page_title: 2008 Houston Cougars football team
section_title: Armed Forces Bowl
hierarchical_section_title: 2008 Houston Cougars football team / Games notes / Armed Forces Bowl
caption_attribution_description: English: Air Force Academy wide receiver Spencer Armstrong pulls in a long bomb for a 46-yard gain during the Bell Helicoptor Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 31, 2008. Only the tackle of University of Houston safety Carson Blackmon kept Armstrong out of the end zone on this play. Houston beat the Air Force Academy, 34-28.
context_page_description: The 2008 Houston Cougars football team, also known as the Houston Cougars, Houston, or UH, represented the University of Houston in the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It was the 63rd year of season play for Houston. The team was coached by first-year head football coach, Kevin Sumlin whose previous position was as co-offensive coordinator for the Oklahoma Sooners. He replaced Art Briles. The team played its home games at Robertson Stadium, a 32,000-person capacity stadium on-campus in Houston. Competing against the Air Force Falcons in the 2008 Armed Forces Bowl, the Cougars won their first bowl game since 1980, and broke the longest current bowl game losing streak in Division I FBS football at that time. In addition, Houston defeated two nationally ranked opponents, which the Cougars hadn't achieved since their 1984 season.
context_section_description: With seven regular season wins, the Cougars secured bowl eligibility.  On December 7, 2008, the Houston Cougars announced that they had been selected to play in the 2008 Armed Forces Bowl game against Air Force in Fort Worth, Texas.  This marked the Cougars' fourth consecutive bowl game invitation, and the fifth in six years.  The game was a rematch, as the Falcons and the Cougars faced off earlier during the regular season, where the Cougars were defeated.  This was the second time in history the Cougars had played a bowl game in Fort Worth; in 2005 the team appeared in the Fort Worth Bowl.
  The Cougars defeated the Falcons to win their first bowl game since 1980, and broke the longest current bowl game losing streak in Division I FBS football at that time.  The score was 34-28.  The game was televised on ESPN.
caption: Houston's Carson Blackmon tackles Air Force's Spencer Armstrong after a reception
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "Air Force Academy wide receiver Spencer Armstrong pulls in a long bomb for a 46-yard gain during the Bell Helicoptor Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 31. Only the tackle of University of Houston safety Carson Blackmon kept Armstrong out of the end zone on this play. Houston beat the Air Force Academy, 34-28. (U.S. Air Force photo/David Armer)", "Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D300", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2008:12:31 17:14:03", "Image Artist": "David Armer", "Image WhitePoint": "[313/1000, 329/1000]", "Image PrimaryChromaticities": "[16/25, 33/100, 21/100, 71/100, 3/20, 3/50]", "Image YCbCrCoefficients": "[299/1000, 587/1000, 57/500]", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "804", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "1480", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1594", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8053", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/4000", "EXIF FNumber": "16/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:12:31 11:05:08", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:12:31 11:05:08", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Fine weather", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "300", "EXIF SubSecTime": "20", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "20", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "20", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3600", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2400", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R03", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1448", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "450", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF Gamma": "11/5"}