How to watch Air Force football vs. San Jose State on Saturday

Air Force hosts San Jose State on Saturday in the Mountain West opener.

HOW TO WATCH

Kickoff: 5 p.m. Saturday at Falcon Stadium (ticket information)

TV/stream: CBS Sports Network — in Colorado Springs on DirecTV 221, Dish Network 158 and Xfinity/Comcast 170/846 as well as through the CBS Sports streaming devices

Broadcast crew: Chris Lewis (play-by-play), Taylor McHargue (analyst)

Radio: KVOR AM 740 in Colorado Springs, 104.3 the Fan in Denver, SIRIUS 383

Air Force broadcast crew: Jim Arthur (play-by-play), Jesse Kurtz (analyst)

WHAT I’LL BE WATCHING

The Gazette's Brent Briggeman identifies areas he'll be tracking during the game.

1. Fullback Owen Allen

The sophomore wasn’t even on Air Force’s official roster entering last week (listed instead on the team’s “joiner” roster distributed on game day that includes players not included on the roster but in uniform for that game), but when starting fullback Dylan Carson went down with an injury, Allen became the backfield’s workhorse. He finished with a team-high 16 carries for 63 yards, pacing the team in both. Allen’s background is eye-popping — rushing for 7,600 yards and 120 touchdowns for Southlake (Texas) Carroll. The Falcons have found multiple surprise sophomore contributors at fullback in recent years — Timothy Jackson, Brad Roberts and Carson last year — and Saturday could be Allen’s chance to show he’s ready to be that guy this year.

2. San Jose State’s discipline

The Spartans have 49 new players this season, which ranks 30th in college football (that it’s not Top 10 says a lot about the state of college football). That figure includes 30 transfers, 14th most. Only North Texas (46) and Colorado (51) have fewer returning players than the Spartans’ 53. All this to say, that’s a lot of new players to learn the system. And for new players learning a system, Week 2 is a rough spot to completely pivot and prepare for an unorthodox attack like Air Force’s offense. It will be on the Falcons to capitalize if San Jose State defenders find themselves out of position or unable to maintain the discipline to stick to their task on certain plays.

3. Air Force quarterback John Busha

All of the Falcons’ position groups will be looking for improvement after a rough performance last week, but the focus will be on quarterback John Busha. Can he get the team in the right play? Can he provide a threat as a runner? Can his arm bail out the team if it falls off schedule? It’s been a while since so much uncertainty has followed Air Force’s offense into a game, but the Falcons could mask many deficiencies behind a stellar performance from the quarterback.

BY THE NUMBERS

3.5

Betting line as of Friday, favoring Air Force. The line had opened at 5.5 but moved two points during the week toward San Jose State.

4

Wins in five meetings for Air Force over San Jose State since the Spartans joined the Mountain West. The lone loss for the Falcons came in a 17-6 setback in San Jose in 2020, a season played during COVID-19 restrictions (no crowd was on hand) and during a season in which Air Force had roughly three dozen players who temporarily left the academy on turnbacks.

6

San Jose State has won six consecutive Mountain West games, topping New Mexico, Utah State, Hawaii, Fresno State, San Diego State and UNLV, all by double digits, to close the 2023 season. Air Force, conversely, closed 2023 on a three-game conference losing streak.

42

Points scored for San Jose State in its opener, marking the most for a San Jose State head coach (Ken Niumatalolo) in his program debut since Jack Elway (father of John) had 48 in a tie against Utah State on Sept. 8, 1979.

2,000

Estimated number of cadets who will be required to attend Saturday’s game under new policy that no longer mandates the full cadet wing attend most games (the opener and the Oct. 5 Navy game being the exceptions). For the other four home games, starting with this one, half of the cadets must attend.