Washington State Football: 3 takeaways from Cheez-It Bowl loss to Air Force

2. Matchup nightmares

The Air Force triple-option offense was a match up nightmare for the Cougars. Their undersized defensive line didn’t have the bodies to hold the Falcon rushing attack at bay all game. When you are an option-based offense you are by default committed to the run no matter what. The Falcons just hit the Cougars continually with body blows with the run game.

Air Force quarterback Donald Hammond III threw the ball only 12 times, and probably shouldn’t have thrown it that much. The Falcons simply bludgeoned the Cougars to death with the run game.

The Cougars did a good job throwing against the the Falcons for the most part. Air Force’s goal was to keep everything in front of them. they did a good job. You are going to give up yards against an air raid offense, and the Falcons did. However, they scored on just three of their eight possessions. That includes being stuffed inside the five yard line on their first possession of the game.

The question for the Falcons was whether they could cover the Washington State receivers. Although Gordon had a good game, the Air Forces secondary kept the Cougars from hitting any big plays.