Watch the California vs. Air Force Armed Forces Bowl online: Time, TV schedule, live stream, 3 things to know

Bowl games are all about featuring teams from different conferences, and sometimes, different styles. The latter is what makes this year’s Armed Forces Bowl so exciting. Both Cal and Air Force have effective offenses, but the Bears’ method of choice is through the air, with an air raid attack. Ironically, the Falcons prefer to keep the ball on the ground with the triple option.

Cal is headed to a bowl game for the first time under coach Sonny Dykes, thanks to an improvement on offense and a major improvement on defense. The Bears started the season 5-0, with wins over Mountain West champion San Diego State, Texas, Washington and Washington State. However, they won just two of their final seven games, over bottom feeder Oregon State and mediocre Arizona State.

Air Force continued an impressive bounceback season, this time winning the Mountain Division of the Mountain West. The Falcons went from 2-10 to 10-2 between 2013 and 2014, and while they went 8-4 in 2015, they had some big wins over Boise State and Utah State. That got them to the Mountain West title game, where they fell to San Diego State.

Both of these teams have some glaring inconsistencies, particularly on defense. But if both offenses show up, we could get a wild game with different looks every time each unit comes out.

TV: Dec. 29, 2 p.m. ET, ESPN

Radio: Cal, Air Force

Online streaming: WatchESPN

Spread: Cal is favored by 7 points.

Make friends: Get to SB Nation’s team blog chats for this game at California Golden Blogs for Cal fans and Mountain West Connection for Air Force fans.

1. Cal head coach Sonny Dykes will still be with the Bears next year after signing a contract extension following the season. However, for awhile it looked like Dykes was interested in coaching anyone but Cal next year. Dykes’ future was so uncertain that he didn’t even have a bowl press conference when the matchup was announced. It’s unclear what, if any effect Dykes’ offseason drama had on his team, but if they come out an lay an egg in the bowl game against a Mountain West opponent, then the hot seat talk could continue, despite the extension.

2. The competing offensive styles in this game will be really fun to watch. Cal goes to the air often behind quarterback Jared Goff, while Air Force loves to run the ball. The Falcons are used to being different from their opponents, but this will be polar opposites. That’s part of what makes bowl games great.

3. Will this be Jared Goff’s final game at Cal? A junior, Goff has NFL potential and could easily leave early. He’s led the program back to the postseason, and now he has a chance to go out on a high note.

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