BYU vs. Tulsa in Armed Forces Bowl Is a Game to Be Excited for

BYU and Tulsa will meet in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl in Dallas on December 30th at 12 PM Eastern Time. It is easily the earliest start time of any of the four bowl games being played that day. In fact, it will only be 10 AM in the Cougars' home town of Provo, Utah when the game starts.

Don't let the time or date of the game fool you, this is one of the better bowl matchups of this postseason.

BYU is 9-3 and has been in the "others receiving votes" category of the past several polls.  Tulsa is 8-4, with its only losses coming to teams that were ranked in the top 10 at the time Tulsa played them.

Both teams are borderline top 25 teams, and whoever wins this game will most likely end the season ranked. That alone should be enough to get fans excited about this game.

BYU and Tulsa are also two similar teams, and are fairly well-matched. They both beat the teams they were supposed to beat and lost to the teams that they were predicted to lose to (with the exception of BYU's inexplicable meltdown against a mediocre Utah team).

The two teams also have similar offenses. Both were formerly known as pass-happy offenses that ran up the score through the air. Now both have balanced offenses.

Tulsa's passing offense is 41st in the nation, while their rushing offense is 24th. Overall the Golden Hurricane are 24th in scoring offense.

BYU's passing offense is 46th nationally, while their rushing offense is 52nd. Overall the Cougars are 41st in scoring offense.

While Tulsa may seem to have the advantage on offense, the BYU defense eliminates any gap between the two teams. The Cougars rank in the top 25 in most defensive categories, including being 23rd nationally in scoring defense.

Tulsa and BYU are also familiar with one another, as they played a home-and-home series in 2006-2007. BYU won the 2006 meeting by a score of 49-24, while Tulsa won the 2007 meeting in a 55-47 shootout.

Both Tulsa and BYU are private religious schools who have built solid programs in non-AQ conferences (BYU is still non-AQ in its Independent status). BYU is much larger than Tulsa and has a much more prestigious football history, but the two schools have not been all that far apart competitively in the last decade or so.

That competitive balance should make the Armed Forces Bowl an entertaining game that both fanbases can be excited about.