Month: November 2012

Fundraising Update

On By MikeIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

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We’re only one week into our fundraiser, and holy guacamole you guys have responded. As of this afternoon, we’re at $2,255 raised for cancer research and patient care! That’s pretty incredible, and almost halfway to our goal– all for a race that isn’t even until February. As I refreshed the donation site over the weekend, I could see the total amount growing in large chunks. There have clearly been some VERY generous donations so far. To all who have given: thank you. It’s still very, very early as far as fundraising for this race goes, but as of right now we are the #2 fundraiser for the entire event!

The early momentum is awesome, but we haven’t reached our goal yet! If you haven’t donated already, what’s the holdup? Donate, then tell all the Navy fans you know about this sweet blog so they’ll donate too. Click on the picture to sponsor my run!

 

New Big East Power Rankings – Week 10

On By AndyIn Big East, navy football5 Comments

Ten weeks into the season and we’re at the point where we’re really not learning much new about the meta of the New Big East. But as a Navy fan, you have to like what the meta has shown us. The Midshipmen aren’t moving up from the #7 spot this week, but is it so bad to be sitting right smack in the middle of the new conference?

Last week I was asked by Dave69 if I thought there was a 4-4-4 pattern evolving in the New Big East. To finally answer him, I don’t see that existing in the conference.

But it’s extremely frustrating trying to break it down into parts. For example, one could say that we could define 4 “should win” teams this year based on their performances – Temple, USF, UConn, and Memphis. I think USF is having a crisis this year that may or may not cost Skip Holtz his job. But I certainly would not put the Bulls into that category long-term. Temple and UConn have had some success in the last 5 years, but are clearly regressing some this season. So at best there are 3 teams that are “should wins” in a good year for Navy. The issue with applying that to Navy’s schedule is that we’ll probably only get all 3 of those teams once every 6 years while divisional matchups rotate.

The “toss-ups” also shrink. Right now I’d put Houston, SMU, and SDSU into a toss-up category. But SDSU just beat Boise State at Boise, making them a prime candidate to move up to “stretch.” That would shrink the toss-ups to just two teams out of 13, and likely just one regular year-in-and-out opponent.

That means there is a whopping large “stretch” category. Once USF gets back on track, there will be 6 teams firmly in there – nearly half the conference. Louisville, Rutgers, Cincinnati, Boise State, and UCF are clearly stretch games for Navy at this point.

So there you have it. Being fairly optimistic the NBE sets up as a 6-3-3 conference right now. When you realize that our OOC schedule of Army, Air Force, Notre Dame, and a (likely) 1-AA team gives us a 1-2-1 lineup, you start to see how going 6-6 will be a really good season.

Ok, that’s my opinion. I invite others to share theirs in the comments. And now – the rankings!

Continue reading “New Big East Power Rankings – Week 10” →

This Week in Service Academy Football

On By MikeIn air farce, army8 Comments

Army (2-7) defeated Air Force (5-4), 41-21. The Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy is still up for grabs, but we do know one thing: it won’t be in Colorado Springs a month from now. Army made a weird week even weirder by topping Air Force in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score made it look. Maybe weird isn’t the right word, since Air Force people running their mouths is hardly unusual. Stuff like Alex Means channeling Chance Harridge and saying that he can’t imagine losing to Army is pretty standard. The weird part came when Troy Calhoun started talking about all the advantages that Army has over Air Force as a program; stuff like coaches’ housing and Heisman winners from 60 years ago. Whatever you say, Howdy Doody.

Anyway, that’s all just a sideshow. In the main event, Army’s offense did what they’ve been doing all year yardage-wise, rushing for 314. What they didn’t do was turn the ball over. Air Force, on the other hand, has had its own issues taking care of the ball this season, and they went above and beyond in reinforcing their pro-turnover platform by losing two fumbles and throwing three interceptions. It would be easy to just point to the turnovers and say, “see, that’s why they lost,” but that isn’t even close to the whole story. The truth is that Army throttled the Air Force offense. I have been fairly complimentary of the Air Force offensive line this season, but they were absolutely manhandled in this game. Army lived in the Air Force backfield and held the Falcons to only 103 rushing yards.

We might have to take a closer look at this game later down the road.

NAVY 56, ECU 28

On By MikeIn navy football9 Comments

After Navy lost to Notre Dame in 2008, I said this:

If there’s a silver lining in all this, it’s that maybe Notre Dame’s defensive success this year will lead them to line up the same way in 2009.

That’s exactly what the Irish did, and Navy won. It makes me wonder what some coaches see when they watch film after a game. It’s sort of amazing how little understanding there is of the Navy offense among some of the Mids’ opponents. Navy made a lot of mistakes in that 2008 loss to the Irish, but apparently the Notre Dame staff didn’t recognize it. They lined up the same way the following year, only this time, Navy corrected their past mistakes.

Looking at the stat sheet from 2008, you can sort of sympathize with Notre Dame’s coaches for feeling comfortable about their game plan. The Mids only had 178 rushing yards that day, and completed only 3 passes in 14 attempts. The final score was close, but that was thanks to a furious last-minute comeback. For most of the game, Navy’s offense didn’t do much of anything. Even if they didn’t recognize all the missed opportunities Navy had to beat their defense, there was at least a statistical basis for Notre Dame’s coaches thinking that their gameplan was sound.

Continue reading “NAVY 56, ECU 28” →

WHILE YOU’RE WAITING

On By MikeIn Uncategorized6 Comments

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It’s been a busy week for me, so the ECU recap is running late. Don’t worry, it’ll happen. In the meantime, I’m going to do some shameless begging for this year’s Birddog fundraiser, the National Marathon To Finish Breast Cancer.

The usual formula for starting a fundraising campaign like this is to relate some kind of personal story about the cause. But do I really need to here? There isn’t a single person reading this that hasn’t been affected in some way by some form of cancer. You have all seen what patients and their families go through as they struggle with the physical pain and  hardships, both emotional and financial, that come with fighting the disease. You already know the feeling of hopelessness while you wish that there was anything you could do to help.

But there is something you can do. It’s said that football games are won in practice the week before. The same is true about the fight against cancer. The advances in treatment and patient care that we see today are the result of years of research. That research was made possible by the generous donations of people like you. The amount of progress we have seen in cancer treatment, even over just the last decade, is nothing short of amazing. Imagine what we might see in the next decade with the research that we can start today. Don’t wait until you or a loved one needs it. Donate now. Put in the practice before the game.

You can do so knowing that your donation will go a long way. Every single dime that you give goes to charity. 70% of your donation will fund breast cancer research at the Mayo Clinic. The remaining 30% goes toward patient care through The Donna Foundation. You will be caring for people who need it now, and laying the foundation for the care of those who will need it in the future.

That is why I am asking for your sponsorship. It’s been more than 4 years since we did the March of Dimes fundraiser. We raised almost $1000 back then, so my goal to raise $5000 is admittedly a bit ambitious. We have a lot more people reading the blog now than we did back then, though, so I’m hoping that reaching more people means raising more money. Besides, the race isn’t until February. That’s plenty of time to donate now, forget that you donated, then donate again two months from now. Donating is easy; just click on the picture to get started. Even if you can’t donate, you can still help. Post the link to Facebook. Tweet it. Spread the word.

Some of you have sent me notes saying that you like the game breakdowns so much that you’d pay for them. Instead of wasting your money on me, why not put that money to good use? As fun as it is to call for the backup quarterback and make fun of Air Force, let’s add one more play to this blog’s playbook: giving! Thanks for reading, and thanks for your help.