AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. >> With the ball arching in the air to the end zone and the game on the line in the second overtime, cornerback Jalen Rogers had one succinct thought:

“I said, ‘The game is over,’” Rogers recalled.

It was, for sure, after Rogers went up and plucked a fourth-down pass intended for wide receiver Jalen Robinette for a victory-assuring interception to preserve Hawaii’s 34-27 triumph over Air Force.

“As soon as it was in the air I knew it was over because I was in position to make the play,” Rogers said of his team-leading third interception of the season.

The 6-foot-1, 200-pound Rogers was going up against the 6-foot, 4-inch, 215-pound Robinette, the Falcons’ premier receiver. Robinette had been averaging 94.7 yards per game in receptions, ranking 24th in the country.

But in the battle of the Jalens, Air Force’s version was held without a reception. “Our guy is a big-time player,” said defensive backs coach Abe Elimimian. “He’s seen a lot of football and big situations don’t rattle him.”

Rogers said, “I figured they’d go to him and I was thinking an out route, but he went for the back pylon and, so, I ran back and the ball was in the air. When I was able to get two hands on (the ball) I was coming down with it. I didn’t want to take any chances on some kind of a weird tip of the ball that they’d be able to catch.”

Elimimian said, “We teach them to go for the ball. On fourth down it has to be our ball.”

Earlier Elimimian said he had “gotten on Jalen because he wasn’t wearing his usual white gloves. Those gloves make his hands look bigger and they are the ones he (usually) gets his interceptions with. But he responded.”