After qualifying for a bowl bid by winning at Miami (FL) last weekend to improve to 6-6, the Pittsburgh Panthers (6-6, 4-4 ACC) will represent the Atlantic Coast Conference in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl on Friday, January 2 at noon against the Houston Cougars (7-5, 5-3 AAC).
Houston was the fifth-place team in the American Athletic Conference, most recently playing Saturday in a 38-31 loss at Cincinnati. The Cougars played one ranked team this season, the BYU Cougars, who were ranked #25 at the time. BYU won that game, 33-25, in the third week of the season. Two of the team’s wins came against bowl-eligible teams, including victories over Temple and Memphis.
The game will be televised by ESPN and will be played at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, TX, on the campus of Texas Christian University.
Pittsburgh was one of 11 bowl-eligible teams in the ACC, whose champion Florida State Seminoles were selected for the first-ever College Football Playoff. As bowl invitations trickled in, there was brief skepticism amongst Panthers fans regarding whether or not the team would be invited to a bowl game. The matchup will be a difficult one, as Houston will play much closer to home than will the traveling Panthers.
The Panthers will bring a high-powered offense led by running back James Conner and receiver Tyler Boyd, but Houston boasts a defense that allowed the 11th-fewest points per game in Division I (FBS), including limiting opponents to 14 points or less five times this season. The Cougars last won a bowl game in 2011, defeating Penn State at the TicketCity bowl. Pittsburgh won last season’s Little Caesar’s Bowl over Bowling Green by a 30-27 final. This is the seventh consecutive season the Panthers have made a bowl game, including for a third straight year under head coach Paul Chryst.
Houston head coach Tony Levine, meanwhile, is reportedly going to be fired on Monday, so the Cougars will be operating in this game under a new or interim head coach. Levine was in his third season and has a 21-17 record leading Houston.
