Thursday, January 1, 2009

Armed Forces Bowl: The Houston Cougars scratch and claw to hang on against Air Force 34-28

By Todd E. Jones of College Football Top Ten

Something had to give. The Houston Cougars were winless in their last eight bowl games, and Air Force had never won a game at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth. The last time that Houston won a bowl game, Ronald Reagan was president as the Cougars pounced on Navy 35-0, December 14, 1980, in something called the Garden State Bowl. That was four coaches ago.

Houston head coach Kevin Sumlin talked about it in the post game press conference. He said, "I think I would be lying if I said that watching the crawl on ESPN that said we were 0-8 in bowl games didn’t bug me. I know it bothered our seniors and the rest of our players." The Cougars came up with the plays they needed and took advantage of the opportunities that they received. Bryce Beall led the Cougars with 137 yards rushing on 22 carries and 92 yards receiving on 4 catches for 227 yards of total offense. Coming in to the game, the focus was on Houston quarterback Case Keenum who was averaging 416.1 yards of total offense, but today it was Beall who made the impact.

The Cougar defense did its best to contain the Air Force rushing attack that averaged 269.9 yards rushing this season. The Falcons finished the game with 243 yards rushing with 149 of those belonging to Jared Tew. Tew, a fullback, gashed the Cougars early and often up the middle rushing 27 times and averaging 5.5 yards per carry while scoring two touchdowns for Air Force. Houston tried to neutralize Tew’s effect by getting the lead early and forcing Air Force to pass. Sumlin said, "It’s a different game when you get a lead. When we jumped ahead, we limited him more; we were able to make some adjustments."

The game started as briskly for Houston as the 21 mile per hour North wind and the 47 degree weather at game-time. After winning the coin toss, Houston elected to defer to the second half, and Air Force elected to receive. On the kick-off, Air Force’s Spencer Armstrong fumbled the ball and Houston’s Brandon Brinkley recovered at the Air Force 25 yard line. Four plays, 25 yards and 58 seconds later, Houston had a 7-0 lead. Air Force responded with a six play, 77 yard drive that only covered a minute and 53 seconds thanks to a 35 yard romp on the first play by Tew. The Cougars scored twice more in the first quarter to make it 17-7.

The second quarter was all Air Force as they held the ball for 13 minutes and 24 seconds and scored 10 points to tie the game at the end of the half 17-17. Houston benefited from two missed field goals by Ryan Harrison in the second quarter. One of the misses was from 55 yards. Harrison actually attempted the field goal twice. Houston called a timeout just before the first kick nullifying Harrison’s successful attempt. On the following kick, Harrison hooked the ball just to the left missing what would have been an Armed Forces Bowl record. Harrison holds the record of 47 yards. The attempt of 55 yards became a bowl record for the Longest Attempt.

In the second half, Houston’s Bryce Beall took over gaining 84 of his 137 yards and 50 of his 92 receiving yards. But once again, Air Force dominated the time of possession in the third quarter after a 18 play, 51 yard drive that took eight minutes and 37 seconds. However, the Falcons were only able to get a field goal cutting the score to 24-20 at the end of the third period.

In the fourth quarter, a possible touchdown by Houston was ruled a fumble and touchback by Air Force on an official review. With the Cougars on the Air Force one yard line and a first and goal, Beall ran a dive and apparently crossed the goal line. The ruling on the field was no gain and a second and goal from the one. However, a review by the officials revealed that Beall fumbled the ball in to the end zone and the ball was recovered by Air Force’s Chris Thomas. Therefore, Air Force was awarded the ball at their 20 yard line. However, Houston stopped the Falcons on the next possession forcing them to punt and averting a potential momentum-changing play. Houston took the following drive 42 yards on three plays to score a touchdown pushing their lead to 31-20.

Another crazy play happened a few minutes later. After an Air Force punt, Houston began to march down the field when a pass by Keenum bounced off of the hands of Mark Hafner and in to the arms of Air Force's Aaron Kirchoff who returned it 19 yards to the Cougar 30 yard line. Ironically, Hafner chased down Kirchoff to make the tackle. After six plays and two minutes, the Falcons found the end zone again and promptly converted a two point conversion making the score 31-28 with six minutes and six seconds left.

The Cougars responded with a field goal, and held on to get the win.

Armed Forces Bowl Notables

General David H. Petraeus was named the 2008 recipient of the Great American Patriot Award which was presented by Armed Forces Insurance at half-time.

Fort Worth Dunbar’s Phillip Hunt had two sacks for a loss of 14 yards for Houston. Hunt also had a fumble recovery which he returned 10 yards. Hunt’s two sacks is a new Armed Forces Bowl record. The senior also now holds the bowl record for Sack Yardage with 14 yards, Fumble Recoveries (tied with Brendan Pahulu of Houston with one), and Tackle for Loss Yardage (14 yards).

Houston’s Chase Turner set the new bowl record for Longest Punt when he hit a 60 yarder in the second quarter.

Air Force’s Jared Tew set new bowl records for Net Rushing Yards (146) and Rushing Attempts (27).

Air Force’s drive in the third quarter that lasted 8 minutes and 37 seconds is a new bowl record for Longest Drive (Time).

Keller’s Ryan Harrison was two-for-four on field goals for Air Force. Harrison made field goals from 44 and 37 yards and missed on attempts from 28 and 55 yards. Harrison also averaged 43.7 yards on three punts.

Most Valuable Players for the game were Bryce Beall for Houston and Jared Tew for Air Force.

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Information provided by Houston Cougar Athletics and The Air Force Academy Falcon Athletics

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