The Armed Forces Bowl, formerly the Fort Worth Bowl from 2003 to 2005, is an annual postseason
college football bowl game
In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdiv ...
. First played in 2003, the game is normally held at the 45,000-seat
Amon G. Carter Stadium
Amon G. Carter Stadium is an open-air football stadium on the campus of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. It is the home stadium of the TCU Horned Frogs football team. It is named after Amon G. Carter, a prominent Fort Worth busine ...
on the campus of
Texas Christian University in
Fort Worth, Texas. The 2010 and 2011 editions were instead played at
Gerald J. Ford Stadium
Gerald J. Ford Stadium is a stadium in University Park, Texas, with a Dallas mailing address. The stadium is owned by Southern Methodist University (SMU) and used primarily for games played by the SMU Mustangs football team.
About Ford Stadium ...
in
University Park, Texas, when Amon G. Carter Stadium underwent a reconstruction project. The game features teams from a variety of
collegiate football conferences; in addition, the
independent United States Military Academy (Army) is also eligible to participate. Since 2014, the game has been sponsored by
Lockheed Martin and officially known as the ''Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl''. Previous sponsors include
Bell Helicopter
Bell Textron Inc. is an American aerospace manufacturer headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. A subsidiary of Textron, Bell manufactures military rotorcraft at facilities in Fort Worth, and Amarillo, Texas, as well as commercial helicopters in Mir ...
(2006–2013) and
PlainsCapital Bank (2003–2004).
The contest is one of 14 bowls produced by
ESPN Events
ESPN Events is an American multinational sporting event promoter owned by ESPN Inc. It is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and shares its operations with SEC Network and formerly with ESPNU. The corporation organizes sporting events f ...
(previously ESPN Regional Television) and has been televised annually on
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The co ...
since its inception.
Armed Forces Insurance
Armed Forces Insurance (AFI) is a reciprocal insurance exchange that provides property and casualty insurance to military professionals throughout the United States and overseas. AFI is headquartered in Leavenworth, Kansas, approximately 20 miles ...
is the official Insurance Partner of the Armed Forces Bowl and has sponsored the Great American Patriot Award, presented at halftime at the bowl, since 2006.
History
The bowl was first played in December 2003, featuring two ranked teams, No. 18
Boise State
Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a pub ...
and No. 19
TCU. It was the only edition to include a ranked team (per the
AP Poll
The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broad ...
) until No. 22 Army played in December 2018.
In 2010 and 2011 when
Amon G. Carter Stadium
Amon G. Carter Stadium is an open-air football stadium on the campus of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. It is the home stadium of the TCU Horned Frogs football team. It is named after Amon G. Carter, a prominent Fort Worth busine ...
underwent a reconstruction project, the bowl was moved to
Gerald J. Ford Stadium
Gerald J. Ford Stadium is a stadium in University Park, Texas, with a Dallas mailing address. The stadium is owned by Southern Methodist University (SMU) and used primarily for games played by the SMU Mustangs football team.
About Ford Stadium ...
in nearby
University Park, Texas.
Through the December 2018 playing, one of the three FBS-playing
service academies (
Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
,
Navy, and
Air Force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...
) has appeared in the game ten times. Contractual tie-ins with the
American Athletic Conference
The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athl ...
(home of Navy), the
Mountain West Conference (home of Air Force) and independent Army assures that one of those schools could appear in the game every year, if
bowl-eligible
Bowl eligibility in college football at the NCAA Division I FBS level is the standard through which teams become available for selection to participate in postseason bowl games. When a team achieves this state, it is described as "bowl-eligible".
...
and not already committed to another bowl.
The 2018 game, between Army and
Houston, was the first sellout in the bowl's 16-year history.
Sponsorship
The bowl game was inaugurated in 2003 as the PlainsCapital Fort Worth Bowl, reflecting the sponsorship of
PlainsCapital Bank. The bank's sponsorship ended after the 2004 edition, and the 2005 game was staged without corporate sponsorship.
In 2006, Fort Worth based
Bell Helicopter Textron
Bell Textron Inc. is an American aerospace manufacturer headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. A subsidiary of Textron, Bell manufactures military rotorcraft at facilities in Fort Worth, and Amarillo, Texas, as well as commercial helicopters in Mi ...
took over sponsorship, and thus the game became officially known as the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl. The Bell sponsorship ended after the 2013 edition.
During this time, the 2010 and 2011 Armed Forces Bowl were held at
Gerald J. Ford Stadium
Gerald J. Ford Stadium is a stadium in University Park, Texas, with a Dallas mailing address. The stadium is owned by Southern Methodist University (SMU) and used primarily for games played by the SMU Mustangs football team.
About Ford Stadium ...
on the campus of
Southern Methodist University
, mottoeng = "The truth will make you free"
, established =
, type = Private research university
, accreditation = SACS
, academic_affiliations =
, religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church
, president = R. Gerald Turner
, pr ...
in the
Dallas enclave of
University Park, while Amon G. Carter Stadium was undergoing a major renovation. The game returned to Amon Carter Stadium in Fort Worth in 2012, after construction on that stadium was completed.
Alltel
Alltel Wireless was a wireless service provider, primarily based in the United States. Before acquisitions by Verizon Wireless and AT&T, it served 34 states and had approximately 13 million subscribers. As a regulatory condition of the acquisition ...
was to assume the title sponsorship and naming rights to the game beginning in 2014, which would have been titled the Alltel Wireless Bowl to promote its mobile division, but the deal fell through. Instead,
Lockheed Martin became the game's sponsor.
[ The company has a major presence in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex: the company's ]Lockheed Martin Aeronautics
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company is a major unit of Lockheed Martin with headquarters at Air Force Plant 4 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics is based in Marietta, Georgia and Palmdale, California. Palmdale is home to the Adva ...
division is based in Fort Worth while its Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control (MFC) is one of the four core business areas for American company Lockheed Martin.
MFC provides air and missile defense systems; tactical missiles and air-to-ground precision strike weapon systems; logist ...
division is based in nearby Grand Prairie
Grand Prairie is a city in Dallas, Tarrant, and Ellis counties of Texas, in the United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It had a population of 175,396 according to the 2010 census, making it th ...
. In December 2018, Lockheed Martin extended its sponsorship though 2025.
Conference tie-ins
The bowl's partnership with the Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...
ended with the 2005 season. From 2006 to 2009, the Mountain West Conference was signed to provide a team to face either a team from the Pac-10 or Conference USA
Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are ...
(C-USA), depending on the year; Pac-10 teams would play in odd number years while C-USA teams would play in even numbered years). As such, the 2006 and 2008 games featured C-USA teams Tulsa
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
and Houston, respectively, whereas California represented the Pac-10 in 2007. The Pac-10 was unable to send a representative to the game in 2009, so C-USA sent Houston to the game for a second consecutive year. In 2010, since the Mountain West did not have enough eligible teams and Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
was bowl eligible, Army played SMU in the bowl.
Following the 2013 football season, the Armed Forces Bowl signed multi-year agreements with the American Athletic Conference
The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athl ...
(The American), Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representat ...
, Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...
, Mountain West Conference, Army and Navy to set bowl match-ups for the next six seasons (Navy would later join The American).
In December 2020, it was announced that the 2020 game would be played between teams from the Pac-12
The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...
and SEC, following cancellation of the ESPN Events
ESPN Events is an American multinational sporting event promoter owned by ESPN Inc. It is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and shares its operations with SEC Network and formerly with ESPNU. The corporation organizes sporting events f ...
-owned Las Vegas Bowl
The Las Vegas Bowl is an NCAA Division I FBS annual post-season college football bowl game held in the Las Vegas area. First played in 1992, the bowl was originally held at the 40,000-seat Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney, Nevada before moving to th ...
(which would have been featuring those tie-ins for the first time) due to complications relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, due to a lack of available teams from the Pac-12, Tulsa
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
of the American Athletic Conference was ultimately selected to face Mississippi State
Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It ...
of the SEC.
Games marked with an asterisk (*) were played in January of the following calendar year.
Game results
Rankings are based on the AP Poll
The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broad ...
prior to the game being played.
Source:
MVPs
An MVP is named from each team.
Source:
Most appearances
Updated through the December 2022 edition (20 games, 40 total appearances).
;Teams with multiple appearances
;Teams with a single appearance
Won (9): Boise State
Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a pub ...
, BYU
Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-da ...
, Cincinnati, Kansas, Louisiana Tech
Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activi ...
, Mississippi State
Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It ...
, Rice, Tulane
Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...
, Utah
Lost (9): Baylor, Marshall, Middle Tennessee
Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of the U.S. state of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the ...
, Missouri, Pittsburgh, San Diego State
San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...
, SMU, Southern Miss, TCU
Appearances by conference
Updated through the December 2022 edition (20 games, 40 total appearances).
* Games marked with an asterisk (*) were played in January of the following calendar year.
* Pac-12 record includes appearances when the conference was known as the Pac-10 (before 2011).
* The WAC no longer sponsors FBS football.
* Independent appearances: Army (2010, 2017, 2018, 2021), BYU (2011), Navy (2013)
Game records
Source:
Media coverage
The bowl has been televised on ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The co ...
since its inception. Radio coverage was initially on ESPN Radio, and is currently carried nationally via Bowl Season Radio.
Notes
References
External links
*
{{Bowl game navbox
College football bowls
Military competitions in American football
Recurring sporting events established in 2003