AIR FORCE ACADEMY — After the Armed Forces Bowl, Jared Goff’s next football snaps likely will take place in the NFL.
ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay has the California star as the first quarterback off the board, going to the San Francisco 49ers at No. 5. Other projections have him as high as No. 2. CBS Sports also has him going to the 49ers.
But first, Goff will face Air Force in Fort Worth, Texas, on Tuesday. And the Falcons are excited about it.
“I love it,” outside linebacker D.J. Dunn said. “It would be even better if we defeat them. I think that would be a better thing to talk to my kids about.”
Goff has thrown for 4,252 yards, 37 touchdowns and 13 interceptions and completed 64.2 percent of his passes this season for the Golden Bears (7-5). He has averaged 460 yards in the air over his past three games, with 13 touchdown passes and just one interception.
He will join a shortlist of the best QBs to face Air Force (8-5) in the past nine years. Aside from TCU’s Andy Dalton, the only other approaching this level was perhaps Michigan State’s Connor Cook this season.
“He’s probably the best quarterback I’ve faced as a coach since we played (Ben) Roethlisberger three years in a row at Ohio University,” Air Force defensive coordinator Steve Russ said of Goff. “He’s a different guy than Ben, but he’s that kind of caliber of a guy. I’m very impressed with the guy, and at the same time it’s our job to go out there and find a way to slow him down.”
Air Force’s pass defense ranks No. 23 in the nation at 190.4 yards per game, but helping that stat was three option teams on the schedule (Army, Navy and New Mexico) and a down year in general for quarterbacks in the Mountain West.
When the Falcons played Sept. 19 at Michigan State, Cook lit them up for 158 yards and three touchdowns on 9-of-13 passing in the first half. The Spartans eased up on the passing in the second half when they had put the game out of reach, but Cook still finished with 257 yards passing, four TDs and no interceptions, hitting 15-of-23 throws.
“I feel like me and the whole defense in general have developed a whole lot since that day,” said Roland Ladipo, the Falcons’ all-Mountain West cornerback. “We’ve come together as a group and we’ve been able to click a lot better than we were at that point in the season. I feel like we’re putting ourselves in a lot better position than we were against Michigan State.
“I accept the challenge. The defense in general, we love having the opportunity to have a chance to go against a top-tier offense from the Pac-12. It’s a great opportunity, honestly. We’re all excited to go out there and show them what we can do in the Mountain West.”
Plenty of eyes figure to be on the Armed Forces Bowl, particularly with Goff as the headliner. Air Force coach Troy Calhoun spent a lot of his time in the NFL as a talent evaluator, and he said bowl games were a critical part of that process because players were at their most refined at that point in the season and quarterbacks and receivers were in sync with each other. But of the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Goff, Calhoun has done all the evaluating he needs to do.
“He’s everything you’d want in an NFL quarterback,” Calhoun said.
Goff hasn’t said whether he will enter the 2016 NFL draft, but he is aware of the spotlight that Tuesday’s bowl game will provide.
“It’s always exciting when you’re playing in front of however many people in the stands and however many people on TV,” Goff said. “It makes it fun for guys to finally get on a big national stage. It will be the only game on at the time.”
