GAME NOTES: A battle of the unbeatens takes center stage in Mountain West Conference play this weekend as the Air Force Falcons entertain the 20th- ranked Utah Utes in Colorado Springs. Both programs have moved out to a 3-0 mark in the early going this season but, more importantly, each team has already won its first and only MWC encounter which means they enter this week tied with TCU atop the conference standings. Thanks to the early success, for the first time in the league's 10-year history there are four teams that have started out with perfect 3-0 records, the other being nationally-ranked BYU of course.

The Utes began with their share of ups and downs against the likes of Michigan (25-23) and UNLV (42-21) but last Saturday night the squad put it all together in a lopsided 58-10 thrashing of Utah State on the road in Logan. After this game the Utes will again step outside the conference and finish off with non- MWC members Weber State and Oregon State, both at home.

As for the Falcons, they mopped up versus Southern Utah (41-7) and Wyoming (23-3), but then had to refocus last week when their meeting with Houston had to be moved to Dallas because of weather concerns. The result of that transition was a more challenging 31-28 victory. Like the Utes, Air Force will go outside of the conference for its next endeavor, taking part in the first leg of the annual Commander-in-Chief competition that pits the Falcons against Navy on October 4th at home.

As far as these two programs are concerned, last year the Utes bowed to the academy by a final of 20-12, which means Utah now trails in the all-time series, 14-10.

"I thought the offense was improved, but it is still not where it needs to be," was how head coach Kyle Whittingham referenced his team's huge win over the Aggies on Saturday night. "They showed more consistency and scored points, but we still have things we need to clean up." Running back Matt Asiata, who again played with the defense by taking direct snaps from center, doesn't appear to be one of the guys that needs to improve. Against the Aggies, Asiata carried the ball 11 times and ended up in the end zone on three of those attempts. Shouldering some of the heavier load was Darrell Mack who gained 75 yards on 14 carries for the squad as it finished with 233 yards on 48 carries overall.

Perhaps the head coach is referring to quarterback Brian Johnson when he talks of needing improvement. Johnson has completed 65.9 percent of his pass attempts thus far for 230.7 ypg, and even though he has five touchdown passes, he should have even more given his talent level. There have been times, especially in the second half versus Michigan, that Johnson has lost his poise and appears lost in the pocket, so certainly there is room for improvement on his part, gaining consistency most importantly.

"I thought we played extremely well defensively for the third week in a row," had to be one of the understatements of the year so far by coach Whittingham when referring to the crushing effort against Utah State. "Whenever you limit an opponent like that it is a good day for the defense." Less than two minutes into the opening period Utah allowed the Aggies to score the first touchdown, moments after the Utes fumbled a punt deep in their own zone. But after that, the defense for Utah stood tall and turned away the Aggies with relative ease. Even with the blowout win coach Whittingham knew what the weak link in last week's game was. "It was the worst punt return performance since I have been here.

This week priority No. 1 is finding out who the guy returning punts is going to be. We are back to square one and going to try out 3-4 different guys and hopefully we will settle on someone." One of the players the coach knows he can count on game in and game out is Paul Kruger who tied a school record with four sacks in the USU win. Kruger, who is currently fourth in the nation with his 1.5 sacks per game, is actually tops in college football with three tackles for loss per outing.

It is no secret that the Falcons make their living running the ball, but in Saturday's win over Houston the academy showed just how important running the ball is to the success of the squad. Quarterback Shea Smith was the leading ground gainer for the team with his 93 yards, scoring three touchdowns, but when it came to being a threat with his arm, Smith was far from imposing. In fact, Smith and the Falcons failed to complete a single pass (0-of-7) in the contest, the first time that's happened in the history of the MWC. But for the Falcons, who are second in the country in rushing at the moment with 358 ypg, just 12.3 ypg behind the Midshipmen, it was actually the fifth time in program history that the team has failed to complete a pass (the first since 1992). However, the difference between last week and those previous efforts was that Air Force didn't even attempt to pass in any of those other four games. Needless to say, after three games in 2008 the Falcons are dead last in college football with a minuscule 30 ypg passing.

The Houston passing attack came after the Falcons right away on Saturday as Case Keenum converted 34-of-57 attempts for 362 yards and four touchdowns, but luckily for Air Force the unit came up big when it needed to most. Ken Lamendola led the way for the group with his game-high 12 tackles, while Jake Paulson (seven stops) registered two and a half sacks in the narrow win as well. Luke Yeager (eight tackles) found himself in the right place at the right time as he recorded one of the team's two gained turnovers with a fumble recovery.

Lamendola now has a team-best 24 tackles for the Falcons, but when it comes to overall impact, Paulson is a man among men for the academy. With an average of two sacks per game, Paulson has pushed the team as a whole to first in the Mountain West and third in the nation with an average of 3.7 sacks per contest heading into this matchup. Because of that unparalleled effort, the Falcons are second in the MWC and 21st in the nation at the moment with just 12.7 ppg allowed.

The current success of the MWC has not been lost on coach Whittingham as he and the Utes enter into a tough matchup with Air Force. "To have Mountain West teams recognized in the polls is a positive for the league. It's still early, but to have two teams ranked and another knocking on the door is a positive for the conference." Understanding the gravity of where Utah stands is half the battle, now the Utes just have to take the fight to the gridiron and take care of business against the Falcons this weekend.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Utah 41, Air Force 23