B-Dawg's Air Force Falcons: Flying high A.F.

[BDawg35]

2026 SEASON, GAME 3


Air Force quarterback Brandon Blount threw for 452 yards and five touchdowns in his first college start.

QB2 GOES OFF!
Blount sets Air Force passing marks
in first career start to beat Beavers

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Coach B-Dawg has maintained there is no quarterback controversy at Air Force.

He falls back on his longstanding policy that a player can't lose his job to an injury, one which he put into practice last year by having Jared Mann regain his starting halfback job after a season-long injury over 2024 Heisman runner-up Marion Benjamin.

So, what do we make of the Falcons' quarterback pecking order after the performance of 99 OVR redshirt junior Brandon Blount in his first college start?

Blount set a school record with 452 passing yards and tied a record with five touchdown passes in a 61-21 rout of Oregon State on Sept. 19, 2026.

Blount didn't throw a touchdown pass until there was 5:34 remaining in a nine-minute second quarter. He threw four touchdown passes in a 5:24 stretch of the second quarter to give Air Force a 42-0 halftime lead, then tacked on one more in the third to give the Falcons a 49-7 cushion.

The reason Blount is starting is because 99 OVR senior Chad Rice is out for three weeks after getting injured at Stanford.

"When Chad comes back, he will regain his starting job," B-Dawg said. "This isn't real life. He isn't going to have lingering effects of his injury. It would be cool if that was the case from a realism standpoint, but EA was never that sophisticated with injury histories in the game.

"What we did learn from this game is we can be very comfortable putting in Brandon if Chad struggles. Chad (and by "Chad, I mean "I) has had interception issues in the past. He will be on a shorter leash, for sure."

Blount also had a 7-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. He could have padded his numbers, but Brandon Hester was given some playing time, going 4-for-8 for 26 yards.

Such a lopsided game wasn't what B-Dawg expected when he moved Air Force to the Pac-12 Conference this season, but Oregon State is at about the same level as many teams in the Mountain West Conference. The Beavers are 79 OVR with a 77 offense and an 83 defense.

"San Diego State, San Jose State, Boy-Z State, Colorado State, Utah State, they all would've given us a better game than this," B-Dawg said. "Every conference has its weak link; Oregon State happens to be the Pac-12's."

By halftime, Air Force outgained Oregon State 404-138, had a 23-6 advantage in first downs and was 5-for-5 on third down.

A possible peek into the future of the running back position occurred with 1:24 left in the game when speedy freshman Justin Brown broke off a 69-yard touchdown run.

Andrew Sampson, Oregon State's 70 OVR true freshman quarterback, was 28-for-48 for 342 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He was victimized by eight dropped passes.

"This guy could give us problems in the future, especially if they recruit anyone who can catch the ball," B-Dawg said.


Marion Benjamin hauls in one of Brandon Blount's five touchdown passes.

OREGON STATE BEAVERS at AIR FORCE FALCONS
Sept. 19, 2026	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Oregon State Beavers (0-3)	0	0	14	7	21
#9 Air Force Falcons (2-1)	14	28	7	12	61

Team Stats Comparison
	ORST	AFA
Total Offense	405	651
Rushing Yards	24-63	34-173
Passing Yards	342	478
First Downs	23	31
Punt Return Yards	0	25
Kick Return Yards	35	83
Total Yards	440	759
Turnovers	1	1
3rd Down Conversion	7-14	9-12
4th Down Conversion	0-0	0-0
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	3-3-0	7-6-1
Penalties	1-13	1-5
Possession Time	11:42	24:18

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		ORST	AFA
3:15	(AFA) J. Pearson 2 run (K. Stegall kick)	0	7
:14	(AFA) B. Blount 7 run (K. Stegall kick)	0	14
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		ORST	AFA
5:34	(AFA) J. White 8 pass from B. Blount (K. Stegall kick)	0	21
4:03	(AFA) B. Charles 18 pass from B. Blount (K. Stegall kick)	0	28
1:33	(AFA) E. Peterson 9 pass from B. Blount (K. Stegall kick)	0	35
:10	(AFA) J. White 9 pass from B. Blount (K. Stegall kick)	0	42
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		ORST	AFA
6:53	(ORST) C. Christensen 4 pass from A. Sampson (E. Schmidt kick)	7	42
4:12	(AFA) M. Benjamin 27 pass from B. Blount (K. Stegall kick)	7	49
2:42	(ORST) T. Floyd 8 run (E. Schmidt kick)	14	49
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		ORST	AFA
6:50	(AFA) K. Stegall 19 field goal	14	52
5:16	(ORST) B. King 1 pass from A. Sampson (E. Schmidt kick)	21	52
4:15	(AFA) Safety: B. Macklin sacks A. Sampson	21	54
1:24	(AFA) J. Brown 69 run (K. Stegall kick)	21	61

AIR FORCE FALCONS PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Brandon Blount 36/41 452 5 1 Brandon Hester 4/8 26 0 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Justin Brown 3 73 24.3 1 Marion Benjamin 8 37 4.6 0 Jarod Pearson 6 25 4.1 1 Brandon Blount 8 21 2.6 1 Anthony Kelly 2 7 3.5 0 Drew Myrick 2 6 3.0 0 Brandon Hester 5 4 0.8 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD J.B. White 11 108 9.8 2 Ben Huff 7 96 13.7 0 Brian Brown 5 90 18.0 0 Marion Benjamin 5 43 8.6 1 Eric Peterson 4 50 12.5 1 Ben Charles 3 32 10.7 1 David Joseph 1 28 28.0 0 Drew Myrick 1 13 13.0 0 Lamar Hunter 1 11 11.0 0 Mueller/J.Brown 1/1 5/2 5.0/2.0 0/0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Jonathan Bailey 1 0 Drew Myrick 1 0 Cornelius Booker 1 0 Brandon Mitchell 1 0 Jeff Gallagher 1 1 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT Nick Lindsey 9 0 0 0 DeAndre McCollum 8 0 0 1 Kevin Leonard 5 0 0 0 Jesse Sanders 5 0 0 0 Ben Harris 4 0 0 0 Grant Hayden 4 1 0 0 Bryan Macklin 3 2 2 0 Simon Shelton 2 0 0 0 Fred DeLuca 2 0 0 0 Ashton Hogan 2 2 1 0 Danny Rush 2 1 0 0 Frank Sharp 1 1 0 0 Rashad Moore 1 0 0 0 Anthony Logan 1 0 0 0 Brian Hubbard 1 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Kyle Stegall 1/1 8/8 11 19 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Matt Jackson 2 63 31.5 1 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Marion Benjamin 3 74 24.7 34 Jarod Pearson 1 9 9.0 9 Ben Charles 1 0 0.0 0 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Marion Benjamin 1 13 13.0 13 David Joseph 1 12 12.0 12

OREGON STATE BEAVERS PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Andrew Sampson 28/48 342 2 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Mike Holmes 10 34 3.4 0 Andrew Ampson 12 18 1.5 0 Ty Floyd 2 11 5.5 1 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Marcus Smith 7 96 13.7 0 Luke Young 7 85 12.1 0 Chad Christensen 4 28 7.0 1 Justin Grigsby 3 53 17.7 0 Brandon King 3 19 6.3 1 Jeff Leonard 2 30 15.0 0 James Jensen 1 19 19.0 0 Aaron Martin 1 12 12.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Jeff Leonard 4 0 Luke Young 2 0 Brandon King 1 0 Aaron Martin 1 0 Travis Walton 0 1 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT Ayo Smith 10 1 0 0 Brandon Sparks 8 4 1 0 Jason Robinson 7 2 0 0 Greg Ryan 7 2 0 0 Ira Clemens 7 1 1 0 Corey Buckley 5 0 0 0 Mike Wright 5 0 0 0 Travis King 4 1 1 1 Jermaine Taylor 4 0 0 0 Joel Thomas 4 0 0 0 Steven Stevenson 3 0 0 0 Craig Jackson 3 0 0 0 David Owens 2 0 0 0 Aaron Martin 1 0 0 0 Patrick Johnson 1 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Eric Schmidt 0/2 3/3 3 0 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Marcus Cox 5 194 38.8 0 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Luke Young 1 19 19.0 19 Mike Wright 1 16 16.0 16 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Team 0 0 0.0 0

[LopaKa]

Re: 2026 SEASON, GAME 3

It's been a minute, hope all is well BDawg! Love the move to the Pac-12, definitely seemed like the right time to do so. That loss to the U was such a heart breaker, I can't imagine giving up that touchdown after shutting them down all game like that. Definitely awesome to have a 99 ovr backup though, dude went OFF! Keep up the great work bro

[mvpstax]

Re: 2026 SEASON, GAME 3

What a luxury to have not just one, but two 99 ovr QBs. Might have to share some drives when Rice is back.

Btw man, do you have notes that you write articles from or did you write articles before you started to even post? Just curious about your process, I love your writing.

[BDawg35]

Re: B-Dawg's Air Force Falcons: Flying high A.F.

It's been a minute, hope all is well BDawg! Love the move to the Pac-12, definitely seemed like the right time to do so. That loss to the U was such a heart breaker, I can't imagine giving up that touchdown after shutting them down all game like that. Definitely awesome to have a 99 ovr backup though, dude went OFF! Keep up the great work bro

Great to hear from you, LopaKa! Yeah, moving to the Pac-12 or Big XII was a goal of mine when I started, but I needed to get to a position of dominance in the Mountain West Conference first. Three titles in four years achieved that. I didn't get too worried when Rice went down, because of the backup I have. I think even if he went down, I have a third-stringer in the mid-80s who could do a serviceable job - let's hope I never have to go there.

What a luxury to have not just one, but two 99 ovr QBs. Might have to share some drives when Rice is back.

Btw man, do you have notes that you write articles from or did you write articles before you started to even post? Just curious about your process, I love your writing.

I have my laptop out when I play a game and type up notes. I also try to type up what my thoughts were about certain things so I know where my head was when playing that game. That's particularly handy since I'm writing games a couple months after I've played them. (I'm actually getting closer to being caught up, but I'm still about 12 games behind.)

[BDawg35]

2026 SEASON, GAME 4


Air Force defensive end Rashad Moore sacks USC quarterback Patrick Robbins, forcing a fumble.

2 LEGIT
Air Force gains Pac-12 street cred
with dominant victory over USC

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Air Force belongs.

Pernnial national power USC served as a huge litmus test for the newest member of the Pac-12 Conference.

The Falcons passed with flying colors, winning 27-7 behind a defense that erected a brick wall.

USC was stopped short of the first down three times on short yardage in the first half and finished with only eight yards on 17 carries. After quarterback Patrick Robbins broke off a 17-yard on USC's first carry of the game, the Trojans essentially were in reverse.

"USC is a team I was really excited to play when we joined this league," Air Force coach B-Dawg said. "You get nervous that a team like that could do some damage to you, but our defense played one of its best games ever."

With the game tied 7-7, USC could have taken the lead with a field goal, but instead chose to go for it on fourth-and-2 from the Air Force 16-yard line. Defensive end Rashad Moore stopped Robbins on an option keeper with 3:38 left in the first quarter.

That set the tone for the game for the Air Force defense. Safety Kevin Leonard stopped Robbins for a 3-yard loss on third-and-inches with 7:01 left in the second quarter and outside linebacker Grant Hayden stuffed Robbins for a 1-yard loss on third-and-inches with 4:13 left in the second.

A fourth straight USC possession ended with a big stop by the Falcons when strong safety DeAndre McCollum stuffed Robbins for a 3-yard loss on third-and-four with 8:15 left in the third quarter.

"It felt awesome to stop the run on third-and-short, fourth-and-short," B-Dawg said. "I'm so used to CPU ball carriers just pushing the pile and getting past the sticks in those situations."

Two short touchdown runs by Jarod Pearson gave Air Force a 14-7 halftime lead. A 6-yard pass from Brandon Blount to J.B. White made it 21-7 with 55 seconds left in the third quarter.

Kyle Stegall kicked two short field goals in the fourth quarter, but he could be cause for concern moving forward after missing two makeable kicks.



Jarod Pearson ran for two touchdowns.

USC TROJANS at AIR FORCE FALCONS
Sept. 26, 2026	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
USC Trojans (2-2)	7	0	0	0	7
#7 Air Force Falcons (3-1)	7	7	7	6	27

Team Stats Comparison
	USC	AFA
Total Offense	183	474
Rushing Yards	17-8	48-198
Passing Yards	175	276
First Downs	7	30
Punt Return Yards	0	43
Kick Return Yards	0	53
Total Yards	183	570
Turnovers	2	1
3rd Down Conversion	1-7	10-15
4th Down Conversion	0-1
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	1-0-0	7-3-2
Penalties	0-0	1-5
Possession Time	7:17	28:43

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		USC	AFA
6:03	(AFA) J. Pearson 1 run (K. Stegall kick)	0	7
5:04	(USC) D. Jackson 31 pass from P. Robbins (M. Branch kick)	7	7
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		USC	AFA
4:56	(AFA) J. Pearson 5 run (K. Stegall kick)	7	14
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		USC	AFA
:55	(AFA) J. White 6 pass from B. Blount (K. Stegall kick)	7	21
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		USC	AFA
6:58	(AFA) K. Stegall 24 field goal	7	24
1:39	(AFA) K. Stegall 25 field goal	7	27

USC TROJANS PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Patrick Robbins 13/19 175 1 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Nate Johnson 7 12 1.7 0 Patrick Robbins 10 -4 -0.4 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Drew Jackson 4 52 13.0 1 Andrew Hansen 4 32 8.0 0 Tony Wood 2 30 15.0 0 Nate Johnson 2 17 8.5 0 Aaron Young 1 44 44.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK C.J. Nelson 1 0 C.J. Washington 1 0 Aaron Young 1 0 Tony Wood 1 0 Kyle McGrew 0 1 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT Brandon Thomas 15 0 0 0 Richard Wesley 10 1 0 0 William McDonald 9 0 0 1 T.J. Cook 8 1 0 0 Duane Jackson 8 4 0 0 Jesse Watson 8 1 0 0 Dave Thomas 7 1 1 0 Jerald Barrett 5 0 0 0 Will Ralph 4 0 0 0 Tyrone Andrews 2 0 0 0 Victor McDaniel 2 0 0 0 Mike Hood 1 0 0 0 Mike Williams 1 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Marcus Branch 0/0 1/1 1 0 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Jimmy Hodge 5 244 48.8 0 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Team 0 0 0.0 0 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Team 0 0 0.0 0

AIR FORCE FALCONS PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Brandon Blount 27/41 276 1 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Marion Benjamin 21 94 4.4 0 Jarod Pearson 14 64 4.5 2 Brandon Blount 8 21 2.6 0 Drew Myrick 4 12 3.0 0 Justin Brown 1 7 7.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD J.B. White 8 99 12.3 1 Eric Peterson 5 56 11.2 0 Marion Benjamin 5 36 7.2 0 Brian Brown 4 40 10.0 0 Ben Huff 1 15 15.0 0 Jarod Pearson 1 11 11.0 0 Ben Charles 1 9 9.0 0 Drew Myrick 1 6 6.0 0 Justin Brown 1 4 4.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Jonathan Bailey 4 0 Phillip Nicholas 4 0 Brandon Mitchell 4 1 Ben Huff 3 0 Matt Keyes 1 0 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT DeAndre McCollum 8 2 0 0 Grant Hayden 7 3 0 0 Fred DeLuca 3 0 0 0 Nick Lindsey 3 0 0 0 Rashad Moore 3 2 1 0 Victor Dukes 2 1 1 0 Kevin Leonard 2 2 0 0 Jesse Sanders 1 0 0 1 Alan Richards 1 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Kyle Stegall 2/4 3/3 9 25 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Matt Jackson 1 26 26.0 1 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Marion Benjamin 2 53 26.5 37 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Marion Benjamin 3 30 10.0 13 David Joseph 1 13 13.0 13

[mvpstax]

Re: 2026 SEASON, GAME 4

As a USC guy, I would have preferred to see you face them in the Coliseum... Defense held stout at home though

[BDawg35]

Re: 2026 SEASON, GAME 4

As a USC guy, I would have preferred to see you face them in the Coliseum... Defense held stout at home though

I'm looking forward to playing there. Among the reasons I was excited to join the Pac-12 was to play at the Coliseum and the Rose Bowl.

We could play this game again and my defense could give up 35 points. I think the moon and stars aligned for us on this day.

[BDawg35]

2026 SEASON, GAME 5


Kyle Stegall's potential game-winning 54-yard field goal attempt as time expires sails wide left.

WIDE LEFT!!!
B-Dawg’s kicking woes haunt him
in Air Force’s first loss to Navy

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — It was a nuisance, but nothing more than that, when B-Dawg’s struggles at the sticks resulted in missing two very makeable field goals last week against USC.

After all, Air Force played great defense and punched the ball into the end zone enough to render those misses moot.

But in an unexpected tight battle with Navy, when every point was critical, B-Dawg’s kicking issues had disastrous consequences.

You can probably kiss that national championship goodbye after fifth-ranked Air Force was stunned 29-27 by unranked Navy for the Falcons’ first loss to a fellow service academy in the nine-year history of this dynasty.

Air Force was 16-0 against Navy and Army before this loss.

After falling behind by nine points with 2:20 remaining, the Falcons got a touchdown with 1:25 to go, got a stop and moved the ball down the field to get in position on a 39-yard catch by tight end Ben Huff for 98 OVR senior Kyle Stegall to attempt a game-winning 54-yard field goal.

Stegall had plenty of leg, but the kick sailed wide left. He is 4-for-8 in his last two games. Navy's Maurice Wilkerson, meanwhile, made all five of his field goals to become the difference in this game.

"It would be fashionable to blame the kicker for our inability to make field goals," B-Dawg said. "Blame me. I'm the one controlling the sticks."

Air Force came into this game preaching the message, "Don't sleep!"

After going 8-0 against Navy and after beating a team like USC the previous week, it would have been easy for the Falcons to sleep on the Midshipmen.

That's apparently what happened.

Air Force never led in the game, coming back to tie it 20-20 after falling behind by 10 points twice. The Falcons didn't allow a touchdown in the second half, but three short field goals by Wilkerson provided Navy with a cushion.

Wilkerson's 25-yard field goal with 2:20 remaining seemed to put the game away, giving Navy a 29-20 lead.

Air Force moved 75 yards in nine plays, getting a 6-yard touchdown catch from Eric Peterson to make it a 29-27 game with 1:25 remaining.

The Falcons' onside kick went out of bounds, giving Navy the ball at the Air Force 34. A third-and-13 sack by defensive tackle Ryan Buckley pushed the Midshipmen out of field goal range, forcing a punt that Paul Miller nailed out of bounds at the 7 with 31 seconds left.

Quarterback Chad Rice scrambled for 17 yards and got out of bounds with 21 seconds left. After a pass to J.B. White was knocked down with 15 seconds to go, Rice connected with Huff on a 39-yard jump ball to get Air Force in range for a field goal try.

The Falcons could have made the final kick easier for Stegall (and B-Dawg) had David Joseph not dropped his third pass of the game with four seconds left. From there, Stegall was trotted out for the ill-fated kick.

"It's a rivalry game," B-Dawg said. "You're not going to keep beating Navy and Army forever. We've had close games with both teams through the years, but have always made the plays to finish them off. We didn't do that today. This will make next year's game must-see TV, I'll tell you that."


Eric Peterson grabs a touchdown pass.

AIR FORCE FALCONS at NAVY MIDSHIPMEN
Oct. 3, 2026	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
#5 Air Force Falcons (3-2)	0	17	3	7	27
Navy Midshipmen (2-1)	6	14	3	6	29

Team Stats Comparison
	AFA	NAVY
Total Offense	500	422
Rushing Yards	34-171	41-99
Passing Yards	329	323
First Downs	28	20
Punt Return Yards	0	17
Kick Return Yards	86	0
Total Yards	586	439
Turnovers	2	1
3rd Down Conversion	3-11	8-18
4th Down Conversion	0-1	0-0
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	5-3-1	7-2-5
Penalties	3-24	2-20
Possession Time	20:10	15:50

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		AFA	NAVY
7:08	(NAVY) M. Wilkerson 26 field goal	0	3
4:21	(NAVY) M. Wilkerson 19 field goal	0	6
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		AFA	NAVY
7:48	(AFA) K. Stegall 41 field goal	3	6
5:44	(NAVY) R. Moore 1 run (M. Wilkerson kick)	3	13
3:57	(AFA) J. Pearson 2 run (K. Stegall kick)	10	13
1:47	(NAVY) M. Jean 5 run (M. Wilkerson kick)	10	20
:20	(AFA) J. Pearson 4 run (K. Stegall kick)	17	20
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		AFA	NAVY
6:40	(AFA) K. Stegall 34 field goal	20	20
4:38	(NAVY) M. Wilkerson 27 field goal	20	23
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		AFA	NAVY
5:20	(NAVY) M. Wilkerson 31 field goal	20	26
2:20	(NAVY) M. Wilkerson 25 field goal	20	29
1:25	(AFA) E. Peterson 6 pass from C. Rice (K. Stegall kick)	27	29

AIR FORCE FALCONS PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Chad Rice 27/47 329 1 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Marion Benjamin 16 116 7.2 0 Chad Rice 9 24 2.6 0 Jarod Pearson 5 21 4.2 2 Drew Myrick 3 10 3.3 0 Justin Brown 1 0 0.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD J.B. White 9 107 11.8 0 Eric Peterson 5 50 10.0 1 Ben Huff 3 63 21.0 0 David Joseph 3 42 14.0 0 Brian Brown 3 32 10.7 0 Marion Benjamin 2 12 6.0 0 Ben Charles 1 14 14.0 0 Jarod Pearson 1 9 9.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Brandon Mitchell 1 1 Jeff Gallagher 1 2 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT Nick Lindsey 12 0 0 0 DeAndre McCollum 10 1 0 0 Fred DeLuca 9 3 0 0 Ashton Hogan 6 2 1 0 Grant Hayden 4 3 0 0 Frank Sharp 4 0 0 0 Alan Richards 4 1 0 0 Larry Cruz 2 0 0 0 Rashad Moore 2 2 1 0 Bryan Macklin 2 0 0 0 Jesse Sanders 2 1 1 0 Scott McKenzie 2 1 0 0 Kevin Leonard 1 0 0 1 Ryan Buckley 1 1 1 0 Victor Dukes 1 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Kyle Stegall 2/4 3/3 9 41 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Matt Jackson 3 115 38.3 1 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Marion Benjamin 4 86 21.5 26 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Team 0 0 0.0 0

NAVY MIDSHIPMEN PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Courtney Jones 23/35 323 0 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Marcus Jean 25 86 3.4 1 Chris Smith 3 7 2.3 0 Courtney Jones 11 4 0.3 0 Rodney Moore 2 2 1.0 1 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD John Rucker 5 56 11.2 0 Rich Newsome 5 52 10.4 0 Jeremy Williams 4 86 21.5 0 Josh Smith 3 64 21.3 0 Marcus Jean 3 20 6.7 0 Chris Myers 2 43 21.5 0 Broderick Williams 1 2 2.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Kevin Robison 2 0 Nick Castillo 2 2 Adam Weeks 1 0 Craig Davis 1 0 Chris Myers 1 0 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT Jared Leach 9 0 0 1 Joshua Manning 7 3 2 0 Clay Adams 7 3 1 0 Rufus Terrell 6 1 0 0 Beau Perry 5 0 0 0 Tony Everett 5 0 0 0 Andrew Wilson 4 1 0 0 Shane Massey 3 0 0 0 Shannon Moore 3 0 0 0 Andre Lewis 3 1 0 0 Michael Hayden 2 0 0 0 Danny Cantrell 2 0 0 0 Matt Ricks 1 0 0 0 Jeff Alston 1 0 0 0 Craig Davis 1 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Maurice Wilkerson 5/5 2/2 17 31 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Paul Miller 4 161 40.3 2 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Team 0 0 0.0 0 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Chris Smith 1 17 17.0 17

[BDawg35]

2026 SEASON, GAME 6


Oregon's Michael Tate gets behind the Air Force defense to haul in a 58-yard touchdown pass.

Don't push panic button
Air Force falls to 3-3 with loss
to Oregon, but still controls fate

EUGENE, Ore. — This is no time for panic among Air Force football players, coaches or fans.

Sure, the Falcons fell to 3-3 following a 37-27 loss at Oregon on Oct. 8, 2026, which is quite the gut punch for a team that has lost two games or less three of the previous four years.

But it wasn't supposed to be easy when Air Force left the Mountain West Conference to join the Pac-12 Conference. That was kind of the point in switching conferences in the first place.

However, many of the Falcons' goals are still in front of them. None of the three losses have come against South Division rivals and every other team in the division has at least one conference loss already.

"Certainly, we need to find a way to pull out these tight games, but if we beat the teams in our division, we could still be in a position to win the conference and go to the Rose Bowl," B-Dawg said. "I hope we see these guys again for the conference championship."

For the second week in a row, the Falcons never held a lead. They fell behind 10-0 right off the bat, with an interception by cornerback Jonathan Bailey leading to a touchdown just 49 seconds after the Ducks kicked a field goal.

Air Force did what Air Force does, continuing to grind away to tie the game 10-10 and 17-17 in the second quarter.

"We felt great being tied, because it felt like the game might slip away from us early," B-Dawg said.

Two touchdown passes by Anthony Harris in the third quarter gave the Ducks some separation.

The Falcons were very much in the game when an 8-yard pass from backup quarterback Brandon Blount to Ben Charles with 4:46 left made it a 34-27 game.

The gut punch was a 55-yard field goal by Oregon's Steve Jordan with 2:09 remaining after Air Force tackled Anthony Harris for a 2-yard loss on third-and-two.

"You feel really good about a stop like that, but then they bomb one from practically the midfield logo," B-Dawg said.



Oregon's David Salyer runs for a touchdown.

AIR FORCE FALCONS at OREGON DUCKS
Oct. 8, 2026	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
#10 Air Force Falcons (3-3)	3	14	3	7	27
Oregon Ducks (3-2)	10	7	14	6	37

Team Stats Comparison
	AFA	ORE
Total Offense	389	465
Rushing Yards	36-137	43-160
Passing Yards	252	305
First Downs	21	21
Punt Return Yards	20	0
Kick Return Yards	268	23
Total Yards	677	488
Turnovers	2	1
3rd Down Conversion	8-17	9-15
4th Down Conversion	3-5	0-0
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	5-3-1	3-3-0
Penalties	0-0	3-25
Possession Time	20:31	15:29

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		AFA	ORE
4:01	(ORE) S. Jordan 39 field goal	0	3
3:12	(ORE) A. Fields 5 pass from A. Harris (S. Jordan kick)	0	10
:09	(AFA) K. Stegall 23 field goal	3	10
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		AFA	ORE
4:51	(AFA) J. Brown 2 run (K. Stegall kick)	10	10
2:55	(ORE) D. Salyer 3 run (S. Jordan kick)	10	17
:24	(AFA) J. Pearson 6 run (K. Stegall kick)	17	17
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		AFA	ORE
7:27	(ORE) W. Huffman 6 pass from A. Harris (S. Jordan kick)	17	24
5:08	(AFA) K. Stegall 46 field goal	20	24
3:34	(ORE) M. Tate 58 pass from A. Harris (S. Jordan kick)	20	31
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		AFA	ORE
8:27	(ORE) S. Jordan 47 field goal	20	34
4:46	(AFA) B. Charles 8 pass from B. Blount (K. Stegall kick)	27	34
2:09	(ORE) S. Jordan 55 field goal	27	37

AIR FORCE FALCONS PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Chad Rice 13/29 218 0 2 Brandon Blount 4/14 34 1 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Jarod Pearson 16 78 4.8 1 Chad Rice 10 24 2.4 0 Brandon Blount 2 14 7.0 0 Justin Brown 5 11 2.2 1 Drew Myrick 3 10 3.3 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD J.B. White 6 113 18.8 0 Ben Huff 3 73 24.3 0 Ben Charles 2 26 13.0 1 Eric Peterson 2 7 3.5 0 David Joseph 1 17 17.0 0 Lamar Hunter 1 7 7.0 0 Drew Myrick 1 6 6.0 0 Jarod Pearson 1 3 3.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Jonathan Bailey 1 1 Jeff Gallagher 0 1 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT Grant Hayden 13 0 0 0 DeAndre McCollum 10 2 0 0 Fred DeLuca 7 1 0 0 Nick Lindsey 7 0 0 1 Rashad Moore 5 1 1 0 Frank Sharp 5 2 0 0 Kevin Leonard 3 1 0 0 Alan Richards 3 0 0 0 Scott McKenzie 2 0 0 0 Jesse Sanders 2 1 0 0 Ryan Buckley 1 1 1 0 Brian Brown 1 0 0 0 Victor Dukes 1 1 0 0 William Davis 1 0 0 0 Bryan Macklin 1 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Kyle Stegall 2/2 3/3 9 47 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Matt Jackson 1 57 57.0 0 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG David Joseph 7 247 35.2 55 Ryan Mueller 1 21 21.0 21 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG David Joseph 2 20 10.0 13

OREGON DUCKS PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Anthony Harris 21/31 305 3 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Tyler Taylor 29 103 3.5 0 David Salyer 5 24 4.8 1 Anthony Harris 8 20 2.5 0 Mike Fowler 1 13 13.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Reggie Jones 6 73 12.1 0 Michael Tate 3 85 28.3 1 Adam Fields 3 47 15.7 1 Mike Fowler 2 25 12.5 0 Chaz Skinner 2 25 12.5 0 David Salyer 2 20 10.0 0 Tim Fountain 1 18 18.0 0 William Huffman 1 6 6.0 1 Cory Richard 1 6 6.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Tim Fountain 2 0 Reggie Jones 1 0 Corey Richard 1 1 Jesse Tyler 0 1 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT Anthony Bennett 7 1 0 0 William Green 7 0 0 0 Dwight Marshall 5 0 0 0 Jeremy Carter 5 0 0 0 Ben Lott 4 1 0 0 Joe Sullivan 4 1 1 0 Brett Williams 4 2 0 0 David London 4 1 1 0 Dwayne Carroll 3 0 0 0 Phil Price 3 2 1 0 Nick Jansen 3 0 0 0 Brian Arnold 3 0 0 1 William Huffman 2 0 0 0 Jonathan Bailey 1 0 0 1 Steve Jordan 1 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Steve Jordan 3/3 4/4 13 55 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Mike Murphy 2 98 49.0 0 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG David Salyer 1 23 23.0 23 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Team 0 0 0.0 0

[bh446066]

Re: B-Dawg's Air Force Falcons: Flying high A.F.

Man! Did you make a mid season slider change or something??!!

[Knickerbocker91]

Re: B-Dawg's Air Force Falcons: Flying high A.F.

Good to see the Pac-12 is at least putting up a challenge. Makes it all the more better when you start collecting conference championships.

[BDawg35]

Re: B-Dawg's Air Force Falcons: Flying high A.F.

Man! Did you make a mid season slider change or something??!!

No, it's the same sliders that haven't changed since maybe my second season. I hated losing to Navy, but it's cool to know I can still lose to a team like that. I literally did type on my notes file at the start of the game, "Don't sleep!" After playing so many elite teams, my fear was I would go through the motions against Navy.

Good to see the Pac-12 is at least putting up a challenge. Makes it all the more better when you start collecting conference championships.

Yeah, sitting at 3-3, if I don't get my act together, it could be a challenge just to make a bowl game.

[BDawg35]

2026 SEASON, GAME 7


Backup running back Justin Brown ran for five touchdowns and the game-winning 2-point conversion against UCLA.

GIVEN NEW LIFE
Converting 2-point run in second OT
puts Air Force atop Pac-12 South

PASADENA, Calif. — When we look back, the fate of Air Force's 2026 football season may have been determined with one decision.

After scoring a touchdown in the second overtime against UCLA, the Falcons could have played it safe, kicked the extra point and moved on to a third extra period.

But Air Force coach B-Dawg wanted to get it over with, one way or the other.

Backup running back Justin Brown scored his fifth touchdown of the game on a 2-yard run following a 23-yard one-handed catch by J.B. White to get the Falcons within 49-48.

Then came decision time.

"I didn't trust our defense to go back onto that field and give us a chance to win," B-Dawg said. "I was tired of watching them get lit up all day."

B-Dawg called for a toss left to Brown, who made it into the end zone untouched for the game-winning 2-point conversion in a 50-49 victory that registered 1,714 ESPN Classic points. It is B-Dawg's No. 6 ESPN Classic score playing NCAA '14.

"The defense will always, 100%, bunch up everyone in the middle when you call a run formation down there within three yards of the goal line," B-Dawg said. "You will never, ever score by running the ball inside. It's like hitting a brick wall. The toss play is as close to a sure thing as there is. That same play got blown up earlier in the game, but the odds of making that 2-pointer were greater than our odds of getting a stop on defense in the third overtime. As soon as I saw nobody was going to break through and blow up that p lay, I screamed, 'We're going to win!' This is one of the more exciting wins we've had, given the circumstances."

The toss play is highly effective when defenses pinch in, but it's not an outright money play. That was proven before halftime when Air Force running back Jarod Pearson was blown up for a loss on third-and-goal with nine seconds remaining. The clock ran out before the Falcons could run a fourth-down play.

Air Force came into the game with a 3-3 record. Had the Falcons lost, they would have been battling just to make a rinky-dink bowl game, let alone win anything meaningful.

But, all of a sudden, things don't look so bleak for Air Force. The Falcons are atop the Pac-12 South Division with a 4-1 record, while UCLA fell to 2-2 and USC is 4-2. Air Force has beaten both teams, so the tie-breaker would favor the Falcons. All three Air Force losses have either been in nonleague games or out of the division.

Is it out of the realm of possibility that a team that was precariously close to being 3-4 could end up playing for the Pac-12 championship?

"That goal is certainly a reality, but we still have a lot to work on to get there," B-Dawg said. "We very well could be sitting here at 3-4 overall, but we just gave ourselves new life today."

The game got to overtime because Jeff Williams was able to come down with a 23-yard touchdown pass in traffic from Jason Harper on the final play of regulation time.

Each team scored touchdowns on their possessions in the first and second overtimes before the decision to go for two paid off. The teams combined to score 10 touchdowns on 11 trips to the red zone, the only failure coming when Pearson was stopped on the toss play in the final seconds of the first half.

Brown was an unlikely hero, running for five of Air Force's seven touchdowns. He ran 10 times for 35 yards, cleaning up around the goal line when Pearson fatigued-out of the game. Three of Brown's touchdowns came from the 1:57 mark of the fourth quarter through the overtimes.


J.B. White makes a 23-yard one-handed catch to set up the winning
touchdown and 2-pointer.

AIR FORCE FALCONS at UCLA BRUINS
Oct. 17, 2026	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	OT	SCORE
#22 Air Force Falcons (4-3)	7	7	14	7	15	50
UCLA Bruins (4-2)	7	14	0	14	14	49

Team Stats Comparison
	AFA	UCLA
Total Offense	502	474
Rushing Yards	47-217	32-162
Passing Yards	285	312
First Downs	29	19
Punt Return Yards	6	9
Kick Return Yards	154	0
Total Yards	662	483
Turnovers	0	1
3rd Down Conversion	5-10	7-12
4th Down Conversion	2-2	2-2
2-Point Conversion	1-1	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	8-7-0	3-3-0
Penalties	1-10	0-0
Possession Time	22:26	13:34

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		AFA	UCLA
3:52	(AFA) J. Brown 2 run (K. Stegall kick)	7	0
:51	(UCLA) D. Rankin 21 pass from J. Harper (M. Clark kick)	7	7
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		AFA	UCLA
6:32	(AFA) J. Brown 5 run (K. Stegall kick)	14	7
5:32	(UCLA) J. Harper 28 run (M. Clark kick)	14	14
2:53	(UCLA) C. Wesley 22 pass from J. Harper (M. Clark kick)	14	21
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		AFA	UCLA
6:33	(AFA) J. Pearson 5 run (K. Stegall kick)	21	21
2:00	(AFA) C. Rice 6 run (K. Stegall kick)	28	21
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		AFA	UCLA
5:26	(UCLA) D. Rankin 4 pass from J. Harper (M. Clark kick)	28	28
1:57	(AFA) J. Brown 1 run (K. Stegall kick)	35	28
:00	(UCLA) J. Williams 23 pass from J. Harper (M. Clark kick)	35	35
OVERTIME SCORING		AFA	UCLA
---	(AFA) J. Brown 1 run (K. Stegall kick)	42	35
---	(UCLA) J. Williams 2 pass from J. Harper (M. Clark kick)	42	42
---	(UCLA) C. Brown 2 run (M. Clark kick)	42	49
---	(AFA) J. Brown 2 run (J. Brown run)	50	49

AIR FORCE FALCONS PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Chad Rice 25/31 285 0 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Jarod Pearson 23 89 3.8 1 Chad Rice 12 87 7.2 1 Justin Brown 10 35 3.5 5 Drew Myrick 2 6 3.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD J.B. White 11 140 12.7 0 Eric Peterson 5 38 7.6 0 Ben Charles 3 43 14.3 0 Ben Huff 2 18 9.0 0 Jarod Pearson 2 11 5.5 0 Brian Brown 1 33 33.0 0 Drew Myrick 1 2 2.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Ben Huff 4 0 Phillip Nicholas 2 0 Jeff Gallagher 2 0 Drew Myrick 2 0 Travis Kendrick 1 0 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT DeAndre McCollum 14 2 0 0 Grant Hayden 6 1 0 0 Ryan Buckley 4 0 0 0 Scott McKenzie 3 0 0 0 Fred DeLuca 3 0 0 0 Nick Lindsey 3 0 0 0 Rashad Moore 3 0 0 0 Ashton Hogan 2 1 0 0 Frank Sharp 2 1 0 0 Jesse Sanders 2 0 0 0 Bryan Macklin 2 0 0 1 Alan Richards 2 0 0 0 Ben Harris 1 1 0 0 Drew Myrick 1 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Kyle Stegall 0/0 6/6 6 0 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Matt Jackson 2 82 41.0 1 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG David Joseph 5 154 30.8 48 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG David Joseph 1 6 6.0 6

UCLA BRUINS PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Jason Harper 23/31 312 5 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Jason Harper 12 80 6.6 1 Cedric Brown 17 78 4.5 1 Chris Wesley 3 4 1.3 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Drew Rankin 7 145 20.7 2 Kyle Baker 5 51 10.2 0 Cedric Brown 4 34 8.5 0 Jeff Williams 3 36 12.0 2 Chris Wesley 2 37 18.5 1 Anthony Reed 1 7 7.0 0 Justin Porter 1 2 2.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Scott Malone 3 0 Drew Rankin 3 0 Andrew Brooks 1 0 Mike Strong 1 0 Ryan Rogers 1 0 DEFENSE TACK TFL SACK INT Jason Barber 12 0 0 0 Derrick Irby 8 0 0 0 Robert Hill 7 1 0 0 Tim Fagan 7 1 0 0 Adrian Clarke 6 1 0 0 David Coleman 6 0 0 0 Adrian Castillo 5 0 0 0 Jacob Harper 5 1 0 0 James Carter 3 0 0 0 Chris Young 3 1 0 0 Adam Workman 2 1 0 0 Ryan Rogers 2 0 0 0 Charles Boone 1 0 0 0 Mario Clark 1 0 0 0 Jerome Carter 1 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Mario Clark 0/0 7/7 7 0 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 George Williams 2 95 47.5 1 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Team 0 0 0.0 0 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG LONG Darrell Nelson 1 9 9.0 9

[bh446066]

Re: B-Dawg's Air Force Falcons: Flying high A.F.

Dude, I do that too! I hate CFB OT rules. I go for 2 on my first possession if I score.

[BDawg35]

Re: B-Dawg's Air Force Falcons: Flying high A.F.

Dude, I do that too! I hate CFB OT rules. I go for 2 on my first possession if I score.

I think I did that one other time in this dynasty and also did it in NCAA 2012 in the game that registered my highest ESPN Classic score ever. In that case, it was after scoring on a bomb with no time on the clock. I think all three games got high ESPN Classic scores. Winning on a 2-point conversion seems to trigger something.

I think the new rule is you have to go for two after the first overtime. The old rule, the one in this game still, is you have to go for two after three overtimes (or maybe in the third, I'm not sure).