Category: air farce
This week in service academy football
Army (1-2): lost to Stanford, 34-20. This was supposed to be a disaster. It wasn’t. Army put up a great effort. Until the Cardinal scored a touchdown to make it 34-13 with about ten minutes left in the fourth quarter, it never felt like Army was out of the game. (They took advantage of a short field after Rich Ellerson decided to go for it on 4th down on his own 29. Puzzling call.) Things couldn’t have started out much better for Army, with the defense forcing a fumble and a 3 & out on Stanford’s first two possessions of the game. The Black Knights were able to turn that into two field goals, but field goals weren’t going to win this game. Stanford came alive on their next drive, ripping off some long runs to set up a 26-yard touchdown pass and a 7-6 lead. The Cardinal never trailed the rest of the way, although they couldn’t quite pull away, either.
Defensively, Stanford didn’t do anything fancy to stop the option, preferring to just line up in their base defense and counting on their players making plays. They did when they had to, but Army still ran for a very respectable 284 yards. Army’s defense kept Stanford surprisingly in check for a good portion of the game, but I kept getting the feeling that the Cardinal was holding back a little bit with their play calling. They spent most of the afternoon either throwing horizontally or lining up three tight ends and running the ball, both of which Army kept in check well enough. Stanford’s coaches only opened up when they really needed to, and when they did they got it; the Cardinal had 7 plays of 20+ yards. That doesn’t take away from Army’s performance, though. They forced two turnovers and kept the game within reach.
The question for Army now is where they go from here. Can they build on this performance? Can they do it without Larry Dixon, Raymond Maples, and Momo Kime if they need to? All three were injured on Saturday, and we should learn to what extent later today. Army has a reeling BCS conference opponent coming to town this week in what has to be considered a winnable game. After playing well against Stanford, beating Wake Forest to get to 2-2 would give the season a renewed optimism. Fall to 1-3, and things look pretty rough with 5 of the next 7 games coming away from Michie Stadium before heading to Army-Navy. The Wake Forest game might be the key to Army’s season.
Air Force (1-2): lost to Boise State, 42-20. For a while there it looked like this was going to be a real shootout. Air Force and Boise State were going toe-to-toe in the first half, with neither defense looking like it was going to step up. Then one of them did. Air Force was held to 98 yards in the second half as the Broncos eventually pulled away. Schematically, Boise State didn’t deviate very much from what Utah State did. Depending on situation, they either lined up in the same 3-deep 4-4 the Aggies used, or with 4 deep and having the playside safety roll up to play run support. Both are pretty basic defenses that Air Force sees all the time, and in the first half, they played like it. In the second half, Boise didn’t change the scheme. They simply manhandled the Air Force offensive line.
The two big questions for Air Force right now are about the defense and Jaleel Awini’s ability to run the offense. Regarding the latter, I’d say that we still don’t know. Everything sure seemed to be clicking in the first half, and he finished with 107 rushing yards and two TDs. On the other hand, this is the second straight game that Air Force has failed to rush for at least 200 yards. They’ve been able to do that much against even their toughest opposition in years past. Is it all because of the offensive line? How much of this falls on Awini? As for the defense, they had two really bad games against two really good opponents. We should get a more accurate read on that unit this week when Air Force takes on what should be (in theory) a more evenly-matched Wyoming team.
WILL SOMEONE TELL TROY CALHOUN TO SHUT UP
Troy Calhoun is tired of coaching in a conference full of Mormons.
Many Mormons of college age, you see, go on two-year missions; or as Calhoun calls them, the “two-year redshirt program.” That’s because this missionary work consists primarily of eating bowls of steroids and hitting the weightroom for 8 hours a day to turn these Mormon youths into 24-year-old man-beasts with a thirst for Air Force cadet blood (right?). So when Calhoun’s Air Force team is about to face a team from Utah, well, he just has to let the world know what kind of a disadvantage he’s facing.
Troy’s a pretty bright guy, though. He’s all about finding solutions to the tough problems, and this is no exception. His answer? Air Force should be able to redshirt players, too!
No.
It’s time people stopped buying into Troy Calhoun’s act. That’s exactly what it is, by the way. It’s all for show. Every single press conference he has, he finds some way to inject something about “gee golly service and country blah blah” or some pseudo-intellectual nonsense, and it’s so over-the-top that it’s sickening. Just try reading the first two paragraphs of his official bio without having dry heaves. Air Force is playing on Boise’s blue turf? Well gosh tootin’ they’re gonna have to fly over all kinds of colors someday. Sweet comparison, coach. The BCS is unfair, so let’s talk about the days of the “old Soviet Presidium.” Oh he’s so smart! And when Wyoming head coach Dave Christensen goes on a postgame tirade, noted constitutional scholar Troy Calhoun decides it’s time to reflect on the First Amendment. Seriously? How condescending can you be? Who talks like that? Someone looking to avoid the tough questions, that’s who.
And that’s the act. By being so over-the-top with his Howdy Doody facade of courage and the Constitution and whatever other patriotic buzzword you can think of, nobody bothers to question him. Look elsewhere for your stories, nosy media, because Troy Calhoun is an American patriot. There’s nothing to see here. If Dave Christensen goes on a rant because he thought Calhoun had one of his players fake an injury, don’t bother wondering if Christensen might have had a point. Dodging the media after a tough loss and saying it was all about “academics?” You don’t want to appear to be anti-academics, do you? So when Calhoun says he wants redshirts and wants his players to be able to turn pro, don’t bother asking how someone who spent 4 of his 6 years on active duty as a football coach could have the all-out gall to pretend that it’s for the good of the service.
Fortunately, there is one person willing to take Troy Calhoun to task for his comments: Troy Calhoun. Of course, the “no excuses” Troy that threw his fellow Air Force coaches under the bus was 2-1 and just finished taking Oklahoma to the wire. NuTroy is 1-2 and coming off of his first losing season. I guess now that he’s having his own problems, he’s more sympathetic to their plight. Imagine that. Then again, by saying he wants redshirts he might as well stand in his own locker room and say “I can’t win with you guys.”
Winning is hard, and coaching is a high-pressure job. It’s completely understandable that any coach would want whatever edge he could get. At the very least you’d hope for a level playing field. The challenge of service academy football, and the very thing that makes it special, is that you aren’t going to get one. There are some lines that cannot be crossed. Anyone that truly cares about service– or the future careers of service academy athletes– would understand that.
What to watch, Week 3
Here’s your homework for this weekend:
(All times ET)
Friday
Air Force at Boise State – 8:00 – ESPN
Let’s all read what HDMF has to say about the Smurf Turf, then ask ourselves how on earth there are people in this world that actually buy into his shtick.
Saturday
Stanford at Army – Noon – CBS Sports Network
I’m all about schadenfreude when it comes to Army and Air Force, but watching this one almost seems mean. I don’t know how much of this game I’ll be able to take. I am curious to see how Stanford lines up. I’m also curious to see if it matters. Maybe Army’s offense can hold onto the ball and give the Cardinal a scare. Otherwise it’s going to be one of those “the scoreboard is a lie” games.
New Mexico at Pittsburgh – 12:30 – ACC Network/ESPN3
As an analyst, Bob Davie talked a lot about how much he hated coaching against option offenses. As New Mexico’s coach, he’s putting his money where his mouth is. The Lobos run a shotgun option offense that’s pretty entertaining to watch. More importantly for us, it might give us an idea how Pitt will line up against Navy.
Georgia Tech at Duke – 3:30 – ESPNU
No, I won’t be watching this while the Navy game is on. I will record it to watch later, though. Should be self-explanatory.
Notre Dame at Purdue – 8:00 – ABC
Notre Dame lost to Michigan last week, but I don’t think there’s any shame in that this year. If they struggle against Purdue, though, that might reveal a few weaknesses.
This week in service academy football
It was a good weekend for Navy. Not so much for the other service academies.
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.
Advancing steadily in the direction of the apocalypse
I won a giant stuffed bear at Kings Dominion in the summer before my firstie year and brought it back with me to USNA. I kept it hidden behind my shower curtain during the day, and pulled it out at night to use as a comfy chair to sit on while I played Goldeneye on the TV that I kept hidden in my con locker. That should tell you about where I fall on the whole YUT JOE NAVY YUT scale.
I have no business even pretending like I was ever a hardass. Nowadays I don’t even pay much attention to USNA endeavors that don’t involve the athletic department. But I will erupt in a geyser of Old Grad rage if I ever read about Plebe Summer detailers being “cheerleaders.”
Did Air Force deface the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy?
Army-Navy media day was yesterday, and part of the festivities was the delivery of the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy to Philadelphia after a two-year sentence in Colorado Springs. Upon its unveiling, Bill Wagner tweeted:
It looks like there is more damage to the trophy than just tarnish, though. Here’s what the Trophy looked like while it was in Annapolis:
Here’s what the Navy side looks like now. Apparently, Bill the Goat needs some help to keep from falling over:
Why does Bill need to be propped up? Was he bent or broken off? Did Air Force players all take the trophy home like it was the Stanley Cup? Was there an accident? What happened?
In other news, it appears that the years where there was a 3-way tie have been removed, something that should have happened a long time ago.
This Week in Service Academy Football
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.
This Week in Service Academy Football
Army (1-7): Lost to Ball State, 30-22. This game was a bit of role reversal for Army. Usually their offense plays pretty well, but just can’t keep up with the gobs of points that the defense gives up. Against Ball State, though, the Army defense was sort of decent. That’s relatively speaking, obviously. Giving up 413 yards isn’t good, but it was good enough to at least keep the game within reach. Ball State went up 14-0 after their first two drives, but they were never able to pull away. Army didn’t give up another touchdown until the 4th quarter, and by Army standards, that’s a pretty big deal. That was probably as good a performance as Rich Ellerson is going to get out of his young defense this season.
Unfortunately for Army, the offense couldn’t respond. In some ways, this was like the Eastern Michigan game. Ball State even used the same defense: the 4-4 cover 3 with the free safety playing the pitch. While Army was able to run for 341 yards, they weren’t very consistent in moving the ball. Just like against EMU, lousy blocking doomed the offense and led to four 3 & outs. On top of that, Hayden Tippett fumbled away a scoring opportunity at the end of the first half after Army had moved to the Ball State 30. Nevertheless, Army still had a chance to make it a one-score game with a little more than 2 minutes left, but Dan Grochowski’s FG attempt from 43 yards sailed wide left.
Both the offense and defense have had their individual moments this year, but neither have shown that they are good enough to carry the team when the other is struggling. Air Force has shown that it’s capable of losing to one-win teams, though, so maybe there’s a little hope for Army this week. But only a little.
Air Force (5-3): Beat Nevada, 48-31. This was probably Air Force’s best performance of the season, seen by DOZENS of people in Colorado Springs on Friday night. Nevada is a pretty good football team, and Air Force outgained them by 220 yards even without the services of Cody Getz. Filling in for Getz as the Falcon’s go-to back was Wes Cobb, who ran for 152 yards and a touchdown on 30 carries. Nevada’s defense appeared completely lost at times, and Air Force never had to punt. Not that the Wolf Pack didn’t have their opportunities. Nevada pulled to within a field goal after recovering a fumble near midfield in the third quarter, but Air Force responded with a pair of long drives on their next two possessions to regain a two-score advantage that they would hold on to the rest of the way.
The loss to UNLV is killing Air Force in the Mountain West. At 4-1, the Falcons are tied with Fresno State and San Diego State in second place in the league standings, and have yet to play either one. They could have controlled their own destiny for a share of their first MWC title since they don’t play Boise State. Instead, they have to hope that the 4-0 Broncos trip up somewhere along the way. Boise State already beat Fresno State. They get SDSU at home this week and hit the road to play Nevada at the end of the year. Meanwhile, Air Force plays both SDSU and Fresno State on the road. It’s a tall order.
The Birddog 