Fort Worth, TX -- (Sports Network) - The California Golden Bears limp into the fifth annual Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl to take on the Air Force Falcons on New Year's Eve in Fort Worth, Texas.

California began 2007 with a bang, reeling off five consecutive victories, but then the tide changed and the squad won just once in the final seven games to finish up a mere 6-6. Over the years the Bears have played rather well against the rest of the Mountain West Conference, winning 15 of the 25 meetings with member schools heading into this contest, including a 34-28 triumph over Colorado State in the second game of this season.

As for the Falcons, who are just 27-31-2 versus the Pac-10 Conference over the years, they lost only three times this year, with two of those setbacks coming against BYU and New Mexico in MWC action. The other defeat, a 31-20 decision against Navy, kept the squad from capturing the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy even with a 30-10 victory over Army the first week of November. Following the win over the Black Knights, the Falcons also registered a rare win over Notre Dame and then closed out the regular season with a decisive 55-23 victory versus San Diego State.

Cal leads the all-time series against the Falcons by a count of 5-2, blowing out the academy in the most recent encounter back in 2004 by a score of 56-14 in Colorado.

As far as past postseason experience is concerned, Air Force has produced a mark of 8-8-1 since posting a 0-0 tie in the 1959 Cotton Bowl. More recently the Falcons lost to Virginia Tech, 20-13, during the San Francisco Bowl in 2002, snapping the team's brief two-game win streak in postseason affairs.

As for California, it too has a record of 8-8-1 in bowl appearances, beginning with a 28-0 blanking of Ohio State in the 1921 Rose Bowl. The Golden Bears played in the Rose Bowl eight straight times until 1959 before heading elsewhere. In 2006, Cal topped Texas A&M in the Holiday Bowl by a score of 45-10, marking the team's second straight and third postseason win in the last four opportunities.

With respect to this particular bowl, which was also known as the Fort Worth Bowl for the first three years, Utah posted a 25-13 win over Tulsa in last year's event.

Quarterback Nate Longshore was supposed to be the offensive savior for the Golden Bears this season, but he had some trouble living up to those lofty expectations. Through the first five games of 2006, Longshore had 14 touchdown passes, which ended up being just two less than he had all of this season. The signal-caller had a couple of good outings against UCLA and Washington in which he tossed three TDs apiece, but that was more the exception than the rule for the Cal passing attack which placed fourth in the Pac-10 and 52nd in the nation with an average of 233.7 ypg. Justin Forsett tried to even the playing field for the Bears as he ranked second in the conference and 19th in the nation with 116.9 ypg on the ground, accounting for 13 rushing touchdowns along the way. Primary options down the field for the Bears are Lavelle Hawkins and DeSean Jackson who both made it into the end zone five times as they reeled in 69 and 60 receptions, respectively.

Except for meetings against Washington State and Louisiana Tech, the Bears were unable to hold any other opponents to less than 20 points this season, resulting in a scoring defense that allowed 26 ppg. The run defense for the group was especially suspect as it permitted 151.9 ypg, which ranked not only seventh in the Pac-10 but also 58th in the country. Getting a strong push up the field proved to be a true test for Cal, as it generated just five tackles for loss per game and less than two sacks per outing. In terms of TFLs, the Bears were dead last in the league and 110th in the country, with the sack numbers pushing Cal to 10th in the Pac-10 and 76th in the nation as well. Thomas DeCoud registered a team-best 106 tackles for the Bears this season, but a more immediate impact was felt when Zack Follett connected with opponents, coming up with 11.5 TFLs and 5.5 sacks to lead the unit in both categories in 2007. Coming up with the team's only blocked kick of the campaign, Tyson Alualu also numbered four recovered fumbles, while no one else on the team had more than one this year.

Certainly a rare breed these days, Chad Hall not only led the Falcons in rushing with 1,415 yards on 211 carries, but he also led the program with 46 catches for 488 yards and a score. The Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Year, Hall made it into the end zone 15 times coming out of the backfield for a rushing attack that was again among the best in the country. However, under the direction of new head coach Troy Calhoun, Air Force was much more than a team that simply pounded away in the trenches. In addition to placing first in the MWC and second in the country with a staggering 298.5 ypg on the ground, Calhoun tweaked the offense so that quarterback Shaun Carney could actually become a threat when in the pocket. Carney completed 62.2 percent of his 193 attempts for 1,423 yards and eight touchdowns. While that doesn't sound like much, as it still ranked 118th in the nation this season, it is really quite remarkable given the approach Fisher DeBerry had the Falcons following for so many seasons. Giving up just 1.08 sacks per game also meant that Carney was staying out of harm's way, ranking the offensive line first in the conference and ninth in the nation in that department.

While Calhoun was able to manipulate the offense for the Falcons and give them a new look in 2007, the defense still could have played better at certain points in the season. Allowing a mere three points to South Carolina State in the opener and then 10 and 12 points to Army and Wyoming, respectively, during the season half of the season did wonders for the overall numbers for the academy. The squad finished 19th in the nation in scoring defense with just 19.3 ppg allowed and, while that is definitely a strong stat, the fact remains that there were four teams ahead of Air Force in its own conference in that department this season. The run defense appeared to be fairly tight, giving up 131 ypg, but even though that ranked fifth in the conference and 36th in the nation, some of that had to do with the fact that many opponents had to resort to passing the ball because the Falcons ate up so much of the clock with their own rushing attack. Consequently, the pass defense ended up second-to-last in the MWC with 226.2 ypg permitted. Drew Fowler led the team in tackles with 110, followed by Chris Thomas with 102 stops. John Rabold made the most of his 73 tackles with 5.5 sacks and 16.5 TFLs, not to mention three forced fumbles and as many recoveries.