a 14-7 lead.
Air Force running back Tevan Bordow hurt the Spartans the entire evening rushing for 124 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries. His first touchdown, a 1-yard run extended Air Force's first-half lead to 21-7. His second, a 7-yard burst, was the Falcons' final score of the night.
In between, Air Force running back Christian Mallard scored on runs of 3 and 7 yards in the third quarter as the Spartans went scoreless. Mallard gained 70 yards on 10 carries.
San Jose State closed out the scoring with a pair of Nick Nash touchdown passes in the final 3:51 of the game. He found Andre Crump, Jr., on a pass play that covered 30 yards with Crump doing most of the work himself to get into the end zone. Nash, who was 5-of-7 for 82 yards, and Deese, Jr., connected for a 6-yard touchdown pass with 0:52 to go.
Starting quarterback Josh Love completed 19-of-35 for 198 yards and felt more pressure from Air Force's pass rush than he did the week before in the win at Arkansas.
Though San Jose State had more first downs than Air Force, 26 to 24, the Falcons outgained the Spartans, 513 to 378.
San Jose State can even its conference record at 1-1 and go above the .500 mark on October 4, when the Spartans return home to host New Mexico in a Friday, October 4, conference game at CEFCU Stadium. Game time is 7:00 p.m.