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Saturday, Oct. 16 8:00pm ET
Smith's three 2nd-half TDs leads Utah | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AP) -- On a bitterly cold evening, Steve Smith and Darnell Arceneaux warmed their coach's heart. Smith, Utah's junior receiver, scored three touchdowns in the second half -- two of them on passes from Arceneaux -- as the Utes beat Air Force (No. 25 ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll; unranked AP) 21-15 on Saturday night. Smith also returned a punt 61 yards for a TD.
"What can you say (about Smith)," coach Ron McBride said. "He's an incredible playmaker. I saw him fumble the punt return and I said 'oh, no.' The next thing I know, he picked it up and he was gone." Arceneaux, slowed by a sprained right foot the previous two games, entered the game late in the first quarter and ignited a sluggish offense. "I didn't think on Monday that he would play," McBride said. "But you can never count him out. He put his heart and soul into the game. He was even excited about the weather being bad." The game was played in light snow, which obscured the yard lines, and with a 28-degree temperature at kickoff. Utah (5-1 overall, 2-0 Mountain West) rallied from a 3-0 halftime deficit with two touchdowns by Smith just 1:45 apart early in the third quarter. On the first play from scrimmage of the second half, Air Force quarterback Mike Thiessen fumbled and tackle Garrett Smith recovered at the 13. Three plays later, Arceneaux passed 13 yards to Smith on a slant pattern off for the game's first touchdown with 13:19 left in the quarter. Moments later, Smith circled under a punt and dropped the ball, but quickly recovered and dashed around the left side for a 14-3 lead with 11:34 to go. "I dropped it and my main focus was, 'Man, I got to get it before I can do anything,' " Smith said. "I picked it up and had just great blocking, and that was all she wrote. They kicked it short. I would have outrun the coverage either way." After a field goal by Air Force (4-2, 1-2), Arceneaux drove the Utes 80 yards in 10 plays, capped by Smith's 21-yard reception on the first play of the fourth quarter for a 21-6 lead. "It's been a tough week," said Arceneaux, tears streaming down his face. "It's been injuries and other stuff in my life. It was like everything was kind of falling down. I could not have any dream come true right now than getting the big win like this over Air Force." Air Force subsequently drove to the Utah 22 against the MWC's best defense, but Thiessen's pass was intercepted by cornerback Jay Hill. Thiessen threw a 24-yard TD pass to Ryan Fleming on the Falcons' next possession, but fullback Nathan Beard was stopped on the fourth-down conversion try. Jackson Whiting kicked his third field goal, from 33 yards, to cut the deficit to 21-15 with 58 seconds left, but Utah then recovered an onside kick. "I wish I had a solution for what happened at the beginning of the second half," Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry said. "If you're going to be a championship football team, you have to be able to handle sudden change. "Utah made the plays tonight when they had to, and we didn't. We shot ourselves in the foot a few times." After Smith's two quick touchdowns, the Falcons had driven to the Utah 3-yard line, but three false-start penalties forced them to settle for a field goal. On their final possession, they reached the 6 but an illegal block resulted in another field goal. Both teams started backup quarterbacks because of injuries, with T.D. Croshaw opening for Utah before giving way to regular starter Arceneaux late in the first quarter. Thiessen played the entire game in place of Cale Bonds for Air Force. Whiting's 35-yard field goal with 8:03 left in the second quarter was the only score of the first half. Neither team generated much offense early in the game under the frigid conditions. Five minutes into the game, Smith returned a punt 49 yards to the Air Force 34, but the Air Force defense held and a false-start penalty forced the Utes to punt. Early in the second quarter, Air Force began a 14-play, 59-yard drive culminating in Whiting's field goal. Thiessen kept the drive alive with two third-down conversions, including a 10-yard pass to Matt Farmer on third-and-10. Utah had a scoring chance late in the half, reaching the Air Force 30. Mike Anderson's 17-yard run helped get the drive started, but a holding penalty set the Utes back and Golden Whetman was short on a 57-yard field goal attempt. | ALSO SEE College Football Scoreboard Utah Clubhouse Air Force Clubhouse AUDIO/VIDEO   Steve Smith runs the punt in for the score.avi: 960 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN Darnell Arceneaux finds the open receiver for the touchdown.avi: 839 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | |||||
