AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. — Nobody this season exploded for 21 points on Troy Calhoun's Air Force Falcons.

But that's exactly what the Cougars did in the third quarter to take control of the game — carve out momentum and coast to a 38-24 win at Falcon Stadium on Saturday. AFA fell to 8-3 overall and 5-2 in MWC play, and dreams of a tie for the conference title died.

"Against a great football team, you can't afford to make errors like we did in that quarter," said Calhoun. "It cost us."

The Falcons started the second half with a 14-10 lead, but a penalty on the first play forced the Falcons into a bad situation. When they punted, BYU immediately scored on a 1-yard run by Harvey Unga. On the ensuing kickoff, the Falcons' Reggie Rembert fumbled on a hit by Blake Morgan. And when freshman Spencer Hadley recovered for the Cougars, it took Max Hall one set of downs to send Unga in for another score and a 24-14 lead.

Fullback Todd Newell gained 116 yards on 21 carries to lead the Falcons, who gained a respectable 421 yards on the Cougars. But BYU's offense had too many weapons for the Falcons' defense.

"They are superb football team," said Calhoun. "Their sense of timing is something else. Max Hall is a great quarterback. His receivers don't have to make the acrobatic-type catches because he is so accurate."

Calhoun pointed to a critical series when his blitzer, Chris Thomas, came at Hall on a backside safety blitz with the Cougars ahead just 31-24 and facing a third-and-8 in the fourth quarter. Within a half step of sacking Hall, the BYU quarterback fired a first-down pass to Austin Collie.

"Instinct or whatever, he got rid of the ball just in time. That was a big, big play because if we'd have got the ball back, who knows what would have happened," said Calhoun.

"Austin Collie is as great a receiver as there is in college football. His hands, his speed and his concentration, he has it all."

As good as Hall was at making plays, AFA's defense had chances at three interceptions right in the hands of secondary players, and Aaron Kirchoff did pick Hall in the end zone off a tipped pass to thwart a Cougar scoring drive before intermission.

Calhoun's team now plays TCU on the road, a club that has had plenty of time to prepare since last playing at Utah on a Thursday night.

"When you play these guys, you're never going to be flawless, but there are certain games you have to be pretty darn close to it," Calhoun said. "We didn't come up with very many stops, had the short punt and the fumble on the kickoff return.

"We had some opportunities to make first downs and we didn't make it there. We had some chances to come up with some interceptions. You've got to make every single one of those plays," he said. "Just from a program standpoint, we've got a ways to go. We have some work to do to say the least."

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E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com