| 2008 Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 31, 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Amon G. Carter Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Fort Worth, Texas | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | RB Bryce Beall, Houston FB Jared Tew, Air Force[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Houston by 3.5[2] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Matt Loeffler (Sun Belt) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 41,127[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Payout | US$750,000 per team[3] | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Terry Gannon, David Norrie | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nielsen ratings | 1.4 | ||||||||||||||||||
The 2008 Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl was the sixth edition of the annual post-season college football bowl game, and was a bowl rematch of a regular season game between the Houston Cougars against the Air Force Falcons that was won by Air Force, 31–28. It was played on December 31, 2008, at Amon G. Carter Stadium on the campus of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, and telecast on ESPN nationally. The Falcons made their second straight Armed Forces Bowl appearance, having lost the previous year to California, while the Cougars made their fourth straight bowl appearance, having most recently lost to TCU. The Cougars defeated the Falcons 34–28, for their first bowl win since the 1980 Garden State Bowl ending an eight-bowl game losing streak.[4]