The Armed Forces Bowl pitted the nation’s leading rushing attack against the nation’s leading rusher and the battle lived up to the hype on Saturday afternoon in Forth Worth. San Diego State tailback Rashaad Penny’s set the single-season school record for rushing yards but his Aztecs were a bit worn down on defense as Army’s triple option attack kept pace to keep things locked at 21-all going into halftime.
Penny’s second run from scrimmage saw him go nearly untouched 81 yards to the end zone, leaving a trail of Black Knights defenders in his wake. He added another touchdown run from 32 yards out to start the second quarter and break the school record of his good friend and current Philadelphia Eagles running back Donnel Pumphrey held. If there was one major negative after the first half for the SDSU offense outside of Penny, it was the fact that they didn’t spend hardly any time on the field with the quick scoring drives and senior offensive lineman Antonio Rosales was ejected after receiving two personal fouls on one play.
Not to be left out of the party, Penny’s backup looked pretty good himself as Juwan Washington looked more than capable of taking over the workload next year with a 78-yard kick return touchdown right before halftime to keep things knotted up going into the break.
Army never seemed to panic despite giving up some early scores, as level-headed quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw looked superb running the option attack and racked up 83 yards rushing and a touchdown though two quarters. As expected, he didn’t pass the ball at all for Army but did have some terrific pitches to his running backs -- Andy Davidson punched in a TD to go with his 60 yards on the ground and Darnell Woolfolk chipped in with 42 yards and a score as well.
This was one of the better bowl matchups of the week and that rang very true early on in this one. Both teams have their work cut out for them in terms of stopping the run in the second half but it should make for a thrilling finish if those first two quarters were any indication.