Falcons defeat San Jose State, 37-16, lose starting QB Published Sept. 17, 2015 By John Van Winkle U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- Air Force paid a high price in securing a 37-16 win over San Jose here Sept. 12 when Falcons starting quarterback Nate Romine went down with an injury on a critical fourth-quarter drive. The Falcons and Spartans kept the game close until the fourth quarter, when Air Force fullback D.J. Johnson broke a 13-yard run to put the Falcons up 23-17. The Falcon defense held the Spartans to a three-and-out, paving the path for Romine. The junior quarterback led the Falcons on a run-heavy march downfield to eat up the clock and place the ball at the Spartan three-yard line. On a third-and-goal, Romine fell back to pass and sprinted right to find a passer. Seeing a seam, he dove for the goal line but was hit by two defenders from two different directions. Romine's right leg caught between the defenders as he went down at the one yard-line. He left the game with assistance and did not return. Falcons coaching staff would not disclose the injury's severity or Romine's availability. After an the injury time-out, senior quarterback Karson Roberts took the helm as the Falcons went for it on a fourth-and-goal from the one yard-line. Roberts handed off to Johnson who dove over the pile to score and put the Falcons up 30-16. With seven minutes left in regulation, the Spartans needed two scores to win. The Spartans abandoned their two-quarterback system experiment and went to the air behind quarterback Joe Gray. The Spartans' hope for a turnaround ended when Falcon safety Weston Steelhammer intercepted Gray at the Falcons' 13 yard-line. Roberts led the Falcons back on to the field to grind away at the clock but added to the score. Tailback Jacobi Owens broke a run for 52 yards on the first play of the series. Three plays later, Johnson broke around the right side for a 34-yard scoring run, racking up his third touchdown of the game and sealing a 37-16 victory. "We knew going in (the Spartans are) a pretty good football team," said Falcons head coach Troy Calhoun. "They're a team at the end of the year that will win a lot of games. They made some things difficult on us and that's a credit to them." The Falcons ended the game with 490 yards of total offense, including 428 yards rushing. Romine was the leading rusher with 116 yards in the game. If Romine is unable to play, the way forward for the Falcons is with Roberts at quarterback. Roberts started three games last season, racking up a 121.54 quarterback efficiency rating before an injury moved him off the playing field. Romine came in as a starter and the pair has been Air Force's top quarterbacks for the past year. "I thought Karson did a great job coming in at the end of the fourth quarter," Calhoun said. "I thought our offensive line played pretty well in the fourth quarter too. There were some spaces in there to be able to run which helps us." The road for the Falcons only gets more difficult from this point on. The 2-0 Falcons travel to East Lansing, Mich., for a Sept. 19 game against the No. 4 Michigan State Spartans. The Falcons have the No. 2 rushing offense in the NCAA, averaging 411 yards per game and have outscored opponents 100- 23 this season. The Spartans were the NCAA's No. 1 rushing defense for 2014 and have allowed only 70.5 rushing yards per game this year. Kickoff is 10 a.m. (MT) and the game will be televised nationally on ABC. Locally, Falcon fans can also catch the action on KVOR 740 AM.