A nice Mountain West Conference battle takes place on Saturday, as we will see the Wyoming Cowboys travel to Colorado Springs to take on the Air Force Falcons. The start time is 10:15 pm (Eastern) and the game will be televised on ESPN U. Current Odds have Wyoming listed as 4 point favorites, while the total sits at 65.5.

Analysis: This game represents the conference opener for the Cowboys.  They started their year nearly upsetting the Cornhuskers on the road in a game that went back and forth, before Nebraska finally pulled out the 37-34 win. Since then the Pokes have bounced back nicely with a 42-10 victory against Idaho and a 35-7 romp over Northern Colorado last week. Quarterback Brett Smith has done a good job for the Pokes this year and in the North colorado game he hit 30-of-47 passes for 264 yards and a TD, but was picked off once and sacked four times. Smith has completed 63.3 percent of his attempts and has 9 TD passes on the year. On the receiving end of four of those passing scores has been Dominic Rufran who has caught 25 balls for 268 yards. The weak spot of this Wyoming defense is their run defense that has allowed 193.0 ypg. Not good when about to face the Air Force run game. Eddie Yarbrough, third on the team in total tackles with 26, has tried to stem the tide with four sacks and six tackles for loss.

Air Force opened the 2013 campaign with a 38-13 romp over Colgate at home, but then the competition improved and they were outscored by a combined 94-40 count in back-to-back losses to Utah State and Boise State. The Falcons are a rushing team and they have now scored a rushing TD in 50 straight games after Friday’s contest vs the Broncos. Quarterback Jaleel Awini scored twice on the ground for the Academy, finishing with 107 yards on 23 attempts for a squad that generated just 188 yards on 52 carries. The Falcons have averaged 253.0 ypg on the ground this year, with eight touchdowns, three of which have been logged by Awini, who was pressed into duty with the loss of Kale Pearson. The Falcons don’t throw allot, but Awini has completed 10 passes for 186 yards, although one of those completions went for 53 yards to Sam Gagliano which skewed the numbers a bit. The Defense for the Falcons has not been good as they are 110th in yards allowed (470 ypg) and 106th in points allowed (35.7 ppg). Air Force pulled out a narrow 28-27 win in last year's meeting in Laramie, pushing the team's advantage in the all-time series to 27-21-3.

Pick: Have to side with the Cowboys in this one. Both teams have very good offenses, but the Cowboys get a solid edge on defense, plus they also have revenge on their minds from last years loss. The Cowboys are a very improved team this year, just ask Nebraska and will find a way to pull away late in this game. One thing I really noticed last week in the Boise game was that this Air Force team is really undersized and also a very bad tackling time. Both those factors will hurt them in this game. Wyoming by at least a TD.