AFA Sports   Air Force Academy sports

Air Force is heading back to a familiar place in the postseason to take on a familiar opponent. In today’s edition of The Gazette, I wrote about the third straight trip to the Armed Forces Bowl and the third meeting in two seasons with Houston.

Also, multiple sources (including ESPN.com’s Joe Schad and The Washington Post) are reporting that Virginia will introduce Richmond coach Mike London as its new head coach today at a news conference. Air Force’s Troy Calhoun had been mentioned as a candidate, but Calhoun told me last Friday that he hadn’t been contacted by UVA.

And Gazette columnist David Ramsey and I are going to have another argument (he calls them “discussions,” but I don’t feel the need to be PC). Ramsey started this one. It’s about whether TCU could have played with Alabama. You can see his argument here. I’ll fire back a rebuttal later today.

It’s official: Air Force is heading back to the Armed Forces Bowl for the third straight season.

And for the second year in a row, the Falcons’ opponent will be Houston of Conference-USA.

More on the matchup later on Gazette.com.

Good morning. Should have a bowl announcement by mid-afternoon, I would expect. All indications are Air Force will go back to Fort Worth for the Armed Forces Bowl and face either Houston or Southern Miss. Check the blog or my Twitter account (twitter.com/jakeschaller) for updates.

Some links:

I wrote for today about Air Force sophomore Connor Dietz, his gutsy performance against Utah (I believe this is the first time he’s spoken to the press about it) and his return to practice.

Also, the Air Force hockey team completed a sweep of American International. And the men’s basketball team fell at Missouri State, 58-48. The Falcons trailed by 11 early but rallied and led 30-27 early in the second half.

It won’t be East Carolina. The Pirates  knocked off Houston today in the Conference-USA championship game to earn a berth in the Liberty Bowl.

So if, as expected, Air Force is invited to the Armed Forces Bowl, the Falcons will play either Houston or Southern Miss.

Quick look today at potential bowl pairings.

If, as expected, Air Force heads back to the Armed Forces Bowl, its opponent will be determined after this weekend’s Conference-USA title game between Houston and East Carolina. The winner of that game will go to the Liberty Bowl.

If Houston loses, it is expected to head to the Armed Forces Bowl for a re-match of last season’s game against Air Force. If Houston wins, Conference-USA’s representative in Fort Worth would be either East Carolina or Southern Miss.

Switching sports, Gazette hockey writer Joe Paisley takes a look at Air Force hockey’s weekend series.

I wrote a football notebook for today’s edition of The Gazette that contains more information on-line. It deals with Air Force’s likely bowl destination, the All-Mountain West Conference teams and MWC commissioner Craig Thompson’s thoughts on the league’s progress this season.

Also, the Daily Press in Virginia has an update on the UVA coaching search.

Finally, the Air Force men’s basketball team faces North Carolina Central tonight. I wrote about junior forward Tom Fow for today’s paper and here are my 3 Things to Watch in the game. Also, columnist David Ramsey wrote about senior forward Grant Parker.

Air Force still is waiting for an official bowl invitation. I discuss why that is and the likely bowl scenario for the Mountain West Conference in my article in today’s edition of The Gazette.

As I said in the article, the feeling around the academy is Air Force is headed back to the Armed Forces Bowl for the third straight season (though the New Mexico Bowl technically still is in the cards). Both writers projecting bowls for ESPN.com have Air Force facing East Carolina in the Armed Forces Bowl and Wyoming playing Fresno State in the New Mexico Bowl. CBSSports.com sees the Falcons heading back to the Armed Forces Bowl for a re-match with Houston and Wyoming going to the New Mexico Bowl to face Nevada.

SI.com writer Stewart Mandel’s College Football Overtime column is here. And you’ll never believe this, but BYU quarterback Max Hall had some disparaging things to say about the University of Utah, its football program and its fans.

Finally, I’ll be posting the first segment of a new series in a bit. It’s basically the first of many arguments I’ll have with Gazette columnist David Ramsey on our blogs.

While it seems very likely the Falcons will be heading to Fort Worth for the Armed Forces Bowl, there won’t be an official announcement until Dec. 6.

Javan Hedlund, Mountain West Conference associate commissioner, communications, wrote the following in an e-mail:

“Even though it looks like TCU will make it to a BCS bowl, nothing is guaranteed as of today and therefore it cannot be released by the other bowls. Plus, BYU most likely will be held by the BCS as an at-large option this week.”

From everything I’m hearing, it looks like the Air Force football team will be heading back to the Armed Forces Bowl for the third consecutive season.

It appears as if  BYU will head back to Las Vegas, and Utah will go to San Diego for the Poinsettia Bowl. And with Wyoming bowl eligible, it seems as if the Cowboys will end up in New Mexico.

But we might not get an official announcement for another week.

TCU seems like a lock for a BCS bid, but until the official BCS pairings are announced next Sunday, the Mountain West Conference’s bowl partners can’t start handing out bids.

However, I would think that if the Vegas and San Diego bowls aren’t considering Air Force or New Mexico, they’d “release” the Falcons and Cowboys so the Armed Forces and New Mexico Bowls can set their matchups and start marketing their games.

A bit of a late start today. Here’s my preview story on tonight’s men’s basketball game against Charleston Southern. It deals with the Falcons’ shooting, which was poor in their last outing. My 3 Things to Watch are tacked onto the end of the story.

Also, Wyoming became bowl eligible yesterday with a 17-16 victory over Colorado State (which lost nine straight games after a 3-0 start).

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Las Vegas Bowl will not be able to choose its Mountain West Conference representative until Dec. 6 when the BCS announces its pairings. I would hope the MWC would “release” TCU (because it’s obvious the Horned Frogs are going to the BCS) so that the rest of the bowls can make their selections.