The 22nd-ranked San Diego State Aztecs will travel to Falcon Stadium on Saturday night to take on the Air Force Falcons in a Mountain West Conference matchup. The Aztecs are 6-0 (2-0) and are coming off a 19-13 double-overtime road win over the San Jose State Spartans.
Senior quarterback Jordon Brookshire finished 13-of-27 for 132 yards. The Falcons are 6-1 (3-1) this year and are coming off a 24-17 road win over the Boise State Broncos. Junior quarterback Haaziq Daniels finished 1-of-5 for 59 yards.
Ring the Bell
The San Diego State Aztecs have been running the football extremely well this season, and senior running back Greg Bell has been doing well as he has 113 rushes for 561 yards (5.0 yards per carry) with five touchdowns while also having two catches for two yards (1.0 yards per reception).
Looking at their last game against San Jose State, he ran 19 times for 41 yards (2.2 yards per carry). If Bell can shake off this previous game and get back to attacking, it will really help the Aztecs get going.
The San Diego State Aztecs have been doing very well on the defensive side of the football as they are allowing 16 points per game. In their previous game against the San Jose State Spartans, they gave up 13 points on 345 total yards of offense (228 passing, 117 rushing).
The Aztecs have been getting stops on key downs as the Spartans went 5-of-18 on third down and 1-of-2 on fourth down. Another big piece was the ability to stop the running game as San Jose State averaged 2.8 rushing yards per attempt. If the defense can continue to be well, it will be difficult to hand this program their first loss.
Ground and Pound
The Air Force Falcons have definitely been a solid rushing offensive team as junior running back Brad Roberts has been dominant on the ground. So far this season, he has 178 attempts on 818 yards (4.6 yards per carry) with eight rushing touchdowns.
Looking at his last game against Boise State, Roberts finished with 28 rushing attempts for 138 yards (4.9 yards per carry) and a pair of rushing touchdowns. If the Falcons can figure out how to run the ball as effective here, it will do wonders for their team.
The Air Force Falcons have been solid defensively this season as they are allowing 16.3 points per game so far. Looking at their last game against the Boise State Broncos, they gave up 17 points on 337 total yards of offense (259 passing, 78 rushing).
They struggled on the money down as they allowed 7-of-13 on third down and forced them to fail to convert on their only fourth down attempts. If the Falcons can play as well defensively as they have here, it will do great for the rest of their season.
Who to Bet
This game is very close in the spread, but I do not understand how Air Force is favored here. San Diego State is healthy, while Air Force is more of a one-dimensional offense that is dealing with a good amount of injuries.
The defenses here both stuff the opposing running game, so I don’t see many points happening for Air Force there as well. The Aztecs are 7-2 against the spread in their last nine games against the Falcons. All in all, go with the ranked program getting points in this game to cover.
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