Air Force Football

The Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl isn't exactly a high-profile game, but it is still must-see TV for college football fans.

Rice and Air Force are two intriguing teams that should provide quite the show on Saturday. Both finished the regular season at just 6-6, but they are quality programs with several explosive players.

It should be an evenly-matched contest, and it certainly has the potential to be the most exciting non-BCS bowl this season.

Here are the main reasons to tune in.

No Defense

Who needs defense anyway? Well, both of these teams I guess, since they only won six games this year. But still, I love me a shootout, and you can count on one taking place when these two teams step on the field.

Rice is 41st in the nation with 31.8 points per game. During their current four-game winning streak, the Owls are averaging 40.5. And, of course, they haven't been able to stop anybody, allowing 31.3 points per game this season (89th in nation).

On the other end, Air Force averaged 28.5 points per game during the regular season, while giving up 28.7. It scored over 40 points three times this season, and allowed more than 40 points twice.

The scoreboard operator should be busy in this one.

Air Force's Triple-Option Offense

Air Force runs the triple-option offense, which is one of the most interesting strategies in college football. If you haven't seen it, the triple-option alone is worth a few hours of your time.

Falcons quarterback Connor Dietz runs it beautifully, studying the position of the defense before choosing which option to hit. Usually he will either keep the ball himself, hand it off to senior running back Cody Getz, or occasionally bomb it deep.

Dietz only had two games with more than 12 pass attempts this season, and in November, Air Force became the first FBS team in three years to run the ball every single play. Still, Dietz is capable of throwing the long ball at any moment.

It's an incredibly entertaining offense, and it will be very difficult for Rice to stop.

Taylor McHargue

The Owls' junior quarterback has been on fire lately. During Rice's four-game winning streak, McHargue has completed 65.3 percent of his passes for 843 yards, three touchdowns and just one interception.

On the season, he's racked up 2,178 passing yards and 11 touchdowns. The dual-threat quarterback was also a menace on the ground, rushing for 628 yards and 11 more scores.

McHargue is one of the most underrated quarterbacks in the country, and he's a threat to explode at any moment. Keep an eye on him today, as he will likely make several highlight-reel plays.

The Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl should have plenty of fireworks, as Rice and Air Force are both bringing high-powered offenses to Fort Worth, Texas.

Rice is the hotter team coming in, having won four straight games and five of their last six. They are averaging 40.5 points per game during their current winning streak, which is bad news for the Falcons' porous defense.

Air Force allowed 28.7 points per game this season, including two games of 40-plus. In their regular-season finale, they gave up 603 total yards in a 48-15 loss to Fresno State.

Of course, Rice's defense is known to give up some points as well. The Owls allowed 31.3 points per game this year, so we should be in for a good ol' fashioned shootout this Saturday.

While it will take a total team effort to win this game, be sure to keep an eye on the following individuals.

Taylor McHargue, QB, Rice

McHargue has been on fire during the Owls' winning streak, completing 65.3 percent of his passes for 843 yards and three touchdowns over the last four games. He's also added 138 yards and three touchdowns on the ground during that span.

Look for the junior to have another strong game against the Falcons' defense. He's racked up 22 total touchdowns this season, and against an Air Force team that has been shredded in recent weeks, he should find the endzone several times.

Cody Getz, RB, Air Force

The senior running back has been incredible this season, rushing for 1,213 yards and nine touchdowns despite missing two games. He had three games of 200-plus rushing yards, and in the Falcons' one-dimensional offense, he's sure to get plenty of touches on Saturday.

Air Force loves to pound the football, as evidenced by their game against Hawaii in November. The Falcons didn't throw a single pass, running the ball 68 times on their way to a 21-7 win. I would be shocked if they repeat that strategy, but Getz will definitely be involved all game long.

Connor Dietz, QB, Air Force

While the Falcons didn't throw against Hawaii, they do have a capable quarterback in Connor Dietz.

Dietz has completed 62 percent of his passes this season for 1,127 yards and eight touchdowns. He also has just three interceptions.

Of course, he does a lot of his damage on the ground. He is the team's second-leading rusher this year, running for 658 yards and five touchdowns on 138 carries. He's had more carries than pass attempts in eight games this season, including six of the last seven.

Dietz will drop back and throw every once in awhile, but look for him to run plenty of quarterback-keepers on Saturday. If he can find the gaps in Rice's defense, Air Force will have a great chance to win their third bowl game in four years.

Strong wins this weekend by Air Force 48-31 over Nevada on Friday night in Colorado Springs and Navy 56-28 at East Carolina while Army struggled and edged at home  30-22 by Ball State.

The second leg of the round robin Commander-In-Chief competition is in action this week with the Falcons traveling to West Point.

Air Force

The Air Force Falcons (5-3) took over second place in the Mountain West Conference with their 48-31 win on Oct. 26 over the Nevada Wolf Pack (6-3).

The Falcons offense torched Nevada’s defense for 600 yards-139 through the air and 461 yards on the ground. Air Force was able to sustain drives by converting 9-14 third-down conversions and 2-3 fourth-down conversions.

Air Force’s senior QB Connor Dietz led an efficient passing game, completing 6-7 pass attempts for 139 yards and two touchdowns. Senior RB Wes Cobb carried the ball 30 times for 152 yards and a score, and he added 68 yards on the ground with a rushing touchdown. Sophomore RB Jon Lee ran the ball 10 times for 96 yards, junior WR Ty MacArthur had 76 yards rushing on seven carries and senior RB Mike DeWitt and senior WR Dontae Strickland each had a rushing touchdown.

Nevada’s sophomore QB Cody Fajardo threw for 211 yards, completing 15-27 passing attempts with a touchdown and an interception.

Having lost to Navy at home earlier this month, Air Force travels to West Point seeking to split its two Commander-in-Chief games with a win over Army.  A win by the Falcons combined with an Army win over Navy in December would allow Air Force to retain possession of the trophy.

Navy

The Navy Midshipmen (5-3) put up 563 yards of offense on the road in their 56-28 blowout win against the East Carolina Pirates (5-4).

The game started with a back-and-forth shootout. Navy jumped out to a 14-0 lead after the first quarter. But East Carolina struck back with two scores to start the second quarter. Then, freshman QB Keenan Reynolds ran for a one-yard touchdown, giving Navy a 21-14 lead. That started a string of 28 unanswered Navy points, putting them up 42-14 to start the fourth quarter, and they never looked back.

Navy’s freshman QB Keenan Reynolds completed 3-5 passing attempts for 51 yards and two touchdowns and a pick. He was among 12 Midshipmen with at least one carry, rushing for 81 yards and three scores. Senior slot back Gee Gee Greene ran for 131 yards on 14 carries and senior SB Bo Snelson ran for 67 yards on nine attempts.

East Carolina’s sophomore QB Shane Carden went 19-29 passing for 194 yards and a touchdown and an interception. Junior RB Vintavious Cooper ran for 121 yards on 18 carries with one touchdown.

Navy’s next game is against the Florida Atlantic Owls (2-6).

Army

The Army Black Knights (1-7) struggled to overcome an early 14 point deficit and lost 30-22 to the Ball State Cardinals (6-3) before 30,010 at Michie Stadium.

Cardinals scored two touchdowns in the first 9:08, the first as junior QB Keith Wenning completed five of five pass plays including the six yard touchdown completion to senior wide receiver Jamill Smith. The next drive; Ball State sophomore running back Jahwan Edwards ran for a touchdown from two yards out, completing a 60 yard drive.

Army answered late in the first quarter with a 76 yard drive as junior fullback Hayden Tippett ran seven yards for the Black Knights’ first score, cutting the lead to 14-7.  Ball State added a 49 yard field goal from senior kicker Steven Schott.  An interception by Army junior linebacker Justin Trimble led to an Army 24 yard field goal by freshman Daniel Grochowski. 

In the second half, Army made it close on a 35 yard run by QB Trent Steelman to the Ball State 15 followed up by a Malcolm Brown touchdown sweep to trail 27-20.  Schott scored his third field goal of the day to provide a two score lead 30-20.  On the last play of the game Cardinal punter Scott Kovanda ran out of the end zone for a safety.

Steelman went 3-5 passing for 38 yards and led the Black Knights’ rushing attack with 106 yards on 17 carries.  Tippett ran the ball 20 times for 100 yards and a score. Junior RB Raymond Maples carried the ball for 49 yards on 11 carries and a rushing touchdown of his own.  

Wenning completed 18-27 pass attempts for 189 yards and two touchdowns. Edwards and senior RB Barrington Scott ran for 153 and 81 yards rushing respectively as Ball State out gained Army 413 to 379 yards.

Army hosts Air Force on Saturday at Michie Stadium.

Chris Eberhart contributed to this article. Ken Kraetzer reports on Army football for WVOX in New Rochelle, NY and Sons of the American Legion Radio.

Air Force came back from a road loss last week at UNLV to win at home against Colorado State, while both Navy and Army lost disappointing home games this week.  Coast Guard and Merchant Marine both won their homecoming games.

At Colorado Springs, 38,562 watched Air Force (2-2) ran for 459 yards winning its second game of the season with a 42-21 home win over Mountain West opponent Colorado State (1-4).  Senior running back Cody Getz  ran a college career-best 222 yards—the Buford, GA native's fourth straight 100-yard game to start off the season.

Sr. QB Connor Dietz had two touchdown passes the first to Sr. Drew Coleman in the first quarter and to Sophomore tight end Marcus Hendricks in the second as the Falcons went out to 35-14 halftime lead. 

Jr. Ty MacArthur had two AFA rushing scores on runs of four yards in the opening quarter and 34 yards in the third this week. Sophomore Jon Lee opened the scoring with a seven-yard run in the first quarter.  Sr. Dontae Strickland ran for a 27-yard touchdown. 

On defense, Sr. LB Austin Niklas and So. DB Christian Spears were both in on eight tackles. Fr. DL Alexander Hansen had the only AFA sack.

Head coach Troy Calhoun's team went into the game second to Army in rushing and should move ahead with the 459 yards they generated in their ground game.  The Falcons bounced back well from their prior week defeat at UNLV and will look forward to the visit of the Naval Academy next Saturday for the first of the Commander-In-Chief competition games.

At Annapolis, Navy (1-3) endured the first shutout in the era of Ken Niumatalolo as the head coach as the Midshipmen were defeated 12-0 by San Jose State (4-1) before 32,375 at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium.

The only scoring in the game came from the San Jose State freshman kicker Austin Lopez, who lofted four field goals on the day, the longest from 43 yards away.  The Navy defense gave up 388 yards to the visitors but no touchdowns.  So. Parrish Gaines led Navy with 12 tackles.

Navy struggled on offense, gaining only 144 total yards, with Jr. QB Trey Miller running 14 times for just 28 yards and going 4-of-9 passing the ball for 41 yards before leaving for freshman Keenan Reynolds.

At West Point, Army (0-4) suffered a 23-3 setback to the Stony Brook Seawolves (4-1) of the Football Championship Division before 31,006 at Michie Stadium.

The Black Knights moved the ball consistently on offense, gaining 330 yards, but were hurt by four fumbles lost in the Seawolves' half of the field, two inside the 10-yard line. 

Army Sr. QB Trent Steelman ran for 89 yards and threw for 57 yards but lost two fumbles inside the Seawolves' 10.  Sr. Ray Maples ran for 81 yards, but missed a pitch out from Steelman early in the second quarter holtign an Army drive at the SBU 34. 

On  asmall positve for the day, Steelman to set a West Point career rushing record by a quarterback, passing 1988 graduate Tory Crawford, with 2,362 yards.

For Stony Brook, certainly an up and coming program moving to the CAA next year, Sr. RB Miguel Maysonet ran for 220 yards and two touchdowns, including a 49-yard run down the Army right side less than four minutes into the game.  Sr. Wesley Skiffington was 3-for-3 on field goals for Stony Brook, who won their first game ever against a Football Bowl Division team.

Stony Brook controlled the ball for 38 minutes and ran an 8:23 drive culminating in a one-yard run by Maysonet to start the second half. So. Geoffrey Bacon led Army with 14 tackles from his linebacker spot.

Army will again seek its first win of the year hosting Boston College from the Atlantic Coast Conference next Saturday at Michie Stadium.

The US Coast Guard Academy (2-2) evened their record with a 59-0 homecoming win over Fitchburg State.  Senior WR Pat Meggers set a school-record 211 receiving yards including a 96-yard touchdown catch and run for the Bears.

At Kings Point NY the US Merchant Marine Academy (3-2) defeated RPI 34-31 on homecoming day at Brooks Stadium on Long Island. Quarterback Alex Coviello ran for 141 yards and three touchdowns as the Mariners generated  398 yards of offense. 

In other academy games: SUNY Maritime College lost to William Patterson 21-14. Chattanooga defeated the Citadel 28-10. Massachusetts Maritime lost 35-28 in OT at Framingham State.

Ken Kraetzer covers West Point football for WVOX 1460 AM in New Rochelle NY and Sons of the American Legion Radio. His Twitter address is @SAL50NYRadio

The Air Force Falcons are going to run their way to a dominant victory over Toledo in the 2011 Military Bowl, to be played at 4:30 pm ET on December 28. 

The Falcons carry the burden of representing the military in this bowl. This game was supposed to feature Navy, but they were not bowl eligible. Army was not bowl eligible either.

That leaves Air Force to win some military pride this postseason, and they will not disappoint.

An Offensive Showdown

Air Force ranks 65th in points allowed this season. Toledo is 89th. These teams like to give up points, and they both win with offense. That means whichever team is better prepared to exploit the other's weakness will be victorious.

Toledo runs a spread option offense, and they feature a balanced attack. They ranked 29th in passing yards and 14th in rushing yards. 

Air Force is not at all balanced. They run the triple option and rely heavily on the run. They finished the season second in rushing yards and 113th in passing yards. 

Both offenses are going to be a load for their opposition to handle. Whichever team can get just a few stops will be victorious. 

The Falcons are in a better position to get a few stops. 

Unfamiliarity with Opponent

The triple option is a dying offense. Just a handful of teams run this offense, and none of those teams were on the Toledo schedule. 

Toledo has had plenty of time to practice for this attack, but they have no way of simulating Air Force's efficiency in the triple option. 

The speed and fluidity with which the Falcons run this attack is going to catch a Toledo team that is ill-prepared to handle it. 

One of Toledo's weaknesses is tackling. This is an ominous weakness to have playing a team that runs the option. This will lead to a ton of yards after contact for the Falcons, making it easy for them to keep the sticks moving. 

Battle Tested 

Toledo played a much softer schedule than Air Force. The Falcons had tough games against TCU, Notre Dame and Boise State. 

Meanwhile, Toledo's schedule only offered Ohio State and Boise State. These two lost all five of these games, but there is definitely something to be learned here, specifically in the game against their common opponent, Boise State. 

Toledo was destroyed in that game 40-15, while Air Force posted a respectable showing with a 37-26 loss.  

The Nail in the Coffin

Air Force is a more physical team, and they are going to consistently get positive yards with their running game. 

This is going to lead to them controlling the ball and keeping Toledo from finding a rhythm. This will provide them an opportunity to get enough stops to come out victorious. 

Air Force win, 42-30.