With all the attention in the Mountain West Conference going to the undefeated and BCS-crashing Utah Utes, the Air Force Falcons will have to work a little bit harder to garner attention for their Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl against the Houston Cougars on New Year's Eve at Carter Stadium in Fort Worth.
The Falcons were one of five teams from the MWC to make it to the postseason as they finished fourth in the league standings with a record of 5-3. After opening the 2008 campaign with three straight wins, Troy Calhoun's group dropped back-to-back games before stringing together another five consecutive triumphs. However, the Falcons had to close out the regular season against BYU and TCU, games that resulted in setbacks, so at this point the team is trying to snap a two-game slide.
As for the Cougars, representatives from Conference USA, they took part in some of the wildest games of the season, twice giving up 56 points (Rice and Oklahoma State) and also scoring 70 points (Tulsa). First-year head coach Kevin Sumlin managed to get the Cougars to third place in the West Division of the standings in Conference USA with a record of 6-2, but had the team not lost to the Owls in the finale then the postseason picture could have been entirely different.
Houston is playing in the postseason for the 19th time, dating back to the 1952 Salad Bowl when they program defeated Dayton (26-21). More recently the squad has hit a huge dry spell, losing eight straight bowl games since blanking Navy in the 1980 Garden Bowl. In the postseason for the fourth straight year, the Cougars bowed to TCU in last year's Texas Bowl by a final of 20-13, pushing the team to 7-10-1 in the postseason overall.
As for the Falcons, they played in this very same bowl last year against California and were defeated by a score of 42-36. The loss was the second in a row for the Falcons in the postseason, dropping the team below .500 in the process at 8-9-1.
These teams actually met earlier this season for the first time ever, with the Falcons picking up a 31-28 victory over Houston back on September 13. Due to the threat of Hurricane Ike the contest was moved to Ford Stadium in Dallas.
The offense for the Cougars begins with the talented Case Keenum at the quarterback position. The sophomore, who was named the Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year, threw for at least 300 yards in every outing and led the nation in total offense with nearly 5,000 yards, ranking second with 4,768 yards through the air and 43 touchdown passes. Last year's Conference USA Freshman of the Year, Keenum has converted two-thirds of his pass attempts for 397.3 ypg, making it easy to see how the team ranks second in the country in passing and is first in overall offense with an astounding (575.1 ypg). The team has none players that have logged no less than 237 yards receiving, with Tyron Carrier registering a team-best 977 yards on 75 receptions, leading to nine scores. Mark Hafner paced the group with his 85 grabs for 892, resulting in a team-best 11 touchdowns.
"It has been a fun season," Hafner has said of the team's success. "With running a new system and getting new coaches, I think it benefited everyone as a player."
The Cougars are much more than just a pass-happy bunch, they also have Bryce Beall available coming out of the backfield and his change of pace has resulted in 1,112 yards and 12 touchdowns, with an average of almost six and a half yards per attempt. For his effort Beall was named the Conference USA Freshman of the Year.
With all the attention in the Mountain West Conference going to the undefeated and BCS-crashing Utah Utes, the Air Force Falcons will have to work a little bit harder to garner attention for their Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl against the Houston Cougars on New Year's Eve at Carter Stadium in Fort Worth.
The Falcons were one of five teams from the MWC to make it to the postseason as they finished fourth in the league standings with a record of 5-3. After opening the 2008 campaign with three straight wins, Troy Calhoun's group dropped back-to-back games before stringing together another five consecutive triumphs. However, the Falcons had to close out the regular season against BYU and TCU, games that resulted in setbacks, so at this point the team is trying to snap a two-game slide.
As for the Cougars, representatives from Conference USA, they took part in some of the wildest games of the season, twice giving up 56 points (Rice and Oklahoma State) and also scoring 70 points (Tulsa). First-year head coach Kevin Sumlin managed to get the Cougars to third place in the West Division of the standings in Conference USA with a record of 6-2, but had the team not lost to the Owls in the finale then the postseason picture could have been entirely different.
Houston is playing in the postseason for the 19th time, dating back to the 1952 Salad Bowl when they program defeated Dayton (26-21). More recently the squad has hit a huge dry spell, losing eight straight bowl games since blanking Navy in the 1980 Garden Bowl. In the postseason for the fourth straight year, the Cougars bowed to TCU in last year's Texas Bowl by a final of 20-13, pushing the team to 7-10-1 in the postseason overall.
As for the Falcons, they played in this very same bowl last year against California and were defeated by a score of 42-36. The loss was the second in a row for the Falcons in the postseason, dropping the team below .500 in the process at 8-9-1.
These teams actually met earlier this season for the first time ever, with the Falcons picking up a 31-28 victory over Houston back on September 13. Due to the threat of Hurricane Ike the contest was moved to Ford Stadium in Dallas.
The offense for the Cougars begins with the talented Case Keenum at the quarterback position. The sophomore, who was named the Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year, threw for at least 300 yards in every outing and led the nation in total offense with nearly 5,000 yards, ranking second with 4,768 yards through the air and 43 touchdown passes. Last year's Conference USA Freshman of the Year, Keenum has converted two-thirds of his pass attempts for 397.3 ypg, making it easy to see how the team ranks second in the country in passing and is first in overall offense with an astounding (575.1 ypg). The team has none players that have logged no less than 237 yards receiving, with Tyron Carrier registering a team-best 977 yards on 75 receptions, leading to nine scores. Mark Hafner paced the group with his 85 grabs for 892, resulting in a team-best 11 touchdowns.
"It has been a fun season," Hafner has said of the team's success. "With running a new system and getting new coaches, I think it benefited everyone as a player."
The Cougars are much more than just a pass-happy bunch, they also have Bryce Beall available coming out of the backfield and his change of pace has resulted in 1,112 yards and 12 touchdowns, with an average of almost six and a half yards per attempt. For his effort Beall was named the Conference USA Freshman of the Year.
Originally published by the Sports Network on 12/31/2008 http://www.kansascity.com/467/story/959538.html
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