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Western Michigan battles Air Force in Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

Coming off one of their most successful regular seasons in recent memory, the Air Force Falcons find themselves pitted against the Western Michigan Broncos in the 18th annual Famous Idaho Potato Bowl at Albertsons Stadium.

The Falcons, who represent the Mountain West Conference, are no strangers to this particular stadium, which used to be known as Broncos Stadium, home of Boise State football. Air Force has not had a lot of success in the building, but the team did pull off a major upset of BSU during the regular season with a 28-14 triumph in late September.

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That victory was just one of nine triumphs for head coach Troy Calhoun and his crew in 2014 as the squad posted a mark of 5-3 in conference play which, unfortunately, was only good for a fourth-place finish in the Mountain Division.

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As for the Broncos, those hailing from Western Michigan and the Mid-American Conference, they managed to finish third in the West Division standings with a 6-2 mark, and were 8-4 overall thanks to non-conference triumphs over Idaho and Murray State in the month of September. The program did enjoy a six-game win streak during one stretch, but that came to an end with a 31-21 loss versus Northern Illinois in late November.

Western Michigan hasn't had much success in the postseason historically -- in fact that team is winless in five previous bowl appearances. The most recent showing saw the team bow to Purdue, 37-32, in the 2011 Little Caesars Bowl, but there is still enthusiasm about the prospect of meeting up with Air Force this weekend.

"Western Michigan University is extremely excited and grateful to share our celebratory season with the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl and the city of Boise," said head coach P.J. Fleck. "The 18-year existence of this bowl shows the elite commitment and work ethic of all that are involved in this historic bowl. Boise, it is time to ROW THE BOAT!"

As for the Falcons, who missed the postseason in 2013, their bowl history traces back to the 1959 Cotton Bowl and a 0-0 tie versus TCU. The squad has a mark of 10-12-1 in the postseason but had been sitting at .500 prior to losing to both Toledo and Rice in the Military and Armed Forces Bowls, respectively, the last two times out.

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With respect to the series between these programs, this is the first meeting.

For the Broncos, a team led by Fleck who was named the MAC Coach of the Year, the focus will be on running back Jarvion Franklin who not only was named the MAC Freshman of the Year, he also the league's Offensive Player of the Year as well. Franklin set the MAC single-season rushing mark with 1,525 yards and also set new WMU standards with 25 touchdowns and 150 points in a single season.

Franklin was a workhorse for the Broncos as he carried the ball 294 times and averaged 5.2 yards per carry in order to take some of the pressure off quarterback Zach Terrell who managed to complete 70 percent of his passes for 3,146 yards and 23 scores, against 10 interceptions.

Although he missed one game, Corey Davis turned his 70 catches into 1,232 yards and 12 TDs, averaging close to 18 yards per reception. Just ahead of him on the total receptions list with 79 is Daniel Braverman who landed in the end zone only half as many times as Davis.

As anyone who takes on Air Force knows, stopping the run is paramount and that's something that the Broncos did rather well during the regular season. The team ranked 37th in the FBS with just 142.7 ypg allowed on the ground, but you can be sure that number will be challenged quite a bit by the Academy. Expect to see Grant DePalma (97 tackles) in on many stops this weekend, the same for Justin Currie (95), and while both Ronald Zamort and Donald Celsicar tied for the team lead with four interceptions, there won't be much call for their services this time around.

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As has been the case for countless years now, the Falcons again rely heavily on their rushing attack, one that ranked seventh in the nation during the regular season with 272.2 ypg. Leading the way in the triple-option attack was Jacobi Owens with 1,054 yards on 204 carries, leading to five touchdowns, but he will not be suiting up this weekend due to a foot injury he suffered last month.

Quarterback Kale Pearson was listed as the second-leading rusher with 646 yards, his six TDs on the ground tied for the team-high, but he is currently listed as questionable for the final game of the year for the Falcons as well. Should Pearson be unable to go, next up would be Nate Romine, a sophomore who has appeared in just four games this season, completing 8-of-15 passes for 73 yards and an interception.

Obviously, Romine would not be called upon to put the ball in the air that much, but should the Falcons opt to throw the ball from time to time, the likely target would be Jalen Robinette who has 40 catches for 716 yards and four scores, not to mention Garrett Brown who has six TDs on 29 grabs.

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When and if the offense stalls, the Falcons can feel secure in bringing on kicker Will Conant who was named the Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Year after converting 18-of-20 field goal attempts, and making good on all 42 of his PATs.

A First-Team All-Mountain West selection, Weston Steelhammer is the face of the defense for the Falcons these days. With six interceptions, at least one in three straight games, Steelhammer has the most since 2009 when Anthony Wright had seven picks for the unit. In addition to his picks, he also has two fumble recoveries and has registered a safety on one of his five tackles for loss. Another player the Broncos need to keep an eye on is Jordan Pierce, who easily paced the Falcons with 107 tackles, and was tops with both 16.5 TFL and 5.0 sacks.

[SportsNetwork.com]

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