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Air Force Defender Ejected In 55-36 Armed Forces Loss To Cal

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - Air Force coach Troy Calhoun waved his arms angrily when secondary anchor Weston Steelhammer was ejected for targeting on the Falcons' third defensive play in the Armed Forces Bowl against pass-happy California.

He held back in the postgame setting with reporters.

"Just help me," Calhoun said as questions kept coming back to that moment after the Falcons gave up six touchdown passes to Cal's Jared Goff in the Bears' 55-36 victory Tuesday. "Who in here thought it was? Who thought it was not?"

Even after getting a reporter to say it didn't appear to be targeting, Calhoun wouldn't commit.

"I didn't see the replay," Calhoun said after the Falcons (8-6) lost for the fourth time in five Armed Forces appearances. "If that's the call, that's the call."

Steelhammer, Air Force's leader in tackles and interceptions at safety, was ejected after hitting Bryce Treggs moments after a pass had gone by the Cal receiver. The junior dropped his head and went into a crouch as the announcement was made.

"I'm not a huge fan of the targeting rule," Treggs said. "Because it's not like he was literally aiming for my head."

Goff threw for 467 yards and took records away from Aaron Rodgers and Marcus Mariota as the Bears (8-5) won in the postseason for the first time in seven years.

The 6-foot-4 Goff was already the season leader two times over in passing yards and touchdowns at Rodgers' alma mater.

Now he has Mariota's Pac-12 record for touchdowns with 43 a year after the former Oregon star threw 42 in leading the Ducks to the national championship game before going No. 2 overall in the NFL draft to Tennessee.

Not enough? OK, how about breaking Rodgers' Cal record for passing yards in a bowl game - 394 yards in a 52-49 win over Virginia Tech in the 2003 Insight Bowl. That was a full season before Green Bay drafted Brett Favre's eventual replacement in the first round.

"He is definitely a good guy to idolize," Goff said of Rodgers. "He did a lot of great things here."

As for the obvious question, Goff says he will discuss the NFL decision with the parents and "should know soon." Cal fans were chanting "One more year!" while celebrating the victory.

"I was chanting that, too," coach Sonny Dykes said, drawing laughter from reporters in the postgame news conference.

"It's funny," Goff said. "I was one of those kids chanting for DeSean Jackson about 10 years ago. It's funny how that comes all the way around."

Goff had three of his scoring tosses in a span of five plays in the second quarter as the Bears broke a 14-14 tie and cruised while setting a school postseason scoring record in a rematch of the 2007 Armed Forces Bowl, also won by Cal (42-36).

Receiver Kenny Lawler had three touchdowns for Cal, which last made the postseason in a 21-10 loss to Texas in the Holiday Bowl in 2011. The Bears' last bowl win was 24-17 over Miami in the 2008 Emerald Bowl near their Bay Area campus.

"We did a little bit of everything," Calhoun said. "We played zone. We played man. You know, you're allowed to bring anywhere from zero to 11. We used a good number of the numbers in there."

Karson Roberts threw for two touchdowns and had 69 yards rushing and another score for Air Force. Jacobi Owens, the leader of one of the nation's best rushing attacks, had 83 yards and a touchdown.

The Falcons lost their last three games, including the Mountain West Conference championship to San Diego State, and dropped to 1-9 at TCU's Amon G. Carter Stadium.

Goff, who was Cal's first freshman starting quarterback in 2013, has started all 37 games as the Bears bounced back from 1-11 his first year to 5-7 last year. He was 25 of 37 with no interceptions while breaking Armed Forces records for passing yards and touchdowns.

While Goff fell short of his career record of seven touchdown passes in a game from a 59-56 double-overtime win against Colorado last season, he added another Pac-12 mark with 4,719 yards.

It was another successful Texas homecoming for Dykes, the son of former Texas Tech coach Spike Dykes. The Bears won for the second time this season in the Lone Star State after beating Texas 45-44 in September.

- By SCHUYLER DIXON, AP Sports Writer

(© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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