Cal, Jared Goff throw all over Air Force for 2015 Armed Force Bowl win

The end of Baylor’s regular season would have had anyone at a loss. It’s one thing to lose your starting quarterback. It’s another to lose your backup. It’s another to ask your third-stringer, a part-time receiver, to throw passes in an incredible rainstorm (against TCU). It’s another to lose that third-stringer and ask a full-time receiver to take snaps.

Even Alabama, with that amazing defense, would struggle to win with its fourth-string quarterback.

Regardless of whether it’s his final game as Cal’s quarterback, Jared Goff can rest easy knowing he has the Bears back on the winning track. A lifelong Cal fan, Goff led his team to its first bowl game since 2011 and its first bowl win since 2009 with a 55-36 Armed Forces Bowl win over Air Force.

He can also rest easy knowing that he put his best foot forward for NFL scouts. He was already second in SB Nation’s latest mock draft, and he has the potential to be the No. 1 pick after a great final performance that reminded everyone why he’s so highly regarded.

Theory: This was actually a FAKE fake field goal. First you think it’s a field goal, then you think it’s a fake field goal, but nope, it’s actually a snap well over the kicker’s head that ends with him retreating like 10 yards and getting smashed. Perfectly executed!

In September, California played like a legitimate top-25 team, treating Grambling poorly (73-14), whipping what turned out to be a pretty good San Diego State, and surviving road trips to Texas and Washington, another opponent that turned out to be pretty good.

In October, Cal hit the skids. A narrow win over Washington State moved the Golden Bears to 5-0, but losses at Utah and UCLA and a frustrating home loss to USC killed the good feelings.

There are now 40 bowl games, plus the National Championship. That’s a lot of football.

This overflow of football has meant the usual group of 6-6 teams aren’t the worst teams to go bowling this year. This time, all of the 6-6 teams are in, plus some 5-7 teams. The idea of giving a trophy to a team that finishes 6-7 is a funny one, but everything about this sport is funny, so whatever.

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The Armed Forces Bowl has featured many different conference tie-ins in its 12-year history, and was supposed to pit the Mountain West against the Big Ten in the 2015 matchup in Fort Worth, Texas, but will instead feature a matchup of the Mountain West against the Pac-12.

Lockheed Martin will serve as the title sponsor of the game for the second year after securing the rights in 2014, as the game was previously sponsored by PlainsCapital Bank and Bell Helicopter.