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The Louisville Cardinals and the Air Force Falcons will compete for holiday cheer in the First Responder Bowl on Tuesday at Gerald J. Ford Stadium at 3:15 p.m. ET. The Falcons will be strutting in after a win while U of L will be stumbling in from a loss.
U of L has to be hurting after a devastating 52-21 defeat at the hands of the Kentucky Wildcats four weeks ago. It was supposed to be a close matchup, and U of L was supposed to come out on top, but neither of those things ended up happening. No one had a standout game offensively for U of L, but they got scores from WR Josh Johnson, RB Maurice Burkley, and QB Evan Conley.
Meanwhile, when you finish with 293 more yards than your opponent like Air Force did four weeks ago, a favorable outcome is almost sure to follow. They took their game against the UNLV Rebels by a conclusive 48-14 score. With the Falcons ahead 24 to nothing at the half, the contest was all but over already. FB Emmanuel Michel and RB Brad Roberts were among the main playmakers for Air Force as the former rushed for one TD and 123 yards on 12 carries and the latter punched in two rushing touchdowns. Michel's longest run was for 64 yards in the third quarter.
A couple stats to keep an eye on: The Cardinals are stumbling into the contest with the 176th most passing yards allowed per game in the nation, having given up 245.1 on average. The Falcons have experienced some struggles of their own as they are 243rd worst in the nation in passing yards per game, with only 82.5 on average. It's possible one of these Achilles' heels will wind up tripping the losing team up.
