The 2023 Armed Forces Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 23, 2023, at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas. The 21st annual Armed Forces Bowl featured the Air Force Falcons of the Mountain West Conference and the James Madison Dukes of the Sun Belt Conference. The game begin at approximately 2:30 p.m. CST and was aired on ABC.[4][5] The Armed Forces Bowl was one of the 2023–24 bowl games concluding the 2023 FBS football season. The game was sponsored by aerospace and defense company Lockheed Martin and was officially known as the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl.
| 2023 Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 21st Armed Forces Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 23, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Amon G. Carter Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Fort Worth, Texas | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Emmanuel Michel (RB, Air Force)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | James Madison by 3.5[2] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Nate Black (AAC)[3] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 30,828 | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ABC | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Anish Shroff (play-by-play), Andre Ware (analyst), and Paul Carcaterra (sideline) | ||||||||||||||||||
Teams
editThe game featured the James Madison Dukes from the Sun Belt Conference and the Air Force Falcons from the Mountain West Conference.
This was the first time that James Madison and Air Force played each other.
James Madison Dukes
editThe Dukes entered the game ranked 24th in the AP poll with an 11–1 record (7–1 in Sun Belt games), having finished atop their conference's East Division. Because this was the final year of a two-year transition from the Football Championship Subdivision, James Madison was not originally bowl-eligible,[6] with waiver requests denied by the NCAA in August[7] and November.[8] However, because of an insufficient number of bowl-eligible teams available to fill all bowl games, the Dukes were ultimately granted a berth.
This was the first bowl game in James Madison school history.
Air Force Falcons
editThe Falcons entered the game with an 8–4 record (5–3 in Mountain West games), tied for fourth place in their conference. They started their season with eight consecutive wins, culminating with a win over Colorado State, which was ranked 19th in the AP poll, but then lost their final four games of the regular season.
This was Air Force's seventh Armed Forces Bowl, extending their record for most appearances in the game. Entering the game, the Falcons had a 2–4 record in prior editions of the game, having most recently appeared in the 2022 edition, which they won.
Game summary
edit| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Madison | 7 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 21 |
| Air Force | 7 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 31 |
at Amon G. Carter Stadium • Fort Worth, Texas
- Date: Saturday, December 23, 2023
- Game time: 2:30 p.m. CST
- Game weather: Cloudy • Temperature: 66 °F (19 °C) • Wind: 12 mph (19 km/h) SE
- Game attendance: 30,828
- Referee: Nate Black
- TV announcers (ABC): Anish Shroff (play-by-play), Andre Ware (analyst), and Paul Carcaterra (sideline)
- Box score
| Game information |
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Statistics
edit| Statistics | JMU | AFA |
|---|---|---|
| First downs | 16 | 18 |
| Plays–yards | 52–283 | 68–396 |
| Rushes–yards | 19–26 | 63–351 |
| Passing yards | 257 | 45 |
| Passing: comp–att–int | 20–33–1 | 3–5–0 |
| Time of possession | 22:27 | 37:33 |
| Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
|---|---|---|---|
| James Madison | Passing | Jordan McCloud | 20/33, 257 yards, 3 TD, INT |
| Rushing | Kaelon Black | 11 carries, 43 yards | |
| Receiving | Elijah Sarratt | 8 receptions, 115 yards | |
| Air Force | Passing | Zac Larrier | 3/5, 45 yards, TD |
| Rushing | Emmanuel Michel | 35 carries, 203 yards, 2 TD | |
| Receiving | Jared Roznos | 1 reception, 42 yards, TD |
References
edit- ^ @ArmedForcesBowl (December 23, 2023). "The @ArmedForcesBowl MVP is Emmanuel Michel. 203 yards and @AF_Football bowl record" (Tweet). Retrieved December 23, 2023 – via Twitter.
- ^ Parks, James (December 11, 2023). "College football bowl schedule, game odds, point spreads for 2023-24". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
- ^ Austro, Ben (December 3, 2023). "2023-24 bowl officiating assignments". footballzebras.com. Retrieved December 5, 2023.
- ^ Straka, Dean (May 31, 2023). "2023-24 college football bowl schedule, games, dates, locations, kickoff times, TV channels". CBS Sports. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
- ^ Lewis, Barry. "2023-24 College Football Bowl Schedule, Dates, Times Announced". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
- ^ News-Record, NOAH FLEISCHMAN Daily (May 2, 2023). "How Likely Is a Bowl Game For JMU In 2023?". Daily News-Record. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
- ^ "NCAA denies James Madison's bid for waiver to gain bowl eligibility". The Virginian-Pilot. April 27, 2023. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
- ^ Salerno, Cameron (November 16, 2023). "NCAA denies postseason eligibility waiver for James Madison, Dukes must hope for dearth of bowl-eligible teams". CBS Sports. Retrieved November 26, 2023.
External links
edit- Game statistics at statbroadcast.com