Good morning, wingmen. Lieutenant Colonel Marissa Okonkwo-Hale, retired, reporting from a lawn chair in the Falcon Stadium parking lot with a thermos of coffee and a clipboard. I give every opponent a call sign before kickoff. I give every Air Force win a mission rating. And I don't hand out "mission accomplished" lightly, because in my experience the people who say it too early are usually the ones who have to say "never mind" later.
This week's brief: the debrief on Saturday's 41-31 win over UNLV, then the flight plan for a Friday night in Laramie, where the air is even thinner than ours. Call sign for the opponent this week: "Tumbleweed." It'll make sense later.
Part 1: Debrief, Air Force 41, UNLV 31
On Oct. 17 at Falcon Stadium, Evan Medders ran for 152 yards and three touchdowns, and Air Force pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat UNLV 41-31.
It was not a clean flight for three quarters. UNLV's Jackson Arnold hit Kayden McGee for a 60-yard touchdown early in the second quarter, and the Rebels led 17-13 at halftime after Ethan Schwartz hit a 60-yard field goal on the final play of the half. Sixty yards! I salute the kicker. I do not salute the coverage. Arnold found McGee again for an 8-yard touchdown late in the third, and UNLV led 24-20.
Then Air Force did what Air Force does. Six seconds into the fourth quarter, Medders finished a four-play, 75-yard drive with a 32-yard touchdown run for a 27-24 lead. About four and a half minutes later, he crashed in from the 1 for a 34-24 lead. Owen Allen's 2-yard run with 3:53 left made it 41-24. Mission accomplished, and I waited until 3:53 to say so.
The flight data: Air Force ran 62 times for 430 yards, 6.9 a carry. Medders had 152 yards on 18 carries, Rocco Conti had 103 on 12, including a 50-yarder, and Allen had 96. Air Force threw three passes and completed two for 18 yards. It held the ball for 35:13, converted 2 of 2 on fourth down and committed just three penalties. Carter Cremascoli kicked two field goals.
And here's my go-to stat of the season. Per the AP, Air Force has not fumbled the ball this season, through 431 plays. The Falcons haven't fumbled since the second quarter against New Mexico in 2025, a streak of 549 plays. Call sign for the offense: "Velcro."
The honest debrief. UNLV converted 9 of 13 third downs. Arnold threw for 246 yards and two touchdowns and McGee caught five passes for 99 yards. A defense that lets an opponent go 9-for-13 on third down needs a long talk in the hangar.
Air Force is 5-1 and 3-1 in the Mountain West. It beat Duquesne 34-0, lost 38-32 to North Dakota State, won 36-33 at Nevada, beat Navy 14-9, won 28-7 at Northern Illinois and beat UNLV. Five wins in a row. The only blemish is a six-point home loss to North Dakota State in September, and the Bison are 6-1 and very good. I'll accept that one on the record and move on.
Part 2: Air Force at Wyoming
Friday, Oct. 23, 9 p.m. Eastern, on The CW, at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie. Air Force (5-1, 3-1) at Wyoming (4-3, 3-1).
Our Formation
Air Force runs for 343.0 yards per game, second in FBS, and converts 52.9 percent of its third downs, 10th. It holds the ball for 36:22 per game, second in the country. And it commits just 43.2 penalty yards per game, 20th. Liam Szarka leads the team with 391 rushing yards and seven touchdowns, and he has 296 passing yards.
The defense is the quiet hero: 295.7 yards allowed per game, 23rd in FBS, and 19.7 points per game, 38th. The pass defense ranks 24th at 172.3 per game. Air Force's turnover margin is plus-3, 34th.
Call Sign "Tumbleweed"
Wyoming throws for 146.4 yards per game, 133rd in FBS, and scores 18.3 points per game, 127th. Its offense averages 333.1 yards per game, 115th. And the turnover margin is minus-7, 131st. A tumbleweed rolls wherever the wind sends it, and lately the wind has been sending Wyoming's footballs to the other team. Tyler Hughes has thrown seven interceptions to go with three touchdown passes.
And Wyoming's red zone offense ranks 104th, scoring on 80.8 percent of trips. Our red zone defense ranks 30th, allowing scores on 76.5 percent.
Threat Assessment
I don't underestimate anyone. Hughes is a dangerous runner. Against Northern Illinois on Saturday he completed 16 of 19 passes for 196 yards and ran for a career-high 183 yards and four touchdowns, including a 53-yarder, in a 41-23 win. Wyoming ran for 314 yards that day. The Cowboys' defense also allows only 20.9 points per game, 43rd.
But Wyoming's run defense allows 172.1 yards per game, 101st in FBS. And the Air Force run game does not ask permission.
Series History
CollegeFootballData.com has Air Force ahead 32-28-3 all time. Wyoming won 31-19 in 2024. Air Force won 24-21 last season. This is a real rivalry, two high-altitude programs that have been trading punches for decades, and I respect it. Sixty-three games and only four wins apart. That's a close formation.
Base Report: Colorado Springs vs. Laramie
Colorado Springs. Our town had 478,961 people at the 2020 census and is the second-most populous city in Colorado. It sits at 6,035 feet, more than a mile high, near the base of Pikes Peak, which rises to 14,115 feet. Colorado Springs is nicknamed Olympic City USA and is home to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center and the headquarters of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. NORAD was set up inside the Cheyenne Mountain Complex during the Cold War. And there's Garden of the Gods, which is exactly as beautiful as it sounds.
Falcon Stadium opened in 1962 with a 34-0 win over Colorado State, and its field sits at 6,621 feet, second-highest in FBS.
Laramie. Laramie is a historic town, 31,407 at the 2020 census, and it deserves real credit: in 1870, five Laramie residents became the first women in the world to serve on a jury, and Louisa Swain of Laramie became the first woman in the United States to cast a legal vote in a general election. That's a proud town.
But consider the weather report. Per Wikipedia, Laramie's average window for freezing temperatures runs from Sept. 14 through June 6, and the window for accumulating snow runs from Oct. 5 through May 12. Wingmen, that's not a winter. That's a nine-month deployment. Laramie's summer is so short it needs a permission slip. Call sign for the town: "Frostbite." I'll be packing the cold-weather gear and the good gloves.
And War Memorial Stadium is the highest stadium in FBS, at 7,222 feet. Six hundred feet higher than ours. Wyoming fans love to brag about the thin air. Wingmen, we breathe thin air for a living. We're a flight school.
Flight Plan
Run the ball, hold the ball, and protect the ball, which this team has done perfectly all year. Make Hughes throw, because the passing game is where Tumbleweed blows off course. Fix the third-down defense. And bring a jacket. It's Laramie in late October.
Call sign: correct.
My call: Air Force Falcons 26, Wyoming Cowboys 20.