Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl Preview
December 31st, 2009 by John Huss
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl – Houston (10-3) vs Air Force (7-5)
Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, TX December 31st Noon
The one thing we know is that something has to give in this game. Houston’s high octane offense averages 43.9 points per game, good enough to be the 2nd highest scoring FBS team this season. Their dance partner for this bowl game is an Air Force defense that only give up 15.3 points per game, 9th best in the nation. The Falcons only allow 148.66 passing yards per game, the Cougars pass for 450 yards per game. On the other side of the equation, Houston’s defense is a bit porous and the Air Force offense is sporadic at best. However, if the Falcons are able to dictate the tempo of this game, they will give themselves a shot a pulling off the win.
For Houston, the obvious player to watch is QB Case Keenum. His last two season, he has averaged 5,000+ yards passing and 40+ TDs. That’s an entire college career for some QBs. The main beneficiary of those passes is WR James Cleveland. In only 11 games, he tallied 1,182 yards and 14 TDs. The running game is there purely to keep the defense honest and is a two headed monster with carries split between RB Bryce Beall and RB Charles Sims.
Air Force operates much like their military brethren on the football field, running first and passing rarely. On the season, the team only threw 8 TDs with all other TDs from the offense coming on the ground. The main two players to watch are FB Jared Tew (797 yards and 7 TDs) and QB converted to RB Asher Clark (736 yards and 5 TDs).
Houston is favored by 4.5 points going into this game. Every other game I’ve analyzed this season, I’ve projected a tight game. However, the teams I thought would lose instead blew out their opponent. I’ll try to mix things up by predicting that Houston wins this game decidedly by 2 TDs. Houston 42 Air Force 28.
Can you use reverse psychology on a prediction??? Probably not, so you might want to actually look for a close game with Air Force pulling out the win 24-21.
Check back later…maybe I’ll pull an Urban Meyer and change my mind overnight.
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OMG…I’ve never been this cold. I’m like Case Keenum cold. Heisman hopeful to ending the season with 6 picks????