2009 Armed Forces Bowl The 2009 Armed Forces Bowl was the seventh edition of the college football bowl game , and was played at Amon G . Carter Stadium in Fort Worth , Texas . The game started at 12 : 00 PM US EST on Thursday , December 31 , 2009 . The game was telecast on ESPN and matched the Houston Cougars of Conference USA and the Air Force Falcons of the Mountain West Conference . The game earned a 1 . 6 rating . This was the second year in a row that the two teams finished their seasons against each other in the bowl game played on the TCU campus . The Cougars , the Conference USA runner - up after losing to East Carolina in the championship game , beat Air Force 34 - 28 last year for their first bowl victory since 1980 . Air Force played in the Armed Forces Bowl for the third straight season . The Falcons lost 42 - 36 to California in the 2007 game , which was then their first bowl appearance since 2002 . Each team also made their third appearance in the bowl game . The only other meeting between the two schools was in 2008 when the Falcons defeated Houston 31 - 28 in a game played in front of just 2 , 546 people at Gerald J . Ford Stadium on the campus of SMU in Dallas , Texas . The game was originally to be a home game for the Cougars but due to Hurricane Ike the game was moved . The game marked the first time that Houston had entered a bowl game with a national ranking in the Coaches ' Poll since the 1979 season . Game summary . Air Force wore blue home jerseys , and Houston wore home red jerseys with contrasting colors . This was the first bowl game in the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season where teams wore contrasting color jerseys , allowed by a new rule this season . The Falcons ground out 402 yards of rushing offense on their way to their first bowl victory since 2000 . Air Force was led by tailback s , Jared Tew who had 173 yards and two touchdown s and Asher Clark who carried 17 times for 129 yards and two touchdowns . Clark was named the game ' s MVP . Air Force ' s defense was just as impressive as the top ranked pass defense in the country held 2009 NCAA leading passer , Case Keenum to 222 yards and only one touchdown while intercepting him six times . Keenum only had six interceptions in the first 12 games of the season . After Houston was held without a touchdown before halftime , Tyron Carrier returned the opening kickoff of the second half 79 yards for his fourth TD the season . He took the ball near the left sideline , then ran to the middle of the field before shooting through a gap and running untouched to get the Cougars within 24 - 13 . Air Force immediately responded with its first kickoff return for a touchdown since 1985 . Jonathan Warzeka fielded the ball and stepped back into the end zone before running 100 yards . Five Houston players got their hands on him , but couldn ' t get him down . According to STATS , it was only the sixth major college game since 1996 with kickoff return touchdowns on consecutive plays . None of them had been in a bowl game . The loss for Houston was their ninth of its last 10 bowl games . The Falcons scored a school - record 47 points , the second - most by a service academy in a bowl game . Navy put up 51 in the 2005 Poinsettia Bowl .