2009 Armed Forces Bowl
Encyclopedia
The 2009 Armed Forces Bowl
was the seventh edition of the college football
bowl game
, and was played at Amon G. Carter Stadium
in Fort Worth, Texas
. The game started at 12:00 PM US EST
on Thursday, December 31, 2009
. The game was telecast on ESPN
and matched the Houston Cougars
of Conference USA
and the Air Force Falcons
of the Mountain West Conference
.
This was the second year in a row that the two teams finished their seasons against each other in the bowl game played on the TCU
campus. The Cougars, the Conference USA
runner-up after losing to East Carolina
in the championship game, beat Air Force 34-28 last year
for their first bowl victory since 1980. Air Force played in the Armed Forces Bowl for the third straight season. The Falcons lost 42-36 to California
in the 2007 game
, which was then their first bowl appearance since 2002. Each team also made their third appearance in the bowl game. The only other meeting between the two schools was in 2008 when the Falcons defeated Houston 31-28 in a game played in front of just 2,546 people at Gerald J. Ford Stadium
on the campus of SMU
in Dallas, Texas
. The game was originally to be a home game for the Cougars but due to Hurricane Ike
the game was moved.
The game marked the first time that Houston had entered a bowl game with a national ranking in the Coaches' Poll since the 1979 season.
where teams wore contrasting color jerseys, allowed by a new rule this season.
The Falcons ground out 402 yards of rushing offense on their way to their first bowl victory since 2000. Air Force was led by tailback
s, Jared Tew who had 173 yards and two touchdown
s and Asher Clark who carried 17 times for 129 yards and two touchdowns. Clark was named the game's MVP. Air Force's defense was just as impressive as the top ranked pass defense in the country held 2009 NCAA leading passer, Case Keenum to 222 yards and only one touchdown while intercepting him six times. Keenum only had six interceptions in the first 12 games of the season.
After Houston was held without a touchdown before halftime, Tyron Carrier returned the opening kickoff of the second
half 79 yards for his fourth TD the season. He took the ball near the left sideline, then ran to the middle of the field before shooting through a gap and running untouched to get the Cougars within 24-13. Air Force immediately responded with its first kickoff return for a touchdown since 1985. Jonathan Warzeka fielded the ball and stepped back into the end zone before running 100 yards. Five Houston players got their hands on him, but couldn't get him down. According to STATS, it was only the sixth major college game since 1996 with kickoff returntouchdowns on consecutive plays. None of them had been in a bowl game.
The loss for Houston was their ninth of its last 10 bowl games. The Falcons scored a school-record 47 points, the second-most by a service academy in a bowl game. Navy put up 51 in the 2005 Poinsettia Bowl
.
Armed Forces Bowl
The Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl is an annual postseason college football bowl game that was inaugurated in 2003 as the Fort Worth Bowl under corporate sponsorship of PlainsCapital Bank. In 2005, the game was without corporate sponsorship...
was the seventh edition of the college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
bowl game
Bowl game
In North America, a bowl game is commonly considered to refer to one of a number of post-season college football games. Prior to 2002, bowl game statistics were not included in players' career totals and the games were mostly considered to be exhibition games involving a payout to participating...
, and was played at Amon G. Carter Stadium
Amon G. Carter Stadium
Amon G. Carter Stadium is an open-air football stadium on the campus of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. It is the home stadium of the TCU Horned Frogs football team. It was named after Amon G...
in Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
. The game started at 12:00 PM US EST
North American Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
on Thursday, December 31, 2009
2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season
The 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season, or the college football season, began on September 2, 2009, progressed through the regular season and bowl season, and concluded with the Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game in Pasadena, California on January 7, 2010, featuring the...
. The game was telecast on ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
and matched the Houston Cougars
2009 Houston Cougars football team
The 2009 Houston Cougars football team, also known as the Houston Cougars, Houston, or UH, represented the University of Houston in the college football 2009–2010 season. It was the 64th year of season play for Houston. The team was coached by second year head football coach, Kevin Sumlin...
of Conference USA
Conference USA
Conference USA, officially abbreviated C-USA, is a college athletic conference whose member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports...
and the Air Force Falcons
2009 Air Force Falcons football team
The 2009 Air Force Falcons football team represented the United States Air Force Academy during the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Air Force competed as a member of the Mountain West Conference. The Falcons were coached by third-year head coach Troy Calhoun...
of the Mountain West Conference
Mountain West Conference
The Mountain West Conference , popularly known as the Mountain West, is the youngest of the college athletic conferences affiliated with the NCAA’s Division I FBS . The MWC officially began operations in July 1999...
.
This was the second year in a row that the two teams finished their seasons against each other in the bowl game played on the TCU
Texas Christian University
Texas Christian University is a private, coeducational university located in Fort Worth, Texas, United States and founded in 1873. TCU is affiliated with, but not governed by, the Disciples of Christ...
campus. The Cougars, the Conference USA
Conference USA
Conference USA, officially abbreviated C-USA, is a college athletic conference whose member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports...
runner-up after losing to East Carolina
2009 East Carolina Pirates football team
The 2009 East Carolina Pirates football team represented East Carolina University in the college football season of 2009-10 and played their home games in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. The team was coached by Skip Holtz, who was in his fifth and final year with the program...
in the championship game, beat Air Force 34-28 last year
2008 Armed Forces Bowl
The 2008 Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl was the sixth edition of the annual post-season college football bowl game, and featured the Houston Cougars against the Air Force Falcons on December 31, 2008 at Amon G. Carter Stadium on the campus of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas and...
for their first bowl victory since 1980. Air Force played in the Armed Forces Bowl for the third straight season. The Falcons lost 42-36 to California
2007 California Golden Bears football team
The 2007 California Golden Bears football team represented the University of California, Berkeley in the college football 2007-2008 season. They played their home games at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, California and were coached by Jeff Tedford....
in the 2007 game
2007 Armed Forces Bowl
The 2007 Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl was a college football bowl game that was played on December 31, 2007, at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas, USA...
, which was then their first bowl appearance since 2002. Each team also made their third appearance in the bowl game. The only other meeting between the two schools was in 2008 when the Falcons defeated Houston 31-28 in a game played in front of just 2,546 people at Gerald J. Ford Stadium
Gerald J. Ford Stadium
Gerald J. Ford Stadium is a stadium in University Park, Texas, one of the two "Park Cities" that form an enclave within the city limits of Dallas. The stadium is used primarily for football, and it is home to the Southern Methodist University Mustangs and is frequently used for local high school...
on the campus of SMU
Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...
in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
. The game was originally to be a home game for the Cougars but due to Hurricane Ike
Hurricane Ike
Hurricane Ike was the second-costliest hurricane ever to make landfall in the United States, the costliest hurricane ever to impact Cuba and the second most active hurricane to reach the Canadian mainland in the Great Lakes Region after Hurricane Hazel in 1954...
the game was moved.
The game marked the first time that Houston had entered a bowl game with a national ranking in the Coaches' Poll since the 1979 season.
Game summary
Air Force wore blue home jerseys, and Houston wore home red jerseys with contrasting colors. This was the first bowl game in the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season
The 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season, or the college football season, began on September 2, 2009, progressed through the regular season and bowl season, and concluded with the Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game in Pasadena, California on January 7, 2010, featuring the...
where teams wore contrasting color jerseys, allowed by a new rule this season.
The Falcons ground out 402 yards of rushing offense on their way to their first bowl victory since 2000. Air Force was led by tailback
Tailback
Tailback can mean:* Halfback * A line of motor vehicles caught up in traffic congestion; a traffic jam...
s, Jared Tew who had 173 yards and two touchdown
Touchdown
A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...
s and Asher Clark who carried 17 times for 129 yards and two touchdowns. Clark was named the game's MVP. Air Force's defense was just as impressive as the top ranked pass defense in the country held 2009 NCAA leading passer, Case Keenum to 222 yards and only one touchdown while intercepting him six times. Keenum only had six interceptions in the first 12 games of the season.
After Houston was held without a touchdown before halftime, Tyron Carrier returned the opening kickoff of the second
Second
The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock....
half 79 yards for his fourth TD the season. He took the ball near the left sideline, then ran to the middle of the field before shooting through a gap and running untouched to get the Cougars within 24-13. Air Force immediately responded with its first kickoff return for a touchdown since 1985. Jonathan Warzeka fielded the ball and stepped back into the end zone before running 100 yards. Five Houston players got their hands on him, but couldn't get him down. According to STATS, it was only the sixth major college game since 1996 with kickoff returntouchdowns on consecutive plays. None of them had been in a bowl game.
The loss for Houston was their ninth of its last 10 bowl games. The Falcons scored a school-record 47 points, the second-most by a service academy in a bowl game. Navy put up 51 in the 2005 Poinsettia Bowl
Poinsettia Bowl
The Poinsettia Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A college football bowl game that was created in 2005. The game was created by the organizers of the Holiday Bowl and is played annually at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California. The game is currently sponsored by the San Diego...
.
Scoring summary
| Scoring Play | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Quarter | |||
| AF — Asher Clark 36 yard rush (Erik Soderberg kick), 12:38 | AF 7–0 | ||
| AF — Jared Tew 6 yard rush (Erik Soderberg kick), 8:52 | AF 14–0 | ||
| 2nd Quarter | |||
| HU — Matt Hogen 33 yard field goal, 14:51 | AF 14-3 | ||
| AF — Asher Clark 22 yard rush (Erik Soderberg kick), 8:55 | AF 21-3 | ||
| HU — Matt Hogen 33 yard field goal, 1:21 | AF 21-6 | ||
| AF — Erik Soderberg 27 yard field goal, 0:00 | AF 24-6 | ||
| 3rd Quarter | |||
| HU — Tyron Carrier 79 yard kickoff return (Matt Hogen kick), 14:47 | AF 24-13 | ||
| AF — Jonathon Warzeka 100 yard kickoff return (Erik Soderberg kick), 14:29 | AF 31-13 | ||
| HU — Case Keenum Case Keenum Casey Austin "Case" Keenum is a redshirt senior quarterback for the Houston Cougars football team. Keenum has already set several school records at the University of Houston and has positioned himself to become the NCAA's all-time leader in total passing yards in 2011... 10 yard pass to Patrick Edwards (Matt Hogen kick), 12:48 |
AF 31-20 | ||
| AF — Erik Soderberg 27 yard field goal, 7:27 | AF 34-20 | ||
| 4th Quarter | |||
| AF — Tim Jefferson 1 yard rush (Erik Soderberg kick), 14:04 | AF 41-20 | ||
| AF — Jared Tew 71 yard rush (Erik Soderberg kick missed), 3:32 | AF 47-20 | ||