WESTERN ATHLETIC ROUNDUP : Air Force Easily Beats Wyoming, 51-28

There was supposed to be a minor quarterback controversy brewing at Air Force, but Rob Perez played so well, the subject should never have been raised.

Performing as if determined to make an emphatic statement about his status, Perez ran for 156 yards and three touchdowns and passed for another touchdown to lead Air Force to a 51-28 thrashing of Wyoming in a Western Athletic Conference game Saturday at Air Force Academy, Colo.

Last week, Perez played in such lackluster fashion that he was replaced twice by backup Jarvis Baker in the Falcons’ first loss of the season at Brigham Young.

Perez gave way to Baker again Saturday after completing two of six passes for 100 yards and staking the Falcons, 5-1 overall and 4-1 in the WAC, to a 37-7 lead midway through the third quarter.

Air Force’s wishbone offense finished with 651 total yards--the third-best total in school history--including 488 on the ground.

“It was our inability to run down Perez that hurt,” Wyoming Coach Joe Tiller said. “We had some people a couple of steps from making a play, but just didn’t have the speed. Perez is just a solid guy. He does an excellent job of reading the option.”

Wyoming (2-3-1, 0-2-1) had 379 total yards but a retreating ground game that netted minus seven yards--a figure inflated by six Air Force sacks of Tom Corontzos and backup Peter Rowe.

Air Force scored on four of its six first-half possessions to take a 24-7 lead at intermission.

Colorado State 23, Texas El Paso 18--Colorado State was behind, 18-17, when Tom Romero blocked a punt and Greg Primus returned it 32 yards for a touchdown with 1:36 remaining to give the Rams the WAC victory at El Paso.

Primus also caught seven passes for 84 yards for Colorado State (3-3, 2-1).

UTEP (3-2-1, 1-1-1) took its 18-17 lead early in the fourth quarter on Jason Gillespie’s 49-yard field goal. Gillespie also kicked field goals of 52, 39 and 37 yards to tie a school record for field goals in a game.