Army gives this one away to Air Force

Army gave and gave and gave, and Air Force capitalized again and again and again.

Adam Zanotti returned a fumble 98 yards and Air Force took advantage of an amazing array of mistakes by Army to score a school-record 36 points in the second quarter and defeat the Black Knights, 43-7, on Friday night at West Point, N.Y.

It was the fourth consecutive loss for Army (3-7), which a year ago stopped an eight-game losing streak to the Falcons (4-4).

This one proved no contest when Army committed turnovers on four consecutive plays from scrimmage in the first half, giving the game away and any chance at the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy.

The award, given annually to the winner of the football competition between the three major service academies, will remain in Navy’s possession even if the Midshipmen lose to Army next month. Navy, which has won it the last three years, beat Air Force, 24-17, earlier this season and will retain possession.

Army began the game leading the nation with 26 giveaways and upped the total to 31 before the first half was over, losing two fumbles and suffering three interceptions. And the Falcons converted the mistakes into 34 points.

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Louisville’s 44-34 victory over West Virginia was being watched at any given time in an average of 4,916,000 U.S. households, an ESPN record for a Thursday night game, and the second most for any college football game on ESPN, the network announced Friday.

The previous Thursday high was an average of 4,097,000 homes for a Florida State-Virginia game on Nov. 2, 1995. The all-time ESPN record of 6,318,000 million homes was set Sept. 4 when Florida State and Miami played in a Monday night game.

The number of average households for Thursday night’s game was based on a national cable rating of 5.3.

-- Larry Stewart