FORT WORTH, Texas — Sonny Dykes is a football coach, but he’s also a football fan.
And as a fan, matchups such as Tuesday’s Armed Forces Bowl are the reason he is drawn to the college game.
“I think that’s what makes college football unique,” the California coach said. “I’m not a big fan of pro football. It’s the same offense and defense Sunday after Sunday. The great thing about college football is it’s a game of extremes.”
Few matchups offer extremes that are this, well, extreme.
Only one team in the country has moved the ball better on the ground than Air Force (8-5) this year. Only three teams have thrown the ball better than California (7-5).
TCU’s Amon G. Carter Stadium will serve as the petri dish to see which of these styles comes out on top when mixed in the bowl game.
Rushing offense accounted for 4,187 — or 71 percent — of Air Force’s total yards. Cal’s offense threw for 4,425 yards (70 percent of its output), led by star quarterback Jared Goff.
“He’s probably the premier quarterback in college football, quite frankly,” Falcons coach Troy Calhoun said of Goff. “If you look at it purely from an NFL perspective, you’d think this is a guy you can build a franchise around.”
With two potent and clearly defined offenses on the field, the question becomes how the defenses can stop them.
Air Force’s defensive stats against the pass are respectable (No. 23 nationally in yards allowed), but the Falcons benefited from playing three run-centric offenses and a Mountain West that, in general, suffered a down year at the QB position. The defensive philosophy at many points has seemed to center on taking away short passing routes while risking the deep ball.
“You see that on film; they play a lot of man coverage,” Goff said. “That’s what you want to see. You get excited about it. We have a lot of good receivers on our team and they get excited as well.”
Air Force coaches don’t expect to drastically change their style. Even if they wanted to reinvent themselves, the Falcons haven’t had time with just three practices at the academy and three in Fort Worth before this game.
“We’re just going to try to get as much pressure as we can and try to force as many bad balls as possible,” defensive end Alex Hansen said.
