Louisiana Tech had closed the book on its season after finishing 5-7, then had to reopen it while replacing Marshall in this bowl. It is reasonable to wonder if the Bulldogs will be fully engaged. They must hurriedly prepare for Army's triple-option offense without three of their main defenders who bowed out. Their offense is among the worst in FBS at converting possessions into points. One might also wonder if the Black Knights can recover from the beatdown by Navy, but indications are they wish to rinse out the bad taste from that loss. They were afforded two weeks to bounce back and tend to take bowls seriously, having won five of the past six straight-up.

One of the best things this season about the Army football team is that they do a great job of excelling on both sides of the ball. Considering what it took for the La Tech team to get into this bowl game in a last minute change, I don't think they'll be too locked in to put up much of a fight against the Black Knights of the Hudson.

There might normally be a letdown concern for Army following its historic 11-win season that included a conference championship. But the Knights are coming off a blowout loss to rival Navy in which they lost the Commander-In-Chief trophy amid their worst performance of the season. Louisiana Tech will play the role of bowl savior after transfer=portal-gutted Marshall withdrew. The Bulldogs will be happy to be there, but this is a five-win team whose only victory over a winning opponent came against Western Kentucky. Moreover, the Bulldogs lost a good share of their top run defenders to the portal as well. This one has all the makings of another Army blowout we’ve become accustomed to seeing this year against lesser competition.