San Jose State Surprises Air Force

Dan O’Dell threw for three touchdowns, including a nine-yarder to Shawn Green with 4:57 remaining, as San Jose State stunned Air Force, 25-22, Saturday night at San Jose.

Carlos Meeks ran for a career-high 164 yards in 37 carries as the Spartans, 2-5 overall and 2-2 in the Western Athletic Conference, put together consecutive victories for the first time since beating Utah State and Nevada Las Vegas in 1995. San Jose was coming off a 10-7 victory over Texas El Paso.

Air Force (7-2, 4-2), which beat San Jose State, 45-0, last year in the first meeting between the schools, lost its second consecutive game after opening the season with seven consecutive wins and climbing to No. 18 in the rankings. Air Force lost to Fresno State, 20-17, on Oct. 18.

O’Dell, a fifth-year senior making his third career start, was 21 for 36 for 218 yards. His 17-yard completion to Gabe Payne on fourth and two set up the game-winning scoring pass to Green.

Fresno State 46, Nevada Las Vegas 28--Terrence Jones caught two touchdown passes and the Bulldog defense returned two interceptions for scores in a WAC game at Fresno.

Quarterback Billy Volek passed for one touchdown and ran for one for the Bulldogs (4-4, 3-1). UNLV (3-5, 2-3) was without starting quarterback Jon Denton, who was suspended for two games for disciplinary reasons by Coach Jeff Horton. Kevin Crook, starting in place of Denton, passed for 195 yards and two touchdowns.

Brigham Young 31, Texas Christian 10--Third-string quarterback Drew Miller threw three touchdown passes as the Cougars broke away from a 3-3 halftime tie to beat the Horned Frogs at Provo, Utah.

Miller, playing in place of starter Paul Shoemaker and injured backup Kevin Feterik, was 16 for 26 for 180 yards for the Cougars (5-2, 3-1). Ben Cahoon caught 10 passes for 142 yards and a touchdown.

BYU, limited to 96 yards in the first half, rolled up 203 in the third quarter alone against TCU (0-7, 0-4).

Utah 15, New Mexico 10--Utah’s Kevin Dyson made up for fumbling the ball on two runbacks by returning a punt 75 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown that lifted the Utes (4-4, 3-2) to a WAC victory over the Lobos (6-2, 3-2) at Salt Lake City.

With 3:49 remaining in the game, Juan Johnson had apparently scored on a 10-yard touchdown run that would have put Utah ahead, 18-10. But the score was nullified because Utah offensive tackle Josh Cochran lost his helmet during the run and officials ruled the play dead.

Utah settled for a 22-yard Tommy Truhe field goal to go ahead 15-10.

New Mexico had two possessions to score, but Lobo quarterback Graham Leigh failed to complete a pass on the first possession and was intercepted by Ute linebacker Phil Glover with 23 seconds left.

After his second fumbled punt return, Dyson, an All-American candidate who also dropped two passes in the first half, promised quarterback Jonathan Crosswhite, “I’m going to get the next one.”

With the Utes trailing, 10-6, in the fourth quarter, Dyson took a punt at the Utah 25, side-stepped two defenders then broke left and streaked to the end zone.

Earlier in the second half, Dyson outran the Lobo defense on a deep post pattern for a 50-yard reception that set up the Utes’ first score.

Still bothered by the dropped punts, Dyson refused to talk to the media after the game.

The win snapped Utah’s three-game losing streak.

Southern Methodist 22, Wyoming 17--Roy Rios kicked three field goals and Chris Sanders completed a 22-yard touchdown pass to Tony Newsome with 6:18 left as the Mustangs (3-4, 2-2) rallied from a 10-point deficit to defeated the Cowboys (5-4, 2-2) at Dallas.

The Mustangs got revenge for a 59-17 whipping last year by the Cowboys.

Rios kicked field goals of 52, 39, and 30 yards in the third quarter to give SMU a 16-10 lead.

Tracy Hart’s interception set up SMU on the Wyoming 45 late in the fourth quarter. On fourth and one from the Wyoming 24, SMU’s Donte Womack ran four yards to keep the drive alive. The touchdown pass to Newsome came on third and 12.

Wyoming’s Jay Stoner scored on a four-yard run with 3:21 left, capping a 65-yard drive.