Air Force beat Baylor to win the Armed Forces Bowl. What happened, who was the player of the game, and what does it all mean?
Air Force 30, Baylor 15 Armed Forces Bowl What Happened, Player of the Game, What It All Means
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Armed Forces Bowl What Happened
– Air Force was able to march down relatively short fields to get up 9-0 – closing off the first drive with a short touchdown run from Brad Roberts. Baylor fought back late in the first half to get an eight-yard touchdown catch from Hal Presley, and that was about it for the fun. Air Force scores 21 straight points in the second half to put it away.
– Brad Roberts hammered home his second short touchdown run of the game to make it 30-7, and QB Haaziq Daniels ran for a score and connected with Caleb Rillos for a 15-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
– Baylor couldn’t do anything to control the clock or knock Air Force off its game. It kept fighting and scores in the final few minutes on Blake Shapen’s second touchdown pass of the game – and a two-point conversion from Shapen – but Air Force recovered the onside kick and that was it.
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Armed Forces Bowl Player of the Game
Brad Roberts, FB Air Force
He set the tone for the entire game with his hard running inside, carrying the ball 37 times for 116 yards and two scores.
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Armed Forces Bowl Fun Stats
– Air Force QB Haaziq Daniels completed four of his seven passes for 103 yards with a score, and ran 15 times for 81 yards and a touchdown.
– Third Down Conversions: Air Force 8-of-16 – Baylor 0-of-11
– Time of Possession: Air Force 40:03 – Baylor 19:57
Armed Forces Bowl What It All Means
It’s a third double-digit win season for Air Force in the last four years, it’s the third bowl win in those four seasons, and overall it’s the fourth straight bowl victory under Troy Calhoun and fifth win in six tries since 2014.
Air Force has its style, it keeps doing it at a high level, and it dares everyone to try to stop it. There might be a ceiling on what it can do, but 10-3 with a bowl win is a strong year no matter what.
It wasn’t exactly the follow-up season Baylor was looking for after winning the Big 12 title and Sugar Bowl. The team had plenty of solid moments, but considering it was ranked in the top ten going into the year, closing with a rough loss like this after dropping three in a row for a losing campaign wasn’t how it was supposed to go.
Head coach Dave Aranda knows how to tweak. He did it from 2020 to 2021, and it’s not like the program needs a rebuild.
