Air Force Falcons (8-4, 5-3 MWC) vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (6-6, 4-4 ACC)
AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl
December 27 - 5:00 pm - ESPN2
Shreveport, LA
$1,100,000 payout per team
If you're a fan of ground games, then this is the bowl game to watch. The Independence Bowl features the nation's top two rushing teams and with neither team having much of a passing game (both rank near the bottom of the country passing yards per game), there likely won't be much in the way of aerial ball movement.
With a 1,200-yard rusher and one of the nation's top rushing quarterbacks, Georgia Tech led the nation with 327 yards on the ground per game this season. Still, that was only enough to carry them to a .500 record. Even more disappointing was the fact that the team won only one game against a .500 team all year long. The Yellow Jackets got fat on teams such as Duke, Middle Tennessee State, and South Carolina State, and lost to nearly every respectable team they played - the lone exception being a three-point win over 7-5 North Carolina.
Air Force doesn't have any wins against ranked teams among their eight victories, but they did hang with top 25 teams Oklahoma and Utah. The Falcons enter the game as the second-ranked rushing team with 317 yards per contest and, like Georgia Tech, feature a 1,000 yard rusher and a QB with more than 700 yards on the ground
- SBN Pittsburgh analysis by Anson Whaley
SBN PITTSBURGH BOLD PREDICTION: Air Force 24, Georgia Tech 17
Analyst Projections
Aaron - Air Force
Anson - Air Force
Jeff - Air Force
This game will feature some old-school, triple-option offenses. Georgia Tech and Air Force are Nos. 1 and 2 in the nation in rushing offense, respectively. Both teams average more than 310 rushing yards per game, and have combined to complete just 136 passes. While at Navy, Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson beat the Falcons six times. -- Heather Dinich
If you like passing, the Hawaii Bowl is for you. On the other hand, there's a chance the Falcons and Yellow Jackets combine to throw fewer than ten passes if everything goes according to plan. Blink, and you might miss a game that'll go by in a flash with the nation's No. 1 (GT) and No. 2 (Air Force) running attacks going at it.