SAN JOSE, Calif. – This 26-16 victory was a redemption story for Air Force.

A senior cornerback, standing a few yards from where he had dropped a chance for an interception two years ago, grabbed his first pick.

A defense that struggled to stop the pass kept the nation’s top passing attack from throwing a touchdown while collecting two interceptions against a San Jose State quarterback who hadn’t been picked in 275 attempts.

Kickers had misfired on attempts in three of the past four weeks – all in three point losses – but this time connected to clinch the game.

“It would have hit the center upright if there was a center upright,” coach Troy Calhoun said of Reagan Tubbs’ 32-yard field goal with 31 seconds remaining Saturday evening at CEFCU Stadium.

Air Force (3-6, 2-4 Mountain West) forced three turnovers, collected a safety, ran for 265 yards, downed a pair of punts inside the 10, put every kickoff out of the end zone while hitting every PAT and the lone field goal and scored a critical fourth-quarter touchdown through the air. It was the most complete performance of a season that needed a little redeeming.

“Oh, it’s such a breath of fresh air,” said senior defensive lineman Payton Zdroik, who made one of this three tackles in the end zone for the safety.

The turnovers completely changed the game.

The Falcons trailed 3-0 and had gone three and out on both of their offensive possessions when the first one occurred.

San Jose State (3-6, 2-3) quarterback Walker Eget went to the sidelines with an injury and was replaced by Xavier Ward. On his third play, Ward ran to the left and lost the ball at the Falcons’ 19-yard line. Air Force sophomore safety Roger Jones Jr. recovered and the Falcons responded with a 15-play, 81-yard drive that quarterback Liam Szarka capped with the first of his two touchdown runs.

On San Jose State’s next possession Eget threw it to Air Force outside linebacker Jaylin Reese, who had dropped back to the center of the field in coverage. The Falcons turned that into a touchdown and a 14-3 lead.

On the next possession, the Spartans were inside the red zone when, on fourth down, Eget was intercepted by senior cornerback Levi Brown. Brown returned it 42 yards the other way.

As a sophomore he had dropped a potential interception near the end of the game against the Spartans on the same part of the field. The miss wasn’t consequential, as Air Force won by 25 points, but it haunted Brown.

“Felt really good to get that one back,” he said.

Air Force didn’t turn Brown’s interception into points, but the field position allowed punter Luke Freer to drop a punt at the 6-yard line. On San Jose State’s first play Jackson Adams deflected a pass from Eget backwards and it bounced around a bit before being caught by running back Lamar Radcliffe, who was immediately brought down in the end zone by Zdroik.

“I feel like six of us were on top of that guy because all of us were going for the ball,” Zdroik said.

The Spartans cleaned up the turnovers and cut a 16-3 halftime deficit to 16-13 early in the fourth quarter. The Falcons responded with a 10-play, 75-yard drive that was aided by a fourth-down conversion at midfield on a run from Kade Frew.

Szarka went just 5-for-10 passing for 41 yards, but 30 of those yards came on that drive that was capped by a 12-yard touchdown pass to Quin Smith.

“Obviously we know not all wins are the same, and we have had a lot of success throwing the ball early in the season,” Smith said. “But we knew this was going to be physical and we knew we were going to have to grind it out. I was fortunate enough to be in the right spot, the right time and made a play for the team. That was obviously huge.”

San Jose State cut the deficit back to a touchdown at 23-16, but the Falcons again converted a fourth down (thanks to a defensive holding) and then burned clock before sealing it with the Tubbs field goal with 31 seconds remaining.

The Spartans threw for 341 yards, slightly more than their 331.5 yards-per-game average that led the nation entering the game, but they didn’t throw a touchdown pass.

“Our guys are getting better at the details of how to cover,” said Calhoun, whose defense ranked 130^th against the pass. “I think they’re gaining a little more confidence in each one of our coverage structures. Our defensive staff did an absolutely marvelous job of getting ready for these guys.”

The coverage was aided by three quarterback hurries and six pass breakups, including four from linebackers and linemen.

Air Force ran on 63 of its 73 offensive plays, making this somewhat of a throwback game for the program.

“I think the brand we hope to have with Air Force football is winning, at the end of the day,” said fullback Owen Allen, who led the way with 109 yards on 20 carries. “We saw that tonight. … Hard-nosed football is what we do best.”