New Years Eve Armed Forces Parlay – Navy vs. Missouri and Air Force vs. Houston

Special New Years Eve Military Parlay

Two of the five 2009 New Year’s Eve bowl games feature teams representing the US Armed Forces. In the Armed Forces Bowl, the Air Force Falcons play the Houston Cougars in Fort Worth Texas and in Houston, the Navy Midshipmen take on the Missouri Tigers in the Texas Bowl.

Both Air Force and Navy are underdogs in their Bowl games but I’m feeling a little patriotic, so I’m going to place a two-team parlay at the BetOnline.com sportsbook.

OK, I said I was feeling patriotic but maybe patriotic wasn’t the right word to use because I’m betting against both of the military teams in their New Year’s Eve bowl games.

Air Force Falcons +4 +160 Over 62½
Houston Cougars -4 -190 Under 62½

In the Armed Forces Bowl, Air Force boasts the number three rushing attack in the nation and they are going up against the 111th ranked rushing defense of the Cougars. The Falcons won’t have any trouble moving the ball on the ground against the Cougars. However, the Cougars offense, which ranked first overall, will force the Falcons to play catch-up.

If the Falcons need to turn to their passing game, things won’t go well for Air Force as they ranked 118th in the nation, averaging only 82.3 passing yards a game.

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Defensively, Air Force allowed only 15.3 points a game and held opponents to 149 passing yards per game. However, they will be hard pressed to stop the number 1 offense in the nation. The Cougars gained an amazing 581 yards a game with 450 of those yards coming through the air. Something has to give here and I think it will be the Air Force defense.

Navy Midshipmen +6½ +240 Over 52½
Missouri Tigers -6½ -290 Over 52½

Later in the day, the Navy Midshipmen are +6½ point underdogs to the Missouri Tigers in the Texas Bowl. Navy extended their streak of winning seasons to seven, finishing 9-4. The Midshipmen have a chance to win 10 games for the second time this decade.

Navy was 4th in the nation gaining 272 yards a game on the ground but their passing attack ranked 120th with only 71.4 yards a game. Tailback Ricky Dobbs lead the team with 24 touchdowns. Defensively they held opponents to 19.9 points a game, good for 19th nationally.

Missouri features the excellent quarterback-receiver duo of Blaine Gilbert (23 TDs, 7 INTs) and the electric Denario Alexander (1644 yards, 13 TDs). The pair led the Tigers to an 8-4 finish but only 5-7 against the spread.

Defensively the Tigers match up very well against the Midshipmen, against the pass the Tigers ranked 109th but Navy isn’t going to be passing the ball too often, against the run they held opponent to only 96.4 yards a game.

To summarize, I’m taking the Cougars offense over the Falcons defense in the Armed Forces Bowl and I’m taking the Missouri run defense over the Navy rushing offense in the Texas Bowl.

New Year’s Eve 2-team Parlay – Missouri Tigers -6½ and Houston Cougars -4

A two-team parlay at BetOnline.com pays 2.6/1 so for every $100 bet you will win $260.