AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. — Simply put, on Saturday, BYU did its part to deliver a win, a national ranking and set up an historic showdown in Rice-Eccles Stadium between the Cougars and Utes in six days by whipping Air Force by 14.

When rankings come out today, the 11-0 Utes will be comfortably seated in the top 10. The 10-1 Cougars, who once upon a time this season also dwelled there, should move up somewhere from No. 12 to 14.

This rivalry has never had teams ranked this high face one another.

Let the bickering, name-calling, bragging and smackdowns begin. Fans, start your emotions.

The Cougars used a makeshift defense and the firepower of quarterback Max Hall's Three Amigos to dispatch Air Force 38-24. It was a game that should have been about 45-24 if the Cougars had pounded it in instead of gone to the air from the 3-yard line to end the first half.

If the Cougars had lost, certainly it would have taken some luster off the rivalry game that will decide a BCS berth, offer a ton of money and, in the case of the Cougars, a possible third-straight MWC title.

Once again, Austin Collie (7 catches for 130 yards), Dennis Pitta (9 for 113) and Harvey Unga (19 carries for 89 yards) stepped up for Hall, who threw a pair of TD passes to Collie.

This was the fifth-straight win over the Falcons by the Cougars, a team that seemingly has the pesky cadets' number. The win gave the Cougars 20 wins in their last 21 games, 10 in their last 11, and BYU left the military campus with a 23-6 lead in the series.

Still, the early billboard for the upcoming Cougar-Ute duel is that BYU can't stop Utah and the stout Ute defense will simply lasso Hall and his Three Musketeers.

If Bronco Mendenhall could speak his mind — and he would not on Saturday — he'd take that story line and work it. Any coach likes to work angles, and the Cougars, after losing to TCU a month ago, showed a penchant for playing games with the scope on a flat-line.

But Saturday, the Cougars had one of their stars break the mold of The Cloned Ones by spitting some fire at halftime after BYU lost a 10-0 lead and trailed 14-10.

A team and program that simply doesn't hate anybody got a little mad.

Collie, who describes himself as a non-emotional guy who wants his play to do his talking, got up at halftime and let his teammates have it. Sick of seeing a zombie-like emotionless, workman-like approach, he called for some emotion.

"We're better than this; play like it," he screamed.

"We needed somebody to step up and get in these guys' faces and say this isn't how we play football," said Collie.