Friday, December 07, 2007

Star Telegram: ARMED FORCES BOWL NOTES

By TROY PHILLIPS

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Bowls are notorious for matching head coaches, by chance, with deep ties in the coaching community. Often, they coached under the same head coaches, worked together or played against each other in college.  Cal's Jeff Tedford and Air Force's Troy Calhoun have little connecting them. Calhoun spent one season (2006) as the Houston Texans' offensive coordinator, working with then-quarterback David Carr, now with the Carolina Panthers.  For a brief time, Tedford worked with Carr (1997) at Fresno State as offensive coordinator before moving on to Oregon.  "I'm pretty sure that's all there is," Calhoun said of the connection. "I've never met him until today," Tedford said.

Opposite momentum

Cal enters the Armed Forces Bowl having lost six of its last seven games. Air Force (9-3) comes in having won six of seven, including a momentum-turner at Colorado State on Oct. 13. Cal, ranked No. 2 in the country as of Oct. 12, slid out of the rankings and finished 6-6. "We didn't do a very good job late in games," Tedford said.  Calhoun said his team can't deceive itself into a false sense of security.  "We're playing a team that was No. 2 and can recruit a very different caliber of athlete than we can," Calhoun said. "Even though they struggled to finish the season, I expect them to be heavily favored."

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