Army fullback Jared Hassin helps the Black Knights high step their way to a bowl bid Saturday. (AP photo)
Army locked up its first bowl bid in 14 years after beating Kent State on Saturday for their sixth win. The Black Knights will join the Navy and Air Force as all three service academies will go bowling for the first time ever this season.
Plenty of critics will say the distinction of earning a bowl bid has lost its luster as it seems there are two more bowl bids than there are teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision. But that would be to take away from the truly remarkable rebuilding project Army Coach Rich Ellerson has done at West Point and returning the Black Knights to respectability. The project is not truly complete until Army beats Navy, but it’s impressive the Navy game will not be Army’s last one of the season for the first time since 1996.
With that out of the way, let’s take a look at which bowls the three service academies will most likely play and who the experts predict they’ll play. We looked at ESPN, CBSSports.com and Scout.com.
CBSsports.com:
Army: Armed Forces Bowl vs. SMU; Dec. 30; Fort Worth, Texas; Noon
Navy: Poinsettia Bowl vs. San Diego State; Dec. 23: San Diego, Calif.; 8 p.m.
Air Force: Independence Bowl vs. Georgia Tech; Dec. 27; Shreveport, La., 5 p.m.
ESPN (Mark Schlabach and Andrea Adelson make dueling predictions)
Andrea Adelson
Army: Armed Forces Bowl vs. SMU
Navy: Poinsettia Bowl vs. San Diego State
Air Force: Independence Bowl vs. Clemson
Mark Schlabach
Army: New Mexico Bowl vs. Miami (OH); Dec. 18; Albuquerque, N.M.; 2 p.m.
Navy: Poinsettia Bowl vs. Utah
Air Force: Independence Bowl vs. Clemson
Scout.com
Army: Armed Forces vs. Southern Mississippi
Navy: Poinsettia Bowl vs. San Diego State
Air Force: Independence Bowl vs. Georgia Tech
