COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Tribune News Service) — These games never reveal everything, but Air Force fullback Dylan Carson took a key impression away from a blowout victory over Bucknell.

“It feels a little different, just in the air,” Carson said, contrasting the big-picture vibe following Saturday’s 49-13 win with what took place a year earlier.

Last year the Falcons struggled in their opening victory, also against a Football Championship Subdivision team, and they lost the next seven games while trying to iron out the kinks.

This time, one of the only kinks came when two players were in the spot to haul in a 62-yard touchdown pass.

“I saw ( Tre Roberson) coming and thought, ‘Please no, please no, please no,’” said Cade Harris, who took command of the play like a center fielder and caught the pass from Josh Johnson for one of his three touchdowns. “It ended up working out, all good. But it scared me there for a second.”

Harris led the Falcons with 66 rushing yards, 83 receiving yards and also returned a punt for seven yards.

There were few other scares Saturday, at least of the non-weather variety in a contest with a third-quarter lightning delay that left the remainder of the game played in a near empty stadium.

The Falcons switched every two offensive possessions between quarterbacks. Johnson, a junior, took the first two before sophomore Liam Szarka took the next two, setting the pattern.

The cumulative effect was, well, effective. The Falcons jumped to a 14-0 lead that grew to 28-7 by halftime and outgained the Bison 426 to 266, with 267 of those yards coming on the ground and 159 through the air.

Two of the offensive possessions – one behind each quarterback – required just one play to reach the end zone.

“It was a little different feel for the defense,” said linebacker Blake Fletcher, who had a team-high 11 tackles. “We were scoring so quickly that we (as a defense) were on the field a little more than normal. But it was awesome to see and I’m really excited to see how we continue to grow and how we can use both of those quarterbacks to help our team win.”

The Falcons had hoped to maintain the momentum, or at least the mentality, that helped them close with a four-game winning streak and saw plenty of signs that might be the case, particularly on the offensive side.

“How we played today, I think we have a lot of power and passion of how we play. And I think we can keep that going for the rest of the year,” said Carson, who ran for 52 yards on 11 carries and scored a touchdown in a fifth consecutive game.

And, yes, this came against an FCS team. But last year Air Force averaged just 3.4 yards per play in the opener. This year that figure jumped to 7.1.

On the defensive side it wasn’t about continuity so much as breaking in a new wave of players. Six sophomores started, with three of them – free safety Roger Jones Jr. (interception), cornerback Mikhail Seiken (forced fumble) and cornerback Korey Johnson (fumble recovery for a touchdown) – having a hand in a turnover.

Bucknell went seven plays for 33 yards on its opening possession and scored a touchdown after marching 11 plays for 75 yards on its third. But after that the starting defense gave up just one first down on five possessions before the reserves took over after the weather delay deep in the third quarter.

Outside linebacker Isaac Hubert, a junior, had two sacks among his three tackles to help stymie a pair of drives.

“I think the biggest thing is guys weren’t nervous,” coach Troy Calhoun said. “Guys weren’t loose. Guys were focused. That’s what we want. We want guys who trust their training and preparation and certainly seeing those guys out there and watching the freshmen yesterday (in an intrasquad game), there’s part of you that thinks about 2027 and how we’ll have some fun with these guys.”

The team, which was as exuberant after the game as it was dominant during it, is having fun with the possibilities now in front of it.

“Energy is up,” Carson said. “It helps when the points on the scoreboard are a lot higher. Just how we’re paying together, how everyone was working together. … I definitely think we’re going to keep this rolling week to week.”

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