COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- It's a draw of two opposites.

Air Force is consistent and 5-0. The Cougars are inconsistent and stand 3-2.

Today, the Mountain West Conference race will take on a serious tone when the Falcons host the Cougars at 8 p.m. on this side of the Continental Divide.

The Falcons are a squad that has staged comebacks against New Mexico, California and Utah. The Cougars are a team hoping for a quick start, continuity and dismissal of mistakes and penalties that have marred the first month of play.

BYU coach Gary Crowton is anxious for kickoff. His team will do a mixture of watching football and holding team meetings here at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort quite a distance from the Air Force campus, today.

"This is an exciting ball game, the kind you want to be involved with," Crowton said earlier.

Indeed.

On one hand, AFA is favored, ranked and undefeated. But on the other, no team in the NCAA has dominated the Falcons as often and as long as the Cougars over the years -- not even Notre Dame.

Although criticized often the past two seasons, BYU defensive coordinator Ken Schmidt has consistently found a way to bottle up AFA's potent option attack.

Since 1982, the Cougar defense, with Schmidt in a role as linebacker coach or coordinator, has limited the Falcons to a field goal twice and a lone touchdown three times. Last year in Provo, the Cougars led 63-13 before, with the game already decided, the Falcons scored an additional 20 points late in the fourth quarter.

This year's AFA squad has added a great quarterback in Chance Harridge, a 5-foot-11, 185-pound junior who has ignited the Falcon option with precision running. While not a great passer, the Falcons have used the halfback pass effectively and it was a Harridge touchdown pass with 17 seconds left that doomed the Utes two weeks ago.

AFA has also added a little power-I formation running with its triple option attack and changed its defense to a 3-3-5, geared to stop the pass while disguising blitz packages.

BYU's challenge is simple: avoid turnovers, get first downs, move the ball and score often while hoping Schmidt's defense does its regular job in this traditional series, forcing third-and-long situations.

If the Cougars allow AFA to control the clock and the ball on offense, the BYU firepower that has been inconsistent all year will be on the sidelines.

The predictions:

Air Force 32, BYU 28: Take consistency over the patchwork record of the Cougar offense and defense through five games.

Colorado State 34, Wyoming 10: Look for the Rams to dial up a Border War victory in this game, which has traditionally been fairly spirited. Who knows where Wyoming is headed in weeks to comefi

Utah 27, San Diego State 21: The Aztecs have the firepower to hurt Utah's weakness, which is pass defense. But the Aztecs have no way to combat Utah's run offense, even if it struggled in the second half against Air Force. It may not matter who is Utah's QB in this game.

UNLV 33, New Mexico 7: This was supposed to be a very good football game between two middle-of-the-pack MWC clubs. But the Lobos have fallen on tough times, losing a starting quarterback to injury and his backup to a suspension this week for breaking team rules.

Dick Harmon, executive sports editor, can be reached at 344-2547 or dharmon@heraldextra.com.

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This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page B1.