If there's a formula for BYU winning football games at home, this is a good one to follow: Get an early turnover, convert it into points, play with the lead the rest of the game.

Hey, it's worked so far.

That's exactly what BYU did on Saturday in front of a sellout crowd of 64,502, capitalizing on Quinn Gooch's first-quarter interception with a touchdown, then running away with a 31-6 victory over Air Force. It was the Cougars' eighth straight win in LaVell Edwards Stadium.

On Air Force's first possession, Gooch stepped in front of a Shaun Carney pass to set up the Cougars on the Falcons' 43-yard line.

"It was a good way to start the game, period," Gooch said. "They rolled out and I noticed on film that the quarterback would settle and throw back across his body. I caught the ball, thank goodness."

Six plays later, senior running back Manase Tonga carried the ball into the end zone on a 1-yard run for a 7-0 BYU lead just three minutes into the game. BYU was never really threatened after taking that early lead.

"Our defense played solidly," said BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall. "They rose to the occasion and they were anxious to play assignment-sound football. Quinn was anxious to get off to a fast start as well."

BYU (2-2 overall, 1-0 MWC) made it 14-0 on the first play of the second quarter, capping a 56-yard drive with a 9-yard touchdown pass from Max Hall to Matt Allen. Mitch Payne booted a 42-yard field goal late in the second quarter for a 17-0 halftime lead.

"The game of football is definitely a game of momentum," said BYU senior linebacker Bryan Kehl. "If you look at the two games we lost, we didn't do a good job of managing momentum and critical changes and turnovers. Getting that turnover for us right at the start of game was a huge momentum boost and put our offense in a great position. That kind of steamrolled the whole game."

Any hope Air Force had of getting back into the game ended on BYU's first drive of the second half. The Cougars moved 80 yards in 10 plays, which included a 29-yard completion from Hall to sophomore tight end Dennis Pitta on third-and-19. The Cougars decided to go for it on fourth-and-9 at the Air Force 29, and Hall lofted a pass down the sideline to freshman running back Harvey Unga for the score. That made the score 24-0 before Air Force even had a chance on the offensive side.

The Falcons used a big play -- a 49-yard pass from Carney to Chad Hall on play action -- to set up their only score of the game, an 8-yard touchdown run by Carney with 3:31 to play in the third quarter.

BYU followed that score with one if its own, taking the ball 80 yards in 11 plays. Another big pass from Hall to Pitta moved the Cougars into the "blue zone" and Tonga scored his second touchdown of the game on a 2-yard run with 13:51 left to play.

BYU's poor performance defensively last week at Tulsa was followed by a strong effort against Air Force. The Cougars held the Falcons to just 231 total yards, including 133 on the ground, more than 120 yards below their average. BYU had seven tackles for loss, with two from sophomore defensive end Jan Jorgensen.

"You can't help but smile when you see the execution and result," Kehl said. "It was a great day for the defense and a great day for the offense. We really let the game get out of control last week (against Tulsa). Our defense did a terrible job last week and we really wanted to correct those things today."

The BYU offense still had too many penalties (8 for 65 yards) and two turnovers, including Hall's fourth fumble of the season and an interception that led to the Air Force score. But the BYU defensive effort kept those mistakes from making an impact on the game.

Hall finished 22-of-33 for 293 yards and two touchdowns. Pitta had his second straight 100-yard performance with five catches for 114 yards and Unga had his second straight 100-yard rushing game of the season -- 111 yards on 22 carries. BYU also won the time of possession battle by 14 minutes.

Air Force, which came into the game with wins over two of the three Mountain West Conference preseason favorites (Utah and TCU), couldn't pull off a third.

"Hat's off to BYU," said Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said. "They're defending conference champions and I thought they played like that today. They were clearly the more physical football team and that should be a tough pill for our guys to swallow."

BYU will play at New Mexico next Saturday at 6:30 p.m. on The mtn. Air Force takes on service academy rival Navy.

Daily Herald Sports Editor Darnell Dickson can be reached at 344-2555 or by e-mail at ddickson@heraldextra.com

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This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D5.