PHOENIX – In the most attended Cheez-It® Bowl since 2016, 34,105 fans witnessed some of the nation's most prolific offenses – Air Force's triple option and Washington State's air raid – meet for the first time ever on Dec. 27, 2019. With a strong rushing attack, Air Force broke five Cheez-It® Bowl records en route to a 31-21 win over Washington State at Chase Field.
 
"The game itself, kind of worked in a way that we wanted it to… offensively being able to make some first downs and being able to stay on the field to try to limit -- we didn't want to be in a track meet. I think we did a good job in that regard," said Air Force Head Coach Troy Calhoun. "The only way you truly have a game and season like this is just -- it's every single component in regard to the support that we have at the United States Air Force Academy and that's the staff."
 
The win capped a historic 11-2 season for the Falcons, who ended the season having won eight straight games. Both the 11 wins and eight game win streak are third best in program history.
 
The Falcons were able to slow down the Cougars' prolific offense, setting a Cheez-It® Bowl record for time of possession with 43:24. With four rushing touchdowns, Air Force broke Cheez-It® Bowl records for first downs rushing (27) and rushing attempts (69) in a single game with the latter previously held by College Football Hall of Famer and former Falcons head coach, Fisher DeBerry, in 1995.
 
The Falcons began the game by stopping Washington State on downs at its own two-yard line. From the first to second quarter, Air Force went 98 yards in 20 plays, capped by a one-yard rushing touchdown by junior quarterback Donald Hammond III to put the Falcons on the board, 7-0. The 20-play drive, which took 12:23, is tied for the longest drive of the season in FBS play.
 
"With the type of offense we run, we want to grind our opponents down", said junior running back Kadin Remsberg. "And driving the ball that long, taking all of that time off the clock, it definitely plays a mental factor in the game. So that was huge for us."
 
Washington State tied the game 7-7 as redshirt senior quarterback Anthony Gordon hit wide receiver Dezmon Patmon for a two-yard touchdown.
 
After a 15-play drive, Air Force senior place kicker Jake Koehnke put the Falcons back on top 10-7, with a 28-yard field goal. Finishing the season with a perfect 13 of 13 on field goals, Koehnke became the second kicker in program history to have a perfect season on field goal attempts.
 
With 3:39 left in the second quarter, Falcons junior linebacker Grant Donaldson sacked Washington State's Gordon at the WSU 20-yard line to record his first-career forced fumble on his way to become the Cheez-It® Bowl Defensive Player of the Game. With the ball recovered by Falcons linebacker Christopher Herrera, Air Force had its quickest scoring driving, extending the lead 17-7.
 
"Gosh, it's pretty incredible. Like you said, I haven't really had too much of the spotlight, but I'm here for my team," said Donaldson. As long as we're making plays, we're winning, I'm happy with it. I don't need the spotlight. "That's not, like, the type of guy that I am. But it is nice every once in a while, to get the spotlight."
 
In less than a minute, WSU's Gordon hit sophomore running back Max Borghi for a five-yard touchdown to close in on Air Force at halftime, 17-14.
 
The Falcons were able to separate themselves in the third quarter with a 13-play touchdown drive, capped by a seven-yard run by Hammond to go up 24-14. With 14:10 to play in the fourth quarter, Air Force held off another fourth and goal play by the Cougars stopping the rush attempt from the five.
 
"I thought Air Force did a good job distributing the ball. In particular, they did a good job falling forward," said Washington State Head Coach Mike Leach. "I think that Air Force did a better job on key downs than we did, just like the two on fourth down, which I thought was key for them."
 
The Cougars wouldn't go away without a fight after Gordon hit redshirt senior wide receiver Brandon Arconado with a 13-yard touchdown pass, pulling within a field goal and Air Force still on top 24-21. Arconado set a WSU bowl record of 11 passes caught for 167 yards and finished the season receiving 1,107 yards, the first 1,000-yard season since Gabe Marks and Dom Williams in 2015.
 
Bleeding the clock out with a 60-yard drive, Air Force put the game away with a three-yard touchdown run by Remsberg. As the Cheez-It® Bowl Offensive Player of the Game, Remsberg rushed for an Air Force bowl record of 178 yards on 26 carries to record his fourth-career 100-yard game. The Newton, Kan. native finished the season with 1,050 yards, becoming the first Falcon since Jacobi Owens (2015) to rush for 1,000 yards in a single season.
 
"It was one of my goals for the season to get over 1,000 yards, but I attribute that to everyone who was coming in every day, every game, blocking for me and allowing me to get there," said Remsberg. "I couldn't have got there without any of them."
 
With a program record five consecutive bowl appearance, Washington State continued to make its mark in the record books. Defensively, WSU redshirt junior linebacker Jahad Woods registered a career-high and new bowl record of 20 tackles (career-high), previously held by Minnesota's Kim Royston in the 2009 Insight Bowl.
 
Leading the nation in passing, Wazzu's Gordon threw for 351 yards and three touchdowns to break the WSU and Pac-12 season records for touchdowns (48) and total offense (5,559 yards) with the latter previously held by Oregon's Marcus Mariota.
 
"I think Anthony [Gordon] did an outstanding job as far as sparking our team, sparking our offense, and was extremely explosive," said Leach. "Also, I think that he sets a great example on how working through the back row and finding your way to the front. How, if you get opportunity, you can really take advantage of it."
 
Heading into next season, Air Force looks to replace three starters on the offensive line and six starters on defense. Meanwhile, Washington State graduates Gordon, looking for its next quarterback to lead the team's prolific offense.
 
"For them [Air Force players] to complete a semester and yet, I think, especially what comes to mind is, for our seniors, the real achievement and, truly, the only goal that we have in our program is to see our seniors graduate," said Calhoun. "We just have to make sure we maintain that kind of context, that kind of perspective, that way they can be good leaders for our nation."
 
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