The 2018 Armed Forces Bowl was a 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 Subdivi ...

played on December 22, 2018. It was the 16th edition of the

Armed Forces Bowl The Armed Forces Bowl, formerly the Fort Worth Bowl from 2003 to 2005, is an annual postseason college football bowl game. First played in 2003, the game is normally held at the 45,000-seat Amon G. Carter Stadium on the campus of Texas Christian ...

, and one of the 2018–19 bowl games concluding the 2018 FBS football season. Sponsored by aerospace and defense company Lockheed Martin, the game was officially known as the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl. On December 18, it was announced that the game had officially sold out of tickets, the first such sellout in the Armed Forces Bowl's 16-year history. Army's 70–14 victory tied the then largest margin of victory in a bowl game, 56, set by

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 ...

in the 2008 GMAC Bowl when they defeated

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

63–7. Army's 70 points tied the record for most points in an FBS bowl game, set by

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

in the

2012 Orange Bowl The 2012 Discover Orange Bowl was a postseason college football bowl game on Wednesday, January 4, 2012, at Sun Life Stadium, now known as Hard Rock Stadium, in Miami Gardens, Florida. The West Virginia Mountaineers defeated the Clemson Tigers by ...

, when they defeated Clemson 70–33. The then-tied record of largest margin of victory in a bowl game would go on to be broken in the 2023 National Championship game, where

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

would defeat TCU by a final score of 65–7.

Teams

The bowl originally planned to invite teams from 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 f ...

and the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA ...

(The American). When fourth-ranked Oklahoma was selected for the

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level ...

, a Big 12 bowl tie-in was left open.

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 ...

, an FBS Independent, was selected to fill this opening, facing off with The American member

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

Army Black Knights

Army received and accepted a bid to the Armed Forces Bowl on December 2. The Black Knights subsequently won the

Army–Navy Game The Army–Navy Game is an American college football college rivalry, rivalry game between the Army Black Knights football, Army Black Knights of the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, and the Navy Midshipmen footbal ...

on December 8, and entered the bowl with a 10–2 record.

Houston Cougars

Houston received and accepted a bid to the Armed Forces Bowl on December 2. The Cougars entered the bowl with a 8–4 record (5–3 in conference).

Game summary

Scoring summary

Statistics

Records set or tied

NCAA FBS *Margin of victory in a bowl game (tied): 56 points by Army (tied with Tulsa in its 63–7 win over Bowling Green in the 2008 GMAC Bowl) *Most points scored by a single team in a bowl game (tied): 70 points by Army (tied with West Virginia in its 70–33 win over Clemson in the 2012 Orange Bowl) Armed Forces Bowl *Most points scored: 70, Army vs. Houston *Largest margin of victory: 56, Army vs. Houston *Most team total yards: 592, Army vs. Houston *Most team rushing yards: 507, Army vs. Houston *Most team sacks: 10, Army vs. Houston *Most rushing touchdowns by an individual: 5, by Kelvin Hopkins Jr. of Army *Most sacks by an individual: 3.5, by James Nachtigal of Army *Largest attendance of Armed Forces Bowl Game: 44,738 Army (football program) * Most wins in a season: 11 * Most rushing TDs by an individual in a game (tied): 5 by Kelvin Hopkins Jr. * Most rushing TDs by an individual in a season (tied): 17 by Kelvin Hopkins Jr. * Most TDs responsible for by an individual in a season (tied): 23 (6 passing, 17 rushing) by Kelvin Hopkins Jr. * Total offense by an individual in a season: 2,143 yards (1,026 passing, 1,117 rushing) by Kelvin Hopkins Jr.

References

External links

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Box score
at

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Armed Forces Bowl

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