Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl

The Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl is a college football postseason game played at Ford Stadium in University Park, Texas. Previously known as the PlainsCapital Fort Worth Bowl and first contested in 2003, the Armed Forces Bowl now matches up a team from Conference USA with another opponent. The bowl has a contract with BYU for 2011, and future contracts with Army (2014 and 2017) and Navy (2013 and 2016) should they be bowl-eligible. The Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl is owned and operated by ESPN Regional Television, and the 2011 game -- between BYU and Tulsa -- was won by BYU, 24-21.

The origins of the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl date back to 2003 when the game began as the PlainsCapital Fort Worth Bowl, played at TCU's Amon G. Carter Stadium. Boise State defeated TCU in the inaugural affair, with Cincinnati claiming victory over Marshall the following year. The bowl was known as the Fort Worth Bowl in 2005 when Kansas topped Houston 42-13.

Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company, joined the bowl on August 23, 2006, as the title sponsor of the postseason college football game. The 2006 season marked the first year of the adoption of the "Armed Forces Bowl" name, making the official title the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl. That year's game featured a matchup between Utah (MWC) and Tulsa (C-USA), as the Utes clinched a 25-13 victory.

California, out of the Pac-10 Conference, replaced the C-USA representative in the 2007 Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl and defeated Air Force 42-36. That marked the first of three straight appearances by Air Force, who claimed a win in the 2009 game with a 47-20 win over Houston. In 2010, the Armed Forces Bowl signed a special contract with Army that brought the Black Knights to Dallas to take on the SMU Mustangs in their home stadium, as the bowl relocated to Ford Stadium due to renovations at its home stadium in Fort Worth, Amon G. Carter. Army defeated SMU 16-14.

The 2011 Armed Forces Bowl featured an exciting finish, as BYU's Riley Nelson threw a game-winning, two-yard touchdown pass to Cody Hoffman with 11 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter-- their third scoring connection of the day -- in a 24-21 victory over Tulsa.

Gerald J. Ford Stadium is an outdoor football venue located in Dallas, Texas and is home to the SMU football team. The stadium will serve as host for the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl for a second straight year as the traditional site for the bowl (Fort Worth's Amon G. Carter Stadium) undergoes renovations.

The stadium was opened in September 2000 and is named for Gerald J. Ford (not to be confused with former U.S. president Gerald R. Ford), a banker and SMU graduate who helped to fund the construction of the facility.

Designed by Ellerbe Becket, Inc., an architectural firm based in Kansas City, Mo., Ford Stadium has a seating capacity of 32,000 with the possibility for expansion.