It’s never as good or as bad as it seems…
Author: Mike
This week in service academy football
It was a good weekend for Navy. Not so much for the other service academies.
Postgame Haiku, Vol. 70
Feinstein must be pissed
Sure the column was ready
“See? Big East? Mistake!”
Let’s watch some more football
If you follow me on Twitter and have no idea what I’m talking about this weekend, it’s because I’m watching one of these games and you’re not:
(All times ET)
Saturday
Army at Ball State – Noon – ESPN3
Ball State is a slightly different matchup for Army than Morgan State. Ball State can score points a-plenty, but if Army has truly cured their fumblitis then they have a chance to keep pace.
Western Kentucky at Tennessee – Noon-ish – SEC Network
WKU beat Kentucky pretty soundly. If they give the Vols a run for their money, Navy’s trip to Bowling Green on the 28th will look a whole lot more interesting. On the plus side, it’ll probably also be televised.
Thomas More College at Capital University – 1:30 – HERE
Craig Candeto’s head coaching debut!
Utah State at Air Force – 3:30 – CBS Sports Network
I’ll be flipping between this and Delaware State-Delaware.
Duke at Memphis – 4:30 – ESPN3
Notre Dame at Michigan – after the Navy game – ESPN
I might try to keep an eye on the Hawaii game too, but I’m usually pretty wiped out after Navy plays.
San Jose State at Stanford – 11:00 – HERE
Until I fall asleep. Hopefully David Fales doesn’t give me nightmares.
Indiana week
Navy (0-0) at Indiana (1-0)
Saturday 9/7 6:00 ET
Big Ten Network (DirecTV 610-3)
Navy football is finally here. The Mids kick off their 2013 campaign at Indiana on Saturday. Let’s set the table:
SO CLOSE
Just when you thought we were about to get through fall practice without any injuries…
Losing a starting cornerback probably isn’t the best news as the team gets ready to face Indiana’s mile-a-minute offense. Fortunately, Quincy Adams has a good bit of experience. However, with the defense likely to be playing nickel for a good portion of Saturday’s game, the question now becomes who will be Navy’s 5th defensive back.
Depth chart finalized
Maybe “finalized” isn’t the right word, since the depth chart will constantly change over the course of the season. Still, it’s final in the sense that the time for motivational shenanigans is over. We have a pretty good idea now of who will be getting on the bus for Indiana.
Wags was busy lighting up Twitter last night with some notes and a last-minute change to the depth chart posted over on Navysports.
On the surface it’s a somewhat drastic change, rising from #3 on the chart to supplant last year’s starter. Then again, I’m a firm believer that depth charts are published to give people like us something to talk about, and that the real depth chart exists only in the coach’s head. Maybe this spot was more up for grabs than we realized.
Anyway, some thoughts:
— The offensive line is mostly what we thought it’d be with the exception of Thomas Stone replacing E.K. Binns at left guard. Binns was the only projected starter to have participated in spring camp, but has sat out practice recently with a concussion. I don’t know if it means anything, but I’m hoping that that fact that he’s still listed on the depth chart is a good sign that he’ll be ready to play soon if not this week. Fortunately, Stone is probably the most experienced of all the reserves and might have won the starting job anyway. With Wags’ report that Tanner Fleming and Jake Zuzek are healthy and practicing again, the offensive line should be ready to go.
UPDATE:
So that’s good news if it means Binns is healthy enough to play. My guess is that the two will rotate.
— Also regarding Wags’ notes from last night: I know the coaches are being understandably cautious with Keenan, but I don’t have a warm and fuzzy knowing that he’s being held out of practice in full pads until tomorrow or Thursday.
— Seniority has risen to the top with the slotbacks, which tells me that those who block the best will play the most. I’m sure we’ll see some of the younger guys rotated in on a few plays, but the bulk of the snaps will be going to those who know where to run when they don’t have the ball. As usual.
— We already knew how the outside linebacker situation was going to play out, although A.K. Akpunku has been moved to defensive end.
— DJ Sargenti will be starting opposite Cody Peterson at inside linebacker, which makes for an interesting combination in that neither was recruited as a linebacker. Peterson was originally a fullback, while Sargenti was a strong-armed quarterback. Both were too athletic to remained buried on the depth chart at those positions, though, and have found a home on the defense. Peterson is the team captain who played well last year, so we have a pretty good idea of what he brings to the table. Sargenti is more of a nomad. He was initially moved to outside linebacker, and even led all defenders with 10 tackles in last year’s spring game. Now that Chris Johnson is healthy again, he was moved inside this fall where he quickly played his way to the top of the depth chart. Gap discipline has been an issue for Navy’s ILBs at times over the last couple of seasons, so there’s always that concern when someone has changed positions as often as Sargenti has. There’s certainly no denying his determination to get onto the field, though.
This week in service academy football
Army (1-0): def. Morgan State, 28-12. This game started out the way you’d figure a game with a struggling MEAC program would, with Army going up 21-0 early in the 2nd quarter. After that, though, Morgan State held their own pretty well, especially running the ball. It was the Bears’ inability to get out of their own way that kept this game from being even closer, with penalties, busted plays, and missed extra points. Statistically, Army was better, but not overwhelmingly so: the Black Knights held a 396-301 advantage in total yards, and a 19-17 edge in first downs. To be fair, you play to win the game, not to pile up statistics. Army took control early, and it never felt like it was getting away from them. There were also some encouraging things from Angel Santiago’s arm. Maybe Army just let off on the gas after getting a big lead. Either way, I don’t know if I’d come away from that game with any warm and fuzzy feelings if I was an Army fan.
Air Force (1-0): def. Colgate, 38-13. After a surprisingly bad first quarter that saw Colgate outgain Air Force 113-49 on the way to a 7-0 lead, team Howdy Doody eventually wore down our Patriot League friends in predictable fashion. It might have been a Pyrrhic victory, though, as Air Force starting quarterback Kale Pearson went down with a knee injury in the second quarter. Troy Calhoun didn’t want to comment until getting MRI results, but now that those results are in it looks like initial fears of a season-ending injury are confirmed.
The next player to pick up the battle flag is sophomore Jaleel Awini. Pearson and Awini supposedly had an open competition for the starting job this fall, but I don’t know how open the job really was. I suspect that the job was Pearson’s to lose, but the coaches didn’t want him to get too complacent. Pearson was the backup last year for a reason, after all. Regardless, that isn’t an indictment of Awini’s talent. He’s reportedly the better passer of the two and is very highly regarded. It isn’t his talent that’s in question as much as it is his grasp of the offense, which is to be expected from most sophomores. With Utah State’s mile-a-minute offense coming to town next week, you don’t want anything less than your full arsenal if you hope to keep pace.
Let’s watch football
It’s football season. At some point tomorrow evening, I will ascend to the room over my garage, and my wife will say “see you in January.” If you want to watch what I’ll be watching this weekend, here’s the list. There will be some overlap, but that’s because I have two TVs plus the internet and dammit I use them all.
All times ET
Thursday
North Carolina at South Carolina – 6:00 – ESPN
The best game of the night, obviously, although It’ll be relegated to the small screen after an hour. That’s because…
Indiana State at Indiana – 7:00 – Big Ten Network
I know next to nothing about Indiana State, so I don’t know how much we’ll learn about Navy’s first opponent. But it’s all we’ve got of the Hoosiers before they play Navy, so I’ll be watching.
Southern Utah at South Alabama – 7:30 – ESPN3
I usually won’t concentrate on Navy’s late-season opponents until we get closer to those games, but I’ll be keeping an eye on this one just out of curiosity since South Alabama is a FBS newcomer.
Ole Miss at Vanderbilt – 9:15 – ESPN
USC at Hawaii – 11:00 – CBS Sports Network
Not gonna lie, I probably won’t make it past the first quarter.
Other future Navy opponents: Sacramento State at San Jose State, 10:00, MW Digital Network
Friday
Morgan State at Army – 7:00 – CBS Sports Network
Barring an evening monsoon (always a possibility in Florida), I’m putting this game on the DVR and going to the neighborhood high school game instead. If Army has any problem at all with a struggling MEAC program, it’s going to be a very long year at West Point. Just for perspective, Akron was 1-11 last year. Their one win was over Morgan State. They won that game 66-6. Things change, but not THAT quickly. I’m sure Army won’t put anything on film that they don’t have to in this game, and their starters should all be out by the 4th quarter.
Saturday
Elon at Georgia Tech – 12:00 – ESPN3
Meh, it’s the spread option.
Toledo at Florida – 12:21 – SEC Network
I get this on a local channel, but you might have to find it on Gameplan. It won’t take long to find out what the Rockets will be bringing to the table this season.
Colgate at Air Force – 3:00 – ROOT
This will be a better game than Army’s, but not by much. I’ll have to watch, though, since there are only so many Air Force games to take in before they come to Annapolis. Air Force’s defense did have their hands full in their supposed cupcake game last year, so maybe we’ll at least get a chuckle or two.
Temple at Notre Dame – 3:30 – NBC
NC Central at Duke – 4:00 – ESPN3
This is going to be a terrible game, and I’ll probably change over to…
Alabama vs. Virginia Tech – 5:30 – ESPN
…once this game starts, assuming I can get it online. If not, I’m sure I’ll be sick of either the Air Force or Notre Dame game by then.
Kentucky vs. Western Kentucky – 7:00 – ESPNews
This should be a pretty good game, and we’ll get our first look at the new WKU.
Washington State at Auburn – 7:00 – ESPNU
Morbid curiosity.
Georgia at Clemson – 8:00 – ABC
LSU vs. TCU – 9:00 – ESPN
I assume I’ll be sick of Wazzu-Auburn by then.
Boise State at Washington – 10:00 – FS1
Northwestern at Cal – 10:30 – ESPN2
Who doesn’t like Northwestern?
Sunday
Sunday is my wife’s birthday. Ohio-Louisville is interesting, but not THAT interesting.
Monday
Florida State at Pitt – 8:00 – ESPN
Another future Navy opponent to wrap up the weekend.
The Mailbag (8/19)
What is your take on intrasquad scrimmages? I think they are necessary because it allows our best offense to play full speed against our best defense, but it is rarely against an offense or defense that we will really be up against. If the defense does well, does that mean the offense is bad? And visa versa.
I love to read how so-and-so had a great scrimmage, but what about the guys that he made look bad? Are they really bad?
It’s important to understand what it is you’re looking at when you watch a scrimmage. The coaches aren’t calling plays to win the game as much as they’re calling plays to evaluate both the players and themselves (experimenting with new schemes and plays, for example). That’s why you can’t get too wrapped up in the results. A guy might do his job on a given play, but if the play called isn’t the right one to counter whatever was called on the other side of the ball, it still might flop. What matters is how well each individual player did his job, and that’s something you don’t usually get a feel for from the bleachers. The scrimmage might be fun to watch, but only the coaches know whether it was good or bad. They only really know after watching film and grading each player.
The Birddog 