By C.J. Gardner – comments@blitzweekly.com
The Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl will be a match up between two 6-6 teams. The Rice Owls will take on the Air Force Falcons at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth on December 29.
Air Force will be looking to even their record in the Armed Forces Bowl, as they played in this bowl game three straight years from 2007-2009 going 1-2. This will be the Falcons sixth-straight bowl berth. Senior quarterback Connor Dietz will orchestrate Air Force’s triple option attack. Air Force has the second ranked rush offense in the NCAA and Cody Getz has a lot to do with that. The senior rusher ran for over 1200 yards even though he missed two games. The defensive side of the ball is not a strong suit for the Falcons as they have only given up less than twenty-eight points once this season. The main emphasis for Air Force will be to get some stops and allow their offense to do their thing.
The Rice Owls finished the regular season on a four game win streak to become bowl eligible for the first time since 2008. Rice will head in to the Armed Forces Bowl looking to continue their hot streak. Taylor McHargue leads the Rice offense as he has a combined 22 touchdowns. The junior play caller threw for over 2000 yards. This Owl team is very streaky as they have both a winning streak and losing streak of four games. So the question is which Rice team will show up for the bowl game, the early season inconsistent Rice team or the Rice team that won four straight to finish their regular season.
This game should be a high scoring affair with both teams scoring over 28 points a game as well as giving up over 28 points a game. Rice will have to take the time before the contest to game plan against the triple option attack of the Falcons. This game might come down to which team has the ball last as both teams will rely on their running game to put up big points.
Game Info:
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl
Dec. 29 – 10:45AM / ESPN
Amon G. Carter Stadium