AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo.—No, that wasn’t a highlight reel with a season’s worth of scores. It was just one game, New Mexico’s 70-7 shellacking of San Diego State last weekend that the Air Force Falcons watched in awe this week.
The Lobos (4-4, 2-2 Mountain West) bring their high-flying offense to Falcon Field on Thursday night to face the Falcons (5-2, 3-1) in a matchup of two of the league’s best rushing offenses.
But it’s New Mexico’s stout defense that has Air Force coach Troy Calhoun’s attention.
“I wouldn’t say their defense was lost in the 70-7 game. What you do is see that they started one drive on the 8-yard line, another drive is on the 9-yard line,” Calhoun said. “When it’s 49-0 at halftime and when you’re watching the BYU game at it’s 14-3 when it’s 48 or 50 minutes into the game, immediately you realize that their defense is very good.
“Their defense has set up a bunch of points for their team. It hasn’t been lost by the Air Force Falcons, that’s for sure.”
Lobos coach Rocky Long is lamenting the short week to prepare for the Falcons’ famed triple option, which has made its return behind two freshmen: quarterback Tim Jefferson and tailback Asher Clark.
“So getting ready for them is a whole lot like it used to be,” Long said. “It’s impossible to get ready for a triple option team in a week and obviously that means it’s even worse if we only have two days to get ready.
“The reason is that when you run the triple option, you don’t block everybody. You eliminate people by them making their choices—by who takes the fullback, who takes the quarterback, who goes to the pitch. So you have three extra blockers, so to speak, so there’s a lot of double teams and stuff going on on the field because you don’t have to block everybody.”
The Lobos are tricky to prepare for themselves, what with their quarterback rotation of accurate freshman Brad Gruner and strong-armed sophomore Tate Smith, who have shared snaps since Donovan Porterie was lost for the season with a knee injury in a loss at Tulsa a month ago.
“I thought our quarterbacks threw the ball well last week,” Long said. “I thought that was Brad Gruner’s best game so far and he’s played a lot of football now. He ought to start feeling comfortable and getting better. I think Brad Gruner is the starting quarterback. I don’t think you will see all year long equal playing time.”
Gruner is 3-1 as a starter and has rushed 20 times for 154 yards and tree touchdowns in his last three games, adding to an already solid New Mexico running game.
The Falcons rank first in the league and third in the nation with 300 yards rushing a game. New Mexico ranks 15th nationally at 224 yards a game, but the Lobos have averaged 293 yards on the ground in their last four games, and they tied a Mountain West Conference record last week by rushing for eight touchdowns, half of them by tailback Rodney Ferguson.
Their 419 yards on the ground against the Aztecs marked the school’s highest total in 11 years.
Ferguson averages a league-best 108 yards a game. Last year, he carried 41 times for 146 yards and two touchdowns in the Lobos’ 34-31 win over Air Force in Albuquerque.
“They have a great quarterback, a great running back, good receivers, good offensive linemen. They are just as powerful as any offense in our conference,” Falcons linebacker Hunter Altman said. “First thing we have to do is take away their run game. They’ve been pretty consistent all year. We’re looking to do that right off the bat and make them throw the ball.”
