FanHouse Armed Forces Bowl

Turkey Legs to Go is FanHouse's complete travel guide for all of the 2008-2009 college bowl games. Here, we cover the Armed Forces Bowl (Fort Worth, Texas), which pits Houston against Air Force.

Overview/Matchup: A strong performance from the Mountain West this year helped Air Force land in the Armed Forces Bowl (which seems pretty, pretty, pretty convenient) even though they lost their last two games against BYU and TCU, while Houston's 6-2 record was good enough for fourth overall in Conference-USA (yikes) and a spot in nearby Fort Worth.

Hotels: The top hotel in Fort Worth, the Renaissance Worthington Hotel offers a sophisticated atmosphere of polished wood and marble complimented by a courteous staff. The Renaissance is about four miles from the stadium. The Courtyard by Marriott on Riverfront Drive and the Days Inn on S. University Drive are each about a mile from the stadium. The Courtyard offers the best all-around value, balancing proximity to the stadium and quality of the hotel. The Days Inn will probably have rooms for less than US$100 per night, but you shouldn't expect the same quality amenities as the nearby Courtyard.

Restaurants: When it comes to dining in Fort Worth, there's only one place to celebrate a big win (that is assuming, a classy celebration is what you're after); Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House. Del Frisco's is the place to go for a world-class steak, but make sure you budget accordingly. Blue Mesa Grill is a local southwestern chain specializing in blue corn and green chilies. Reasonable prices and good portions make it a local favorite. One location is just north of Texas Christian.

Every bowl game is important to the teams involved but not all of them are important to the rest of us. Still, they all deserve at least some of our attention, so FanHouse is previewing all the minor bowls in three sentences or less. Part 1, which covered all the games played before Dec. 30, may be found here. In this installment, we look at the rest of this year's less weighty games. If a game isn't covered in Part 1 or Part 2, we'll give it more attention soon.

Your New Year's Eve Eve will start off with the Humanitarian Bowl (Maryland vs. Nevada), and the over/under is 43. That's not for points; that's for the number of Maryland fans who will actually fly across the country to watch a 7-5 team play another 7-5 team in a stadium that takes its color cues from the Brady Bunch's rec room.

Later that same day we get the Texas Bowl (Western Michigan vs. Rice). Both these teams feature wide-open offenses and purely theoretical defenses, so expect a lot of points. Actually, don't expect anything, because it's on the NFL Network and you probably won't be able to see it.

Although it is considered by many to be the second-toughest conference in College Football, the Pac Ten looks like it will not fill all of its bowl allotments in 2007.

The Pac Ten has arrangements this year with the Rose, Holiday, Sun, Las Vegas, Emerald and Armed Forces Bowls. That is six bowls before you consider that either Arizona State or USC will likely get a BCS at-large invitation if either team wins its final two games.

Five Pac-Ten teams are already bowl-eligible: Oregon, ASU, USC, California and Oregon State--but coming up with a sixth--or even seventh--will be much more difficult.