Highlighting Jared Goff’s Final Game with the Cal Bears

With Jared Goff moving on to the NFL, he left a great last impression at Cal with the school’s first Bowl win since 2008, and plenty of highlights from that last game.

After a 7-5 regular season, earning their first Bowl berth with Jared Goff under center, the California Golden Bears were set to take on the Air Force Falcons in the Armed Forces Bowl. Rumors were running rampant around the junior quarterback, and whether he would choose to skip his fourth year of eligibility and enter the 2016 NFL Draft. As the football world would find out a few days after the win, Goff would enter the draft early, but he would leave a great last impression for his time on the Cal Bears football team. To remember his last game as a Bear, here are some highlights from the Armed Forces Bowl.

Air Force began the game with the ball, and didn’t have much trouble moving the ball down the field on their opening drive. Using their signature triple-option offense, the Falcons took 12 plays, a combinations of dives and pitches, to eat up over six minutes and 68 yards to take a touchdown lead.

Announcer Dave Flemming said it best: Air Force would need to play keep away with Cal, not giving their big play offense a chance to get into a rhythm. While they accomplished that goal on their first drive, Cal would answer quickly. On their first drive, Cal rode the running game, getting a 32-yard gallop from sophomore Tre Watson and three runs from sophomore Vic Enwere to get into the endzone to tie the game at seven. On the first drive of his last game, Goff threw three passes, completing two for 12 yards.

The Cal defense made adjustments, and forced the Falcons’ offense to punt following a three-and-out. The Bears got the ball back and moved the ball well, eventually getting inside the five-yard line. At that point, the play-calling became questionable. On third-and-goal from inside the five, Goff was stuffed on a quarterback draw. On the next play, a fake field goal attempt ended with the ball in Air Force’s hands. Luckily for Cal, the defense forced another three-and-out, and after a good return by Maurice Harris, Cal had good field position.

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Goff was a little shaky on the first few pass attempts of the day, missing a couple deep balls for receivers that were open (maybe some first Bowl game jitters?). On the second play of Cal’s third drive, Goff showed off his precision accuracy. With Bryce Treggs running deep past his defender, Goff put the ball right in his receivers’ hands in stride for his first touchdown of the game, and Cal’s first lead of the day.

Now trailing, Air Force opened up their playbook a little bit, even completing their first pass of the day on play action. A Tyler Williams’ touchdown run re-tied the game at 14. The two teams would trade three-and-outs on the next two drives, and Cal would get the ball back again. They began the drive with short completions, and got a hefty chunk of yardage on an 18-yard run from Watson. When an Air Force defender jumped early, giving Cal a free play, Goff took advantage.

The 40-yard gain took Harris out of bounds at the five-yard line, giving Cal a first-and-goal with a chance to take the lead back. On the very next play, Goff would give Cal their second lead, finding graduating senior Darius Powe for his second touchdown toss of the afternoon. On the fake draw handoff, Goff was moving to his right before firing a strike into the endzone for Powe.

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Now leading 21-14, the Cal defense would step up again. On the ensuing kickoff, the Cal special teams unit would force a fumble, but Air Force pounced on it to retain possession. The first play of the drive would come with a similar result, as junior defensive tackle Marcus Manley knocked the ball loose, and graduating senior Kyle Kragen came out of the pile with the ball, giving the offense an opportunity to take a two score lead.

On the very first play of the post-turnover drive, Goff threw his third touchdown, putting a beautiful pass over Kenny Lawler’s shoulder, and right into his bread basket.

On the strength of Goff’s third touchdown pass of the day, Cal took a 28-14 lead, their biggest of the game at that point. Air Force would respond with a long drive, ending with a sneak by quarterback Karson Roberts to get the Falcons back in the endzone and back within one possession. While Air Force took their time moving down the field, Cal wasted no time eating huge chunks out of the field. On the drive after Air Force’s touchdown, Goff threw a 55-yard bomb down the field to Treggs, who was a shoestring tackle away from scoring for the second time.

Instead of Treggs scoring for the second time, Goff would give Lawler his second touchdown of the day on the next play, putting Cal ahead 35-21. Air Force would go three-and-out on their next drive, and Cal couldn’t take advantage with another score before the half. They would take the 35-21 lead into the locker room, while Goff was 15-of-22 passing for 277 yards and four touchdowns.

After the break, Cal began the second half with the ball. They started their drive with some short passes, but on an Air Force blitz, Goff showed his poise. With an unblocked blitzer coming from his right, Goff stood in the pocket and fired a back shoulder laser beam to Harris for a 15-yard pickup.

Later in the drive, Goff was slammed into the ground by Air Force defensive lineman Santo Coppola, and Cal offensive tackle Aaron Cochran (all 340 pounds of him) fell and landed on top of Goff. Coppola’s roughing the passer penalty gave Cal a first down at the 12-yard line, and on the next play, Goff threw his fifth touchdown of the game, connecting with Powe for the second time. Cal 42, Air Force 21.

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Air Force looked poised to answer with a scoring drive of their own, converting a fourth down and moving inside Cal’s 10. Air Force running back Jacobi Owens fumbled inside the Cal five, and as luck would have it, the ball snuck into the endzone and rolled out of bounds, just inches past the pylon for a Cal touchback.

On the first play of the drive after the turnover, Goff unleashed another deep ball for Lawler, but Lawler couldn’t keep his foot in bounds. Cal would bounce back from that, moving down the field and getting within field goal range. Sophomore Matt Anderson’s first field goal of the day, from 29 yards out, gave Cal a commanding 45-21 lead.

Air Force would take a page from Cal’s book, as Roberts threw a 57-yard touchdown pass to running back Timothy McVay. The Falcons’ two-point conversion made it a two possession game again, at 45-29. It wouldn’t stay that way for long.

On the first play of Cal’s 11th drive of the day, Goff threw a perfect deep ball to Treggs while moving to his left and without a chance to completely set his feet.

The 41-yard gain put Goff over 400 yards on the day, and broke the Pac-12 record for passing yards in a single season, passing the record previously held by Oregon State’s Sean Mannion, set in 2013. Two plays later, Goff would break another Pac-12 record, throwing his 43rd touchdown of the season to pass Oregon’s Marcus Mariota, who threw 42 in 2014. The touchdown was Lawler’s third of the day, 13th of the season, and it came on a screen pass on which Lawler went untouched for 25 yards.

On Air Force’s ensuing drive, Roberts was intercepted by Cal’s sophomore safety Luke Rubenzer, making his second interception of the year. Cal punted on the next drive, and Air Force answered with another touchdown to make it 52-36. After that, Cal mostly ran the ball to kill the clock. They got a little fancy, running a reverse to wide receiver Trevor Davis. There have been questions about Goff’s size and toughness, but he had no problem getting out in front and blocking for Davis on a 16-yard gain.

After a 13-play drive, Anderson would kick his second field goal of the day, this time from 30 yards out, giving Cal a 55-36 lead and setting the school record for point in a Bowl game. Anderson finished the season by making his last 12 field goal attempts (including the game-winning against Arizona State as time expired) after starting the year six-for-nine.

Next: Goff Entering NFL Draft

55-36 would be the final score, giving Cal their first Bowl win since 2008. Though it wasn’t known at the time, this would be Goff’s final game as a Cal Bear. he certainly went out on top.