The Armed Forces Bowl between Air Force and Cal kicked off a quartet of bowl games on Tuesday. Here are the top highlights and performances from the game:
AIR FORCE
– QB Karson Roberts did everything he could to keep the Falcons in the game, posting matching +2.0 grades in passing and rushing. He showed himself to be an effective runner on option keeps, and was at times able to take advantage of a much-maligned Cal secondary in the passing game.
– Air Force’s highest graded player on either side of the ball was RG A.J. Ruechel (+3.4), who did the majority of his damage in the run game (+3.2) and was consistently successful when pulling on wham blocks.
– Safety Brodie Hicks racked up 10 tackles for the game, but far too many of them were after yielding catches for big gains. He gave up catches on six of the seven targets for 126 yards and a touchdown (-6.2 coverage), and was clearly Jared Goff’s favorited defender to pick on.
Top Performers:
OG A.J. Ruechel +3.4
QB Karson Roberts +3.0
WR Jalen Robinette +1.9
TE Garrett Griffin +1.9
DE Alex Hansen +1.2
CAL
– QB Jared Goff ended his college career in style, as he looked every bit the part of a top draft pick (+8.9 overall). He displayed outstanding accuracy to all parts of the field, but was particularly deadly throwing between the numbers, where he was 13 of 16 for 280 yards and three scores. He is without question one of the top players in the country this year and is going to hear his named called very early during April’s draft.
– Not surprisingly, Cal’s receiving corps also posted huge numbers. WRs Darius Powe, Bryce Treggs and Maurice Harris and TE Raymond Hudson combined for a passing game grade of +7.2. It is, however, worth nothing that while WR Kenny Lawler hauled in two of Goff’s six touchdown passes, his grade for the game was averaged out by a silly false start penalty and bad run blocking (-0.7 overall).
– S Stefan McClure did an outstanding job of defending against Air Force’s triple option attack, posting a huge run defense grade of +3.8. He was decisive and disciplined with his assignments and was able to consistently beat blocks to the point of attack on his way to four stops and six tackles.
CalTop Performers:
QB Jared Goff +8.9
C Dominic Granado +3.7
S Stefan McClure +3.5
WR Bryce Treggs +2.4
RB Tre Watson +2.3
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