AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo.—Air Force will make its first postseason appearance in five years after accepting a bid Monday to play in the Armed Forces Bowl Dec. 31.
The academy finished the season 9-3 overall and 6-2 in the Mountain West after winning three straight and six of its last seven games. The Falcons also were undefeated at home for the first time since 2000.
“These are the same people who will be the country’s second lieutenants in the Air Force and they’re also a pretty good football team,” coach Troy Calhoun said as he accepted the bowl invitation from Tom Starr, executive director of the bowl.
Air Force will play a team from the PAC-10. In last year’s game, Utah beat Tulsa 25-13.
In Air Force’s last bowl appearance, the academy lost to Virginia Tech 20-13 in the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco in 2002.
The Falcons are coming off a 55-23 win against San Diego State Nov. 17 in which Jim Ollis (163), Ty Paffett (105) and Chad Hall (151) each rushed for more than 100 yards. During that game, Hall had 271 all-purpose yards as he became Air Force’s all-time leader with a 4,019-yard career total.
He passed Ernie Jennings (1968-70), who had the previous record of 3,848.
The bowl game will be played at the TCU campus in Fort Worth, Texas, and will be televised on ESPN.
Calhoun joins two other first-season coaches to lead Air Force to a bowl game. Ben Martin did it in 1958 and Fisher DeBerry did it in 1984. The Falcons are 8-8-1 in the postseason since playing TCU to a 0-0 tie in the 1959 Cotton Bowl.
