Armed Forces Bowl
Background:
Cal Leads the series, 5-2. Have not met since 2002, when Cal won.
Cal Leads the series, 5-2. Have not met since 2002, when Cal won.
Air Force: 3 Wins
California: 3 Losses
Air Force Advantages:
The Mountain West has gone 3-0 in bowls this year.
Found their running attacks stride late in the season to already coombine with the already deadly air attack (Irony!).
Looks to have a bright future.
Air Force Disadvantages:
Has not faced a ranked team all year.
Whenever faced with a halfway decent team, has crumbled. Best wins over Utah and TCU.
California Advantages:
Had a 5 game win streak to start off the season.
Beaten Tennessee and Oregon.
Has a lot more talent than Air Force.
The loss of their #1 reciever, DeSean Jackson, may explain the Stanford loss.
California Disadvantages:
Are on a terrible skid after being considered BCS-worthy. (Losses to Stanford and Washington.)
Their quarterback (Nate Longshore) has been known to make dumb mistakes. Also has a chipped ankle bone, limiting his explosiveness.
The Pac-10 has done terrible in bowls this season.
Just seem to have given up in general. From Yahoo! Sports: ""This is definitely a new low for us," Cal safety Thomas DeCoud said after the loss. "It's kind of too late to salvage anything, but we just want to get to a bowl game and end on the right note so the younger guys can get this program back to where it was.""
Writer Predictions:
Jason Frost: TBA
OKLuschen: TBA
Zorgon: Air Force. The analysis is short on this one because the bowl is simple as pie. Cal is lucky to be in a bowl at all. Their players are banged up. Their heads are hung low. Air Force is coming in with their heads held high out of a surprisingly strong Mountain West. The only way I could see a Cal upset (yes, a Cal upset, Air Force should definately be the favourites) is if they win by sheer talent and/or depth. Air Force wins using excellent arial attacks and bombs out the competition. (IRONY!!!!)
Bottom Line: Air Force 1, California 0
