Air Force is set to face Hawai’i on Saturday, September 27 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs. The game marks the 24th meeting between the two teams and the 22nd as conference opponents in the Mountain West. Air Force leads the overall series with a record of 14-8-1, including a 13-7-1 advantage in conference play. At home, Air Force holds a 6-2 record against Hawai’i.
The Falcons enter the matchup with a season record of 1-2 (0-2 MW), while Hawai’i stands at 3-2 (0-1 MW). In their last encounter on November 11, 2023, Hawai’i defeated Air Force 27-13 in Honolulu. During that game, Hawaii’s Brayden Schager contributed both passing and rushing touchdowns and led his team with 176 passing yards. For Air Force, Dylan Carson rushed for 87 yards and scored one touchdown.
Hawai’i also won their last visit to Falcon Stadium in double overtime on October 22, 2016, breaking Air Force’s then-active home winning streak. That game ended with a score of 34-27 after both teams exchanged touchdowns through regulation and overtime.
The annual contest between these programs features the General Laurence S. Kuter Trophy, which commemorates cooperation between Hawai’i and the U.S. Air Force. The trophy is currently held by Hawai’i following their win last year.
This season, Air Force has maintained several notable streaks despite recent losses. The Falcons have achieved at least 250 rushing yards and three touchdowns in seven consecutive games—a new Mountain West record—and have extended their national lead for consecutive games with over 100 rushing yards to 88.
Last week, Boise State defeated Air Force by a score of 49-37 at Falcon Stadium. Despite the loss, Air Force accumulated over 500 total offensive yards for the first time since September of the previous year. Liam Szarka led with career highs in both passing (246 yards) and rushing (111 yards), becoming the first Falcon since Isaiah Sanders in October 2018 to surpass both thresholds in a single game.
On individual performance notes from that game:
Senior fullback Dylan Carson recorded his sixth career game with more than one hundred rushing yards; freshman safety Max Mustell made his first start and tallied thirteen tackles along with an interception; sophomore quarterback Liam Szarka set multiple personal bests across passing and rushing categories; wide receiver Cade Harris posted eight receptions for a career-high of one hundred seventy-seven receiving yards—the eighth highest single-game mark in school history.
Hawai’i enters this week after narrowly losing to Fresno State but leads its conference in punt return average (13.0). Their kicker Kensei Matsuzawa remains perfect on field goals this season—converting all thirteen attempts—and ranks among national leaders for field goals per game.
If victorious against Hawai’i this weekend, Air Force would improve its overall record to .500 on the season and notch its first Mountain West win of this campaign.
