Screw you, DOD, for even bringing us to this point. Screw you right in the face.
I assume this only applies to the Air Force game and that the Duke game is still up in the air, but hopefully we’ll get word on that soon. For now let’s just beat the crap out of Air Force and figure out if there’s a way to blame Troy Calhoun for all of this.
You know, the important stuff.
The Birddog 
Two snaps in Zorro Z formation for this post BD!
Can you imagine the mileage Calhoun would have gotten out of a canceled game?
LOL at all the twitter feeds…What about the starving children? Or the lost hikers in the woods?
This post gave me a belly laugh before my morning coffee.
Beat Chair Force.
Optics just met reality, and reality delivered the pancake block of economics + worse optics.
Hats off to Chet and his staff. As usual, they handled this very effectively and very professionally.
But assuming that this is only a one week fix (yes, Duke is up in the air, as are SDSU and EMich for AF and Army, respectively) and assuming that the budgetary impasse does not get solved before year end, the economics of sheer stupidity gets worse: A total of nine home games will not get played at Navy, AF, and Army, including an ND visit to AF—a likely but rare sellout for USAFA and a nice TV deal. Plus the Navy-Army game in Philly. Seven other schools will lose their home dates with one of the three SAs, with an accompanying hit in ticket sales and TV revenue. Now consider the local economic loss to restaurants, bars, innkeepers, caterers, etc. Not sure how you can estimate a number this big, but the loss of this weekend’s date with AF would have cost Navy about $4 mil and the local economy about $7 mil.
I know this is off-topic, but is there a good explanation for why WKU’s Andrew Jackson wasn’t suspended for a game, wasn’t ejected from the game, didn’t even draw a flag for that head-down, helmet-to-helmet hit on Keenan Reynolds? It sure looked blatant to me when I watched the game, and the photos I’ve seen since don’t make it look any less obvious (or less dangerous).
He could have drawn a flag, but you don’t get an automatic ejection for helmet to helmet contact. You get it for targeting a defenseless player. The ballcarrier isn’t a defenseless player. His hit on Vickers at the end of the game was worse.
If the NFL can get that one right, why not the NCAA? AJ is going to seriously hurt another player before he’s done (and possibly himself, as well). I’m sure he’s not the only one. The only way to get rid of heads-down tackling is to make the penalty so severe that no coach will tolerate it on his team.
Mike is correct as to Keenan not being “defenseless,” so Rule 9-1-4 does not apply. But Rule 9-1-3, which governs contact with any player DOES apply, if the player initiating contact was “targeting” and if he initiates contact with the crown of his helmet. “Targeting” means “tak[ing] aim at an opponent for purposes of attacking with an apparent attempt that goes beyond making a legal tackle…” The rule provides several non-exclusive indicia of what constitutes “targeting.” Leading with the helmet or lowering the head before contact so as to initiate contact with the crown are two indicia. The photographs and replays show that Jackson did both. Moreover the rule says “When in question, it is a foul.” And disqualification (i.e., ejection) applies.
Jackson should have been ejected under 9-1-3. He’ll continue to play like this until the refs get it right.