Brent Briggeman, The Gazette

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. – The football gods seemed cruelly specific in crafting this test for Air Force.

The pass defense, which has struggled all season, overcame the nation’s most prolific passing quarterback last week. Now it must prove itself against the No. 2 quarterback in the country who also has eight more touchdowns and five fewer interceptions than the last one.

They made it through last week largely on the strength of three forced turnovers. OK, now it will see a team that has turned it over just once in its 10 games.

Last week’s game was played on the Pacific Coast. How ‘bout traveling to New England for this one?

Air Force largely nullified one of the two 1,000-yard receivers in college football last week. This week it draws the other.

If the Falcons are indeed going to finish a second consecutive season with four consecutive wins, which would mean bowl eligibility, it’s clearly going to have to survive rigorous stress testing. And then retesting.

“Ought to be a heck of a challenge,” Air Force (3-6) coach Troy Calhoun said of the 10 a.m. Saturday matchup with Connecticut (7-3) on CBS Sports Network.

The Falcons bring their own advantages into the game, namely an option-based offense that UConn has never seen. Air Force ranks second nationally in rushing, the Huskies are 106^th in stopping the run.

The Falcons are also motivated, clinging to hope of a bowl game. And they are confident. Those issues on defense are still concerns, but none of the past three opponents have scored more than 21 points.

“I look at this as an opportunity to go make plays,” Air Force sophomore safety Roger Jones Jr. said. “They’re going to throw the ball up, so this is an opportunity to go get picks, interceptions, PBUs, all that kind of stuff. That’s the fun part of the game.”

UConn is led by quarterback Joe Fagnano, whose stat line might require a doubletake: 2,840 yards, 68.8 completion percentage, 25 touchdowns, zero interceptions.

Fagnano made his collegiate debut in 2019 with 16 touchdowns, three interceptions in seven games for Maine. A seventh-year player, Fagnano played two college football seasons under the first Trump Administration. Air Force has just one player in the defensive secondary who made a start before this Trump Administration that began four years later.

And it’s not as though there’s an obvious area in which they throw, though Skyler Bell – with 85 catches for 1,081 yards and 13 touchdowns – is a good place to start.

“It’s all of it,” Calhoun said. “If you look at a hit chart you’d see there are dots everywhere. It’s not just in the paint where (Kareem Abdul-) Jabbar is around the basket.”

UConn is also averaging 5.0 rushing yards per attempt, with Cam Edwards leading the way with 866 yards on 159 carries.

Coach Jim Mora’s team is 16-7 since the start of last season and is favored by 7.5 points on some sites for this matchup.

It’s another thorough test that has Air Force’s full attention.

“You win out and you make a bowl,” said tight end Bruin Fleischmann, who is particularly intrigued by the possibility of an invitation to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in his home state. “OK, let’s go. We need to make this one happen.”