2015 Armed Forces Bowl results: Houston comes back from down 25 in 4th to win

In Friday’s four bowls, the losing teams heading into the fourth quarter outscored the winning teams, 72-22. Washington trailed Oklahoma State by 27-14, Kansas State trailed UCLA, 34-21, Iowa trailed Tennessee, 42-7, and Houston trailed Pitt, 24-6. Only one of those came back to win (Houston), but three games became interesting.

Comebacks are what we will remember most about this bowl season (aside from, you know, the first Playoff). We had seen Central Michigan make up 34 points of a 35-point fourth quarter deficit in the Bahamas Bowl, and we had seen Michigan State come back from 20 down in the fourth. That KSU almost came back from down 31-6 at halftime, and that Houston DID come back from down 34-13 with four minutes left, just added to the lore.

With six minutes left in the fourth quarter, Houston trailed by 21 points. Three touchdowns, two successful onside kick attempts and one two-point conversion later, the Cougars completed the third 20-point comeback of the season to beat Pitt, 35-34, in the Armed Forces Bowl on Friday afternoon.

It is the third 20-point comeback this season, following Baylor’s 61-58 regular season win over TCU and Michigan State’s 42-41 Cotton Bowl win vs. Baylor on Thursday.

This is magical. Here’s a dude playing for Houston who got completely lost in the moment. Maybe he’s dancing, perhaps he’s attempting a Zoidberg scurry, heck, it could just be some sensual thrusting. The only thing that could snap him out of his trance was a ref’s butt hitting him in the shoulder.

It’s impossible to stop watching, whatever it is.

The first game gives us a double dose of interim coaches. Houston defensive coordinator David Gibbs steps in for fired head coach Tony Levine, while Pitt offensive coordinator will fill in on the Panthers’ sideline after head man Paul Chryst left for Wisconsin.

If experience playing for interims means anything (and it almost certainly does not), give Pitt the edge; fifth-year Panther seniors are now under their third interim. But dual interims make motivation a huge question mark.

Despite their strong regular season play in recent years, the Kansas State Wildcats are just 1-5 straight up and against the spread over their last six bowl appearances. The Wildcats will be looking for more favorable results in the Alamo Bowl at 6:45 p.m. ET on Friday against the UCLA Bruins.

Kansas State is a 1.5-point underdog in the Alamo Bowl, according to sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. Both teams finished the season with 9-3 SU records, but Kansas State held the clear ATS edge at 8-4 over UCLA at 4-8 ATS. The betting favorite is 5-1 ATS over the last six Alamo Bowl games.

It may officially be named the Armed Forces Bowl, but perhaps the Interim Bowl is a better name for this year’s matchup between Pitt and Houston in Fort Worth. With former Pitt coach Paul Chryst having left for Wisconsin and former Houston coach Tony Levine having been fired, the greatest intrigue surrounding this game is who won’t be on the sidelines.

Other than that, this isn’t your traditional “January bowl game.” Neither team has been all that impressive this year, and neither was much of a factor in their respective conference races. Pitt started off the year with some promise, winning three straight, but the Panthers blew a lead to Iowa and lost that game and their next two, against Akron and Virginia. While they had some good games, they were never really able to get over the hump.

Chryst was an assistant at Wisconsin in 2002 under current athletic director Barry Alvarez and the offensive coordinator for most of Bielema’s time in Madison, leaving to take the Pitt head coaching job in 2012. He reached a 19-19 record with three bowl trips, with underclassmen serving as the Panthers’ top players for most of his three-year stay.

Chryst, along with NC State head coach Dave Doeren, another former Badgers coordinator, was one of the first names identified by just about everybody as a potential replacement for Andersen, who had no apparent previous connections to UW.

The Armed Forces Bowl is usually a lot of fun, especially when one of the nation’s service academies are taking on a mid-major from Conference USA or the Mountain West. Last year, though, things got ugly. This year, we’ll see one Group of Five team and one Power Five team when Houston takes on Pittsburgh

Last year Navy cruised to a 24-6 win over Middle Tennessee State, but the game got out of hand. From last year’s recap: