AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- Two weeks ago, ESPN's College GameDay, ESPN.com's GameDay Online, ESPN The Magazine, Sports Illustrated and just about every other major media outlet was here for the Notre Dame-Air Force game. We were all talking about the Falcons as BCS spoiler. How they could come out of the Mountain West and shock the world by beating the Irish and maybe work their way into one of the BCS bowls.

Instead, they fell victim to Notre Dame and, while they may not admit it, had a hangover effect in last week's loss to Wyoming and now face No. 24 Colorado State tonight on a two-game losing streak.

	No. 24 Colorado State at Air Force
	Kirk Herbstreit joins Chris Fowler and Lee Corso for tonight's 7:30 p.m. ET battle between No. 24 Colorado State and Air Force on ESPN. Herbstreit's Thursday Night Lights will appear weekly and breakdown the Thursday night game.

The Falcons learned a valuable lesson last week. Any time you have that much hype for a school that typically doesn't get it against a team that is used to playing in the national spotlight like ND, it's really tough a week later to get back emotionally where you need to be. Especially falling just short like the Falcons did, well, there was bound to be a hangover. So, they head to Wyoming in front of just 15,000 -- they played in front of a stadium-record 56,409 against ND -- with no bright lights, no TV and learned they could can't take any team lightly.

For Air Force, this is its chance to regroup. The players can't wait to get back on the field. They are happy this is a Thursday game because its gets them back on the field quicker. They're anxious to be back on national TV to show its a much better than the way its played the past two weeks.

Getting Back On Track
For Air Force, it all comes down to the triple-option, or the Wingbone, as the Falcons call it. They need to get this offense in order and executing the way they know they can. Notre Dame did an outstanding job of being physical inside to take the fullback away and stretching Air Force QB Chance Harridge out, taking away the seam, backcut and the pitch. They just beat the triple-option with overall talent and speed.

Look for Colorado State defensive coordinator Larry Kerr to try a similar game plan. The Rams will try to be physical inside to take away the fullback and use their speed to get to Harridge or go one-on-one with RB Leotis Palmer if he gets the pitch.

Of course, this can be a risky defense. When you defend the triple-option, basically every one is assigned a man. If someone breaks a tackle, guess what -- there's no one left to stop him. If you have a bunch of sure tacklers, it's no problem. If not, you'll give up a lot of big plays.

Notre Dame gave the blueprint of how to stop Air Force, using its speed and tackling ability of its safeties. I'm not sure Colorado State brings the same type of speed and play in the secondary as the Irish. The Colorado State defense is banged up, especially in its secondary. They have five healthy players to play the four secondary positions. Expect some big plays from the triple-option tonight.

CSU Offense Is Ran Tough
Many people haven't had a chance to see Colorado State, but they feature a very good two-pronged attack.

Led by Cecil Sapp, who has 1,090 yards, is just one of eight players in D-I to have over 1,000 yards rushing. He might be one of the more powerful runners in the country and is a future NFL back. Guys in the conference compare him to former Utah star and current Denver Bronco Mike Anderson, but they say Sapp has more upside.

Spotlight Player

Air Force QB Chance Harridge With the way CSU moves around on the line, Harridge will have more responsibility tonight than in any other game this season. Watch him to make the right reads and he has the potential to have a big night. Colorado State RB Cecil Sapp vs. Air Force LBs Anthony Schlegel and John Rudzinski These guys will be hammering each other all night. This may be the most important battle on the field tonight.

Sapp will be fun to watch tonight. There are a couple inches of snow on the ground, it will be cold -- guessing the windchill will be below zero by kickoff -- and he'll be rambling, picking up those knees and guys will be bouncing off him legs. He's a strong, strong back.

Then, not only does Colorado State have Sapp and a power running game, QB Bradlee Van Pelt is dangerous running and throwing the ball. The Rams have tweaked the offense some to fit his style. It used to be the QB would simply hand off or run some play action pass, but with Van Pelt, the Rams run some lead option, bootlegs or get him in shotgun with no backs and run the QB draw. They do a lot of things to take advantage of his speed.

VanPelt is still trying to get comfortable seeing defenses, making the right reads and becoming a little more effective dropback passer, but he is one of the more fiery, competitive kids you'll meet and he really makes that offense go.

Air Force uses the 3-3-5 formation, which plays to its strength. Air Force generally doesn't get the big lineman. Players they recruit are built like DBs and LBs, so Air Force coaches have talked with South Carolina's Charlie Strong as well as coaches for the Pittsburgh Steelers about utilizing its speed better. This defense takes advantage of that by assigning everyone a gap. They'll be flying up to the line of scrimmage charging those gaps. It's basically eight guys up to take away the run.

Watch out for LB Anthony Schlegel. He's an old school kind of player. Forget Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher. He's the kind of kid who admires Dick Butkus (that's why he wears No. 51) and Ray Nitschke. He and Sapp should be popping pads all night.

Colorado State will try to run between the tackles and if they have some success finding Sapp some seams, that's when Van Pelt will kill you. He has a group of talented and fast receivers in Chris Pittman (14.1 yards per catch), Joey Cuppari (18.4 ypc) and Henri Childs, who moved from RB to WR this season and averages 13.3 ypc. Also, watch Joel Dreesen as well.

This is an offense that likes to drive the ball the length of the field on 10 or 12 plays and take six or seven minutes off the clock. But don't be fooled, the Rams have the talent to make the big play as well.

One More Thing. . .
Watch Colorado State true freshman Ben Stratton. It's tough enough for a team to prepare for the triple-option in just one week. It's nearly impossible to simulate the speed, the blocking or anything about it in practice and when you get in the game, it's like someone hit the turbo button on a video game -- everything is just that much faster.

Now, Stratton will be asked to play some cornerback and some free safety against Air Force's Wingbone. That's a tall order to place on a freshman.

The Bottom Line
Expect a lot of points tonight. I think Air Force is very excited to get back on the field and show what it can do. The Falcons option attack matches up pretty well with the CSU defense, especially with the youth in the secondary.

Colorado State has Van Pelt, Sapp and all that speed on the outside and may be bale to take advantage of matchups against a fast, but undersized defense.

This is a big game in the conference and should be a lot of fun.

Kirk Herbstreit is an analyst for ESPN's Thursday Night Football as well as ESPN College GameDay.