Air Force (5-1, 3-1 Mountain West) at Wyoming (4-3, 3-1 Mountain West). Friday, Oct. 23, 7 p.m. MT (9 p.m. ET), War Memorial Stadium, Laramie, Wyo., The CW.
Your hosts are Lt. Col. (Ret.) Marissa Okonkwo-Hale, a retired Air Force instructor pilot who gives everyone a call sign, and Colter Sprague, a Laramie ranch kid in a Carhartt who counts his words.
Marissa: Tower, this is Falcon One. Clear skies, Laramie. Colter, your call sign is "Quiet Man."
Colter: Yep.
Players to watch
Air Force runs for 343.0 yards per game, second in FBS, and holds the ball 36:22 per game, also second. Quarterback Liam Szarka leads the team in passing (296 yards) and rushing (391 yards, seven touchdowns). Tight end Simon Kibbee leads in receiving with 121 yards. Linebacker Blake Fletcher leads with 63 tackles, and Max Mustell leads with two sacks. The most remarkable stat on the board: Air Force hadn't lost a fumble in 431 plays this season, a run of 549 plays dating to 2025.
Wyoming quarterback Tyler Hughes does a bit of everything. He has 1,018 passing yards, more than 450 rushing yards, and leads the Cowboys in rushing with five touchdowns. Wide receiver Kyle Frendt leads with 216 receiving yards on just 11 catches. On defense, Esaia Bogar leads with 3.5 sacks and Jones Thomas leads with 50 tackles.
Marissa: Call sign for Hughes: "Swiss Army."
Colter: Fits.
What happened last week
Air Force beat UNLV 41-31 on Oct. 17. UNLV led 24-20 late in the third quarter. Then Evan Medders took over, running 18 times for 152 yards and three touchdowns, including a 32-yard score that put the Falcons ahead for good. Rocco Conti ran for 103 yards and Owen Allen for 96, each with a touchdown.
Wyoming beat Northern Illinois 41-23 the same day. Hughes went 16 of 19 for 196 yards and ran for a career-high 183 yards and four touchdowns, 379 yards of offense in all. The Cowboys ran for 314 yards.
Colter: Tough kid.
Injuries and availability
No official conference availability report has been published for this game. Air Force hasn't named its starting quarterback: Szarka leads the season stats, while Medders carried the UNLV game. No injury news has surfaced for either team.
What the coaches are up to
Troy Calhoun has led Air Force since 2007, one of the longest current tenures in the sport. His Falcons have won four straight, including a 14-9 win over Navy that counts toward the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy. Army is still ahead, on Nov. 8.
Jay Sawvel is in his third season at Wyoming after serving as the Cowboys' defensive coordinator from 2020 to 2023. His team is 3-0 at home, but its minus-7 turnover margin ranks 131st in FBS.
Colter: Gotta stop giving it away. Plain as that.
Player storylines
Hughes' four-touchdown day is the Wyoming story. For Air Force, it's the depth of the option: three ball carriers topped 95 yards against UNLV. The key matchup is Air Force's run game against a Wyoming run defense ranked 101st, at 172.1 yards per game.
What's happening on campus
This is one of only two Friday home games for Wyoming this season, part of a schedule with three games on The CW. Wyoming's fight song is "Ragtime Cowboy Joe," and its band is Western Thunder.
Marissa: Bring the band. We'll bring a flyover attitude.
Colter: Wind's out of the west. Kick into it.
Anything else fun and true
This is an old Mountain West series. Wyoming went 5-4 against Air Force from 2016 to 2025, which Colter would describe, in full, as "close." Both teams are 3-1 in league play, so the winner stays in the Mountain West race.
Marissa: Call sign for this game: "Ball Security." Five hundred forty-nine plays and counting, Colter. Falcons on the board.
Colter: Long way down from 549. Go Pokes.
The Cover Window
My call: Air Force Falcons 26, Wyoming Cowboys 20.