AIR FORCE ACADEMY — With the suddenness of a door slamming in your face, Air Force turned a grim struggle Saturday against Colorado State into a walk in the park at Falcon Stadium.
In a span of barely two minutes, the Falcons used two interceptions to turn a four-point edge into an insurmountable lead and cruised to a 38-17 win.
It was Air Force’s third straight victory in the series, and the Falcons (8-2, 5-1 Mountain West) put up another victory, their fifth straight, for bowl committees to study.
Before the sudden third-quarter turn, Colorado State and quarterback Billy Farris seemed ready to make a statement with a 16-play drive but had to settle for Jason Smith’s 23-yard field goal to pull within 21-17 late in the first half.
But field goals weren’t enough to keep up with the Falcons and freshman quarterback Tim Jefferson. With Air Force’s passing game limited to a combined 33 yards the past two weeks, Jefferson completed 6-of-8 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns against the Rams (4-6, 2-4).
To balance the Falcons’ attack, freshman halfback Asher Clark rushed for a career-high 136 yards on 16 carries, including touchdown runs of 41 and 45 yards.
“Our offense struggled the last couple of weeks,” Jefferson said. “We made some changes in our game plan and we were able to attack them in their weak points. It was great being able to throw the ball a little bit.”
Jefferson was on target early. After going three-and-out on the first series, Jefferson connected with Ty Paffett for 53 yards on the second play of the second drive, which ended with Kyle Lumpkin’s 4-yard run to tie the game at 7.
Then Jefferson connected on a 74-yard scoring play down the middle to receiver Kyle Halderman for a 21-14 lead in the second quarter.
“The big plays overall boost the whole team’s morale,” Halderman said. “We were shut down in the first series. Big plays gets the momentum on your side.”
There was no denying the third quarter belonged to the Falcons.
With the Rams driving, linebacker Ken Lamendola intercepted Farris at the Falcons’ 20, and the offense needed just six plays to take a 28-17 lead on Clark’s 45-yard score.
Three plays later, the Falcons had the ball back after Reggie Rembert intercepted Farris at the Rams’ 26 and returned it 17 yards. Jefferson found tight end Travis Dekker open in the corner of the end zone three plays later.
“We fell apart in the third quarter,” CSU coach Steve Fairchild said. “We turned the ball over a couple of times, and that’s all it took to let it get out of hand. . . . We were capable of controlling the tempo of that game offensively. You saw parts of that out there, we just didn’t do it the whole game.”
Once in control, Air Force’s running game took over with 189 of its 284 yards in the second half. The Falcons gained 16 of their 19 first downs on the ground, with fullbacks Todd Newell and Jared Tew combining for 110 yards.
The Rams were held to 103 yards rushing, 81 by Gartrell Johnson.
“We didn’t hit the deep balls when we had a chance, and we turned the ball over twice and that will kill you on the road,” said Farris, who finished 19-of-36 passing for 251 yards. “We knew we had to score on just about every possession we had and we weren’t able to do that.”
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
Key stat
Two and two: While nursing a 21-17 lead early in the third quarter, Air Force transformed two pass interceptions into 14 points in a span of 2:08 to open an 18-point cushion.
Key play
With CSU quarterback Billy Farris facing a second-and-17 from the CSU 10-yard line, Air Force cornerback Reggie Rembert broke away from his coverage assignment in the flat and snagged Farris’ pass for an interception. Rembert returned it to the 9-yard line, and the Falcons scored in three plays.
Irv Moss, The Denver Post
