When it c0mes to the football played at the United States service academies, there’s no place better to get your news, analysis and insights than on Yards And Stripes. Steve Carney and Price Atkinson bring you everything that has to do with Army, Navy, and Air Force.
Army, Navy, Air Force All Leave Victorious
For the first time this season, all three academies picked up a win over a conference opponent in the same week. We start with Navy coming to Tampa and leaving with a 28-7 win over USF. Steve was in attendance for the game, and provides a breakdown of what the Midshipmen did right to get out to an early lead. He also discusses some of the head-scratching decisions made by USF head coach Alex Golesh that kept the Bulls off the board until the final minutes of the game.
The guys then pivot to Army’s 14-3 victory over North Texas to improve to 9-0 on the year. Price talks about quarterback Bryson Daily’s return to action after missing last week’s win over Air Force, scoring both of the Black Knights’ touchdowns, and leading Army on perhaps the quintessential service academy drive: a 21-play possession that took almost an entire quarter to complete and resulted in the final scoring play of the contest.
Finally, we talk about the Falcons ending their seven-game losing streak and earning their first Mountain West conference win of the year 36-28 over Fresno State. Steve remarks how the game was not nearly as close as the score indicated. He believes Troy Calhoun’s players finally developed an identity in the win by running the football an astonishing 80 times in the game.
Black Knights Need Help To Make CFP
Despite being one of just four undefeated teams left in FBS college football, Army appears to not be a favorite to be invited as the Group of Six champion to the College Football Playoff. The Black Knights are ranked 24th, and have multiple three-loss teams from power conferences ranked ahead of them. In addition two other Group of Six teams are also ranked higher (Boise State is 13th, Washington State is 18th). Steve believes that Army has a chance to close the gap by accomplishing one not-so-easy task: beat Notre Dame. But both he and Price admit for the Black Knights to play in the first 12-team tournament, they’ll need some help.
Midshipmen Can Keep Green Wave From Title Game
Navy has a chance this week to keep their AAC Title game chances alive and throw a monkey wrench into the works at the top of the conference standings with a win over Tulane. The Green Wave are the other team still unbeaten in conference play, and can eliminate the Midshipmen from contending for the conference title with a victory in Annapolis. Price and Steve give their thoughts on what should be a hoyly-contested game.
They then turn to Air Force taking on Oregon State on what will be Senior Day in Colorado Springs. The guys wonder if the Falcons can keep applying the pressure to the Beavers and earn a second consecutive win for the first time this year.
Listen To This Week’s Episode Of Yards And Stripes!