AIR FORCE ACADEMY — If nothing else, muscle on a stout defensive unit did the talking Saturday for No. 20 Utah in pulling out a hard-fought, 30-23 win over Air Force.
With a final mighty push, the determined Utes flexed their muscles, flicked aside the pesky Falcons and chalked up their fourth consecutive victory.
With three second-half touchdowns by running back Darrell Mack as a catalyst, Utah won on an 80-yard drive on 11 bruising plays for the winning points with 58 seconds left in the Mountain West Conference game at Falcon Stadium.
Utah quarterback Brian Johnson, who admittedly played a poor first half, called the opportunity in the final minutes a dream come true.
“A situation like that is what a quarterback dreams about,” Johnson said. “To go down the field with a chance to win the game is a great feeling. I couldn’t have played any worse myself in the first half, and when you’re down in the fourth quarter and find a way to come back and win, that’s the sign of a mature football team. There was no panic.”
After Mack’s third touchdown of the game opened a late seven-point lead, the Falcons had a last chance to claw back into the game. But on the first play, quarterback Shea Smith was intercepted by Utah safety Joe Dale at the Falcons’ 39-yard line with 50 seconds to play.
While Johnson finished 16-of-23 for 243 yards and a touchdown, the Air Force defense made the first half a nightmare for the Utah senior. Johnson was sacked five times, fumbled twice and was intercepted once before halftime.
The Falcons turned Johnson’s fumbles into 10 points, including a 25-yard return by defensive end Jake Paulson for a touchdown with 3:35 left in the first half. Paulson’s touchdown, which came off a sack by defensive end Rick Ricketts, helped the Falcons take a 16-9 lead into halftime.
But there was only one thing Utah coach Kyle Whittingham wanted to talk about, and it wasn’t the clinching drive.
“It was amazing. Fifty-three yards rushing for an Air Force team, that says it all,” Whittingham said. “No further explanation needed.”
AFA coach Troy Calhoun pointed to his team’s mistakes, but also noted the challenge the Falcons faced. Even though outmanned, they played with the idea there always was a possibility.
“That’s the thrust for Air Force football,” Calhoun said. “We need to fix some things immediately. We fumbled two snaps in special-team situations.”
One of the fumbles resulted in a safety and Utah’s 9-0 lead when punter Ryan Harrison didn’t field the snap and had to slap the ball out of the end zone. The Falcons (3-1, 1-1 MWC) also missed an extra point when holder Brandon Geyer fumbled a low snap after the Paulson fumble return.
The Utes (4-0, 2-0) had a 24-9 advantage in first downs, a 440-191 advantage in total yards, a 77-55 edge in offensive plays, a 36:38-23:22 advantage in possession time and a 197-53 advantage in rushing yards. Air Force came into the game averaging 358 yards on the ground.
Even with the statistical advantage, maybe the key play of the game was Mack’s fourth-down run at the AFA 1-yard line for a 23-16 lead at 3:09 of the fourth quarter. A year ago in Salt Lake City, Air Force won 20-12 with a successful goal-line stand.
“We mentioned that in the huddle,” Johnson said.
Smith, who didn’t complete a pass in Air Force’s 31-28 victory over Houston last weekend, completed 7-of-13 attempts for 138 yards — including a 42-yard strike to receiver Kevin Fogler to set up Air Force’s first touchdown and a 29-yard strike to Josh Cousins to set up Air Force’s last score.
“We do whatever we have to do offensively,” Smith said. “Run, pass — some days we do it quite well. They covered my last pass well. I was proud of our effort. We didn’t give up. You can either mope about it or go back to work. We’re going back to work Monday.”
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
Key stat
6-of-14: Utah’s third-down success Saturday at Falcon Stadium. On their last two scoring drives of 67 yards and 80 yards, the Utes converted on four third downs and one fourth down. The Falcons couldn’t get the Utah offense off the field.
Key play
On a third-and-5 play at Air Force’s 25-yard line, Utah running back Darrell Mack gained 16 yards and a first down at the 9 with 1:17 left in the game. Mack scored the winning touchdown on the next play.
