The Armed Forces Bowl is one of the games on the college football bowl schedule this year, and today, I’m set to make my NCAA football pointspread picks for the ‘total’ in this clash. The Rice Owls and the Air Force Falcons are going to do battle at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, TX. Join me for my Armed Forces Bowl tips for this 11:45 a.m. ET kickoff that can be seen on ESPN.
This is a tough one to cap for sure, knowing that both of these teams have been brutally inconsistent this year, particularly against teams that have qualified for bowl games. Both of these offenses are averaging over four touchdowns per game, and both of these defenses are allowing at least four touchdowns per game, but that doesn’t mean that I think this is a slam dunk ‘over’ proposal.
2012 Armed Forces Bowl
Rice Owls (6-6, 7-4-1 ATS) +2.5
Air Force Falcons (6-6, 3-9 ATS) -2.5
Over/Under 61
The Owls are the hotter of the two teams right now, as they have put together four straight wins, averaging 40.5 points per game in that stretch. The club averaged just 28.0 points per game this year in the just three games against bowl teams. Air Force only averaged 24.3 points per game against teams that made it to bowl games, and it really struggled down the stretch against its last four foes of the year, averaging 16.5 points per game. Granted, we do know that both of these teams really do struggle defensively, and our expectations are that the clubs will put up better than their average numbers against bowl teams. But, as you can see, there is still some leeway to give here before I get into the 60s.
In the end, I really do think that the Falcons’ triple option offense is going to be stuffed up as the game goes on. The Rice defense really has played better ball over the course of the last month of the season, and I just don’t have the confidence that Air Force is going to be able to put all that many points on the board. The Owls are probably going to win this game when push comes to shove, but that’s not my concern. My concern is definitely with this one staying beneath the number.
Rice vs. Air Force Picks & Tips: Under 61
