I need to get your football fix on all things Army, Navy and Air
Force. This is Yards and Stripes Service Academy Football. Now Here are your
hosts, Price Atkinson, Steve Carney and Mike love All for the final time
this season. Welcome into Yards and Stripes as we will dissect the Air Force's
big win in the lockeed Martin Armed Forces Bowl and prepare for the long off
season and offseason. I know that college football fans listening are not excited about,
but we do wish you happy holidays, hoping you all had a merry
Christmas and holiday season. We have got a lot to do here on episode
eighteen of Yards and Stripes is your home for Service Academy Football, joined as
always by my outstanding co host Mike love All, Steve Carney, and I'm
Bryce Atkinson and appreciate you guys stopping in and besting some time with us after
the holiday. As we get ready to turn the page two twenty three,
we are going to talk about Air Forces win over Baylor and Armed Forces Bowl.
We were going to give out our game balls. Hazy Daniels entering the
transfer portal. What NFL rule chains to allow current service academy players the chance
to play in the National Football League. We got our Travis Mannion Foundation on
a role segment, and then we will close it up with our highlights of
the two thousand and twenty two season as well as give you our Yards and
Stripes two thousand and twenty two most Outstanding Player from the Service Academies. But
before we get into any of it, Happy holidays, Steve, Mike.
I hope Santa treated you guys both very very well. Marry Christmas, Happy
New Year. Do you have two price? Everything was good over here at
our residents, Steve, what about what about your Christmas Day? Yeah?
Christmas was good to me. Right before Christmas, maybe a little less,
so I showed the guys here before we got started. On the Friday before
Christmas, I was going to a Christmas party being held by a former colleague
and I stepped in a hole and gave myself a high ankle sprain. So
I'm actually out for the next four games. But thankfully it's fine enough now
that I can walk on. It's just, you know, the color of
Barney the Dinosaur, and it does hurt like the Dickens, but it's still
The pain is tolerable. So there's no New Year's running resolutions in the Steve
Carney forecast for twenty three right now, this fatass doesn't normally run anyway,
so but I do have to walk a lot from my other job involving the
Tampa Bay lightning, so that could be a little bit of a pain.
Thankfully it's cold in that arena. Well, do wish you guys happy holidays.
Hope your families had a great holiday season as well as as well as
all our listeners. I know Air Force fans had a rate pre Christmas gift
to unwrap in a very frigid Fort Worth and Amon G. Carter Stadium.
But before we get to that one and talk all about the Lockeed Martin arm
Forces Bowl and Air Forces big win over Baylor, Mike, tell our friends
about ticket Smarter. That's right price. We are a smack dab in the
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home for tickets, as Mike just told you about. But our home your
home for Service Academy football, and we're gonna lift off here on this episode.
Air Force in the Lockeed Martin Arm Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, a
thirty to fifteen winner over the Baylor Bears five straight now over power five opponents
for Troy Calhoun's team, as it was a frigid, cold evening in Fort
where thirteen degrees at kickoff minus four windshill, but the Air Force Falcons easily
handling the Baylor Bears thirty to fifteen in route to their fourth straight Bowl win,
and they closed the season on a five game winning streak, bringing the
Falcons record to ten and three overall now ten wins for the third straight full
season for the Falcons two thousand, nineteen, two twenty one, and two
thousand and twenty two, and we all, you know, we all obviously
picked Air Force to win the football game. And you know, while it
was cold, you know, the Falcons came out, you know, pretty
strong, nine nine nothing, you know, after one quarter before Baylor got
on the board, just before the end of the first half. The trail
nine to seven a halftime, and then the Falcons came out really to start
that third quarter, took control on that eighty three yard drive. Five plays
capped by Daniels two yard touchdown run, a beautiful throw and catched by Daniels
to find a streaking Amari Terry down the left sideline for a sixty eight yard
completion inside the Baylor five. And you know, another touchdown late in the
third quarter to tight end Caleb Relos his first catch of the season. Ironically,
his first catch of his career came in the First Responders Bowl last year.
His first catch of this season came in the bowl game, and it
was a big one, a touchdown, and that put Air Force up big
and they never looked back en route to the win over Baylor. And you
know, We thought it was going to come down to the running game,
and that's certainly what it did. Gentlemen. Yeah, I don't get to
say this very often, but this one went pretty much exactly how we thought
it was gonna go. The Air Force defense stepped up and they shut down
Richard Reese, a Big twelve freshman of the year. Baylor wasn't able to
get anything going in the run game. Everything fell on Shaping's shoulders. Shaping
was not sharp, missing on several key third down passes in the first half.
Air Force was able to do just enough in the first half and then
come out and just absolutely dominate in the second half. We'll talk about his
Zee Daniels a little bit more, but man key completions at critical moments.
Had to pass on a fourth down conversion on the first drive of the game.
That drive led to a touchdown. And then you mentioned that sixty eight
yard pass on the first drives the second half to put them inside the five
and set up set up, set up the Air Force's first rushing touchdown,
Brad Roberts's rushing touchdown. That pretty much once they were able to do that,
they just ran the ball. And you know, I always used the
Python analogy for the Service Academy football teams. Once they got that double digit
lead, they just started choking the life out of Baylor. Baylor at six
and six with a fire defensive coordinator, another fired defensive coach, and in
minus four degree Winschill wasn't too interested in fighting that Python and that was pretty
much the end of that game. And Steve Yeah Hazy Daniels doing a great
job directing the option, you know, kept a lot of plays alive with
his legs, ends up running for eighty one yards and a touchdown through you
know, four to seven for one hundred and three and that touchdown there,
you know in the third quarter, who was you know, Daniels named the
MVP of the Armed Forces Bowl. But it all started with him. I
mean that's where the the the attack for Air Force began and that's where it
ended as they ran up two hundred and seventy six yards on the ground,
a little bit shy their three hundred and thirty one they averaged per game,
but it was enough to do the job. Yeah. Absolutely, And you
look at that first drive that Mike mentioned where Daniels had the pass on fourth
and five to continue He also ran for a first down on third and ten
earlier in that drive to keep it going. And really once the once the
Bears defense got subjected to that right out the game, I mean, you're
talking about a fifteen play drive that took almost nine minutes off the clock.
You knew that they were going to be in trouble and they and the offense
certainly did not help them because you look at it. They their first three
possessions, the Baylor's first three possessions punt, punt, punt, Then they
had the missed field goal. They finally get on the board at the right
near the end of the half. But I really think that when when the
Baylor offense can't bail out the defense, you're gonna find yourself in big trouble
if you're the Bears. And that's exactly what happened, is Mike said,
it went exactly the way all three of us predicted it would. Yeah,
Yeah, And the Air Force defense set the tone like you mentioned, from
the start, and then they forced Baylor to three and outs on their first
two possessions of the game. Then in the second half, Baylor's first three
possessions or drives were you know, a punt I believe it was seven yards
punt and then turnover on downs after four plays on two straight possessions. And
you know the other thing that was a big story in the game. You
know, obviously, you know when Baylor cannot continue to put a drive together.
You know, third down was a big story of the game. Baylor
was oh of eleven on third down. Air Force was eight to sixteen.
That's a big difference, and that's what allowed air Force to control the ball
for forty minutes and three seconds compared to just nineteen fifty seven for the Bears.
I mean the Baylor had to go for it on fourth down several times.
That was more late in the game and in the second half where they
were three to six and air Force was two or five on fourth down.
But you know, air Force defense again just sets a tone. And again
we knew the team that, especially defensively, that was going to come out
and could could keep the other from being able to run the football was going
to be the difference. Yeah. Well, and Price, you mentioned Baylor
going forward on fourth down several times in the second half. They they ended
up going forward on fourth down on their third possession, third drive of the
game. So you can tell immediately that Baylor's already starting to feel the effect
of the Air Force attack. And they knew coming into this game, but
they really couldn't get behind because if they did, Air Force, which just
used that dominating Russian attack, So you could you could see that the air
Force mentality, just the toughness of that Air Force team was already playing with
the decision making of the Baylor coaching staff already early in the first half of
that game. Yeah, and another story Steve Brad Roberts. I mean,
you know, we talked about two hundred and seventy six on the ground,
you know, two seventy six hard fought yards, but Roberts really was,
you know, grinding it out. He carried it thirty seven times for one
hundred and sixteen yards, just barely three yards to carry. And those were
one hundred and sixteen really tough yards for Roberts. As you know, Baylor
just forty two yards on the ground. They were anemic. They basically had
to go through the air, and with the wind the way it was,
you know, playing Havoc, it was obviously one of those games where the
win was so strong, you know, the team that had it in their
direction. It certainly was going to favor them. Oh, it certainly was.
And you I thought what interested me was the fact that Air Force did
get seventy four offensive plays off. Uh. You know, this is a
team that you know, if you're going to get uh, if you're going
to play against them, you know, you're probably not going to have as
many They're not going to have as many drives because they're gonna try and grind
things out. To get seventy four plays off, that shows that you know,
they they did their job and it for the for the offense, it
kept them warm and kept the defense going back on its heels. So everything
that you could do, right, I think Air Force did. And they
got seven passes and completed four of them to even give Baylor that other peace
in their mind that they had to think about as well. Yeah, Baylor
said some postseason success lately, but there wasn't. They didn't have much success
in this football game at all. Again, thirty to fifteen is the Air
Force gets the win, improving to ten and three to finish with ten wins
and Baylor, you know that loss. They have a losing season at six
and seven overall, and the four kick it over to Mike here real quick,
because we do have to give out our game balls here in just a
second. Congratulations go out to Air Forces. John Lee Eldridge the third since
August had been planning to propose to his girlfriend after a Bowl win. Well,
moments after the Falcons knocked all Baylor, Eldridge dropped to one knee on
a frozen in frigid tunger there at Amon G. Carter Skate Stadium. He
popped the question, and we're happy to report that this Beyonce Shanie said yes,
so they will be tying the not. Congratulations to John Lee Eldridge the
Third and his Beyonce Chanie. Gotta gotta canonize her for standing out there on
that frigid turf. Well, I mean, at least you know, Eldridge
had been running around all day, so he was racing warm. She was
knocked, so so good on her for being able to say yes and not
going. Can we please take it inside? That's right, Mike Price,
quick question for you. You mentioned this is Air Force's third straight ten win
season. I believe it's the fifth ten win season under Calhoun, fifth or
six so with air Force in the Mountain West, three straight ten win seasons
five under Calhoun. You gotta think that Calhoun's probably done about as much as
he can do at Air Force. Uh you know, at what point does
another school or you know start looking at Calhoun? Who has his team ready
to play? You mentioned five straight wins against power of five. He can
certainly, he can certainly do that. He can recruit, he can build
a consistent winning program in the era of nil and transfers at a service academy.
I mean, what's next for Calhoun? Is is he a lifer Air
Force academy or will he get a shot at a Power five program? I
think at some point, you know, it does it does come to the
time where you got to ask yourself, do I want to be challenged somewhere
else? You know? For Calhoun's so you know, I know he's had
opportunities, you know, over the years, you know, to leave,
but he's continued to want to stay. You know, obviously an Air Force
graduate. But you know, another place that he has been mentioned before has
been the National Football League and there is an opening right up the road with
the Denver Broncos. Now I'm not saying that he is he is the guy
and the best fit there. I can tell you that you know it does.
From what I see, there are issues on the sideline and within the
organization. A guy like Troy Calhoun would be something I think that at least
the locker room could probably benefit from. But that's the Denver Broncos. I
think the more obvious would be, you know, would there be a college
spot that would be, you know, a good fit somewhere he would think
as a challenge. I agree with you. You know, the landscape of
college football changing again with teams moving conferences. He's done everything that he can
do. The only thing he hasn't done basically in Colorado Springs is go the
Mountain West Conference championship game and when the championship game, that's the only thing
I think that he has not done obviously, besides make a college football playoff,
which was would be even more of a rarity. Do you think he
looks at what happened to Kashya Mattololu a Navy and is that kind of that
kind of shapes his perspective on staying at air Force. At some point in
time, you gotta think you will have a couple of down years. I
don't know. I think they. I think there's just things at air Force
that are so different than they are at Army and Navy where they can have
a little bit more sustained success winning was things in place that are more football
academically friendly at air Force that are not in place, say it maybe air
Force or at Navy and Army. Um, I just think you're the opportunity
where he's at. Um, you know, being an Air Force Academy graduate.
You know, his family, you know, is all in the area.
I don't know. I you know, you got to think at some
point he wants to take the shot. But when will that be? Where
will that be? Um? You know, he's done everything that he can
do. I think there's just gonna come a time where you know, you're
just not going to be there for twenty five or thirty years. Coaches just
don't you know, in the age of college football now, as long as
he's been there, he's exceeded pretty much, you know, the lifespan most
any coach has at their current job. Already, Just wondering, these are
the things I think about him. I commute all the time of the game.
Balls All right, well, let's let's give out our game balls,
Mike. Once you fireaway, brother, I'm going with Zeke Daniels. Not
a super big stat line for seven hundred three yards in the air with one
touchdown, fifteen rushes for ady one yards. I mean, that's not Bryce
Young, it's not hitting Hooker, it's not CJ. Stroud numbers. But
it was exactly what air Force needed in that game in those critical moments,
the key completions and critical moments, the fourth down pass on the first drive
of the game, the sixty eight yard We've already talked about. Zeke Daniels
took the Baylor's focus on Brad Roberts, changed the dynamic of how Bayler's defense
was calling the game got air Force ahead. When Baylor's defense changed their scheme,
then air Force was able to leverage that rushing attack and win that game.
And it was because Daniels was able to outmatch the Baylor defense. He
gets my game ball for the ball game, Steve faraway, I'm gonna head
to do the defenses side price and mentioned safety jail Jayden Goodwin, who was
up in the box for a big majority of that game trying to stop Baylor's
rushing attack and helping them do so. As we mentioned, Baylor only had
forty six yards on the ground, Goodwin had nine tackles, six of them
solo, and also had a pass defense over the middle as well, leading
the Falcons defense to the victory. So I'm gonna go with Jayden Goodwin.
All right, I'm going to go back to the offensive side the football and
go with the man, the myth, the Air Force running back legend Brad
Roberts, who went for one hundred and sixteen yards on thirty seven carry.
He's now finishing the season with that one touchdown the game, as now seventeen
touchdowns, seventh most in a season, most by a fullback, and he
has thirty five career touchdowns, third most in Air Force program history, and
finishing the season with one thousand, seven hundred twenty eight yards on three hundred
and forty five carries. That three thousand, five hundred forty one career rushing
yards ranks third all time in Air Force school history, while his seven hundred
and seven carries is a school record. So my game ball goes to Brad
Roberts. All right, we got more to do here. We're gonna come
back. We're gonna talk about the transfer portal and isn't rearing its head at
one of our service academies. We'll talk about that. We'll also talk about
the NFL rule change that has now been grandfathered in for service academy athletes to
make a run at the National Football League. We've got our Travismannion Foundation on
a roll segment. We got a few news and notes, and we got
our highlights of two thousand and twenty two and our two twenty two most Outstanding
Player. We got all that coming up here on this episode of the Yards
and Stripes your Home for Service Academy Football that you can listen to on Apple
podcast or Spotify or wherever it is that you get your podcast. We'll be
right back. It's everything you need to know about Service Academy football. Yards
and Stripes continues here once again our Price, Steve and Mike continuing on here
in episode eighteen of Yards and Stripes, your Home for Service Academy Football.
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Something that popped that caught my attention and I'm sure it caught yours as
well. As the day after the Lockeyed Martin Armforce's Bowl, the Athletic reports
that Air Force senior Hazy Daniels had entered the transfer portal the day after the
win. Daniel said immediately after the game and interviews with the media that he
hoped it wasn't his last college football game, saying, quote, We'll see
what plans God has for me. Hopefully it's not the end. Will see
end quote. Well, that report was confirmed by Brent Brighaman with the Colorado
Springs Gazette, and it raised an eyebrow, because entering the transfer portal is
a senior is you know, our listeners know or may not know, cadets
cannot transfer out of the out of the academy following the start of classes of
their junior year. That's the point which they've commit become committed to finishing their
four years of schooling and the active duty that follows graduation. So you ask,
why would Hazeque Daniels enter the transfer portal when he is locked in at
the Air Force Academy. Well, it's a procedural move just to give himself
more options because there's really, you know, two options. You know,
he's got two technical years of eligibility left, gentleman to play another season,
it would require require a turnback or graduate school. Mike, So your thoughts
when you saw this, Yeah, I think I think a lot of people,
particularly Army Navy fans, don't really in the Air Force Academy, it's
a little bit different. They have a little bit more opportunities to go to
graduate school immediately upon graduation, a little bit more so than Army or Navy.
West Point at Annapolis were very few people unless you're a Rhodes scholar Marshall
scholar or maybe two or three or four Meds school people. Most everybody else
commissions media upon graduation, so you know this is not new. Isaiah Sanders,
a previous quarterback, did this. Went to Stanford. He was a
Rhodes scholar candidate. I believe, I don't believe he was awarded the scholarship
and that I think he as a matter of fact, I think Sanders went
on to win the Warful Trophy in college football after his season at Stanford.
And then he had Charlie Scott, who was a punter. He played at
Alabama just as recently as two seasons ago. So those guys, they will
go on, they will leave the academy. They'll be commissioned, and they'll
they'll enroll in a Masterress program and they'll they'll be expected to earn those Masterress
degree. He's as well as playing football. My question for his zee Daniels,
is you know, if you're gonna do that, you want to go
to a solid graduate school. And if you're I just I don't know where
he's gonna land. He's a he's a good dual threat quarterback. He's good
for air Force. He's not a strong passer. If you look at his
accuracy rating and it's not it's not um, you know, it's probably not
power five level. He doesn't he doesn't have the throwing capabilities to go somewhere,
I think and start at power five levels. So my question him is
is where to you know, where is the best fit for both his post
graduate Air Force commitment and playing football. And I'm having a hard time seeing
where he lands out best for him. It's just kind of a you know,
it's just kind of a kind of kind of unique deal. Yeah.
Yeah. My thought, my thought on that is that if if he's gonna
transfer somewhere, my my guess is because he is not, you know,
the passing quarterback that most UH teams, especially at the at the one A
FBS level, are looking for. My guests, as he goes to the
IVY League, I mean, I could certainly see has Ze Daniels going to
Yale or going to Harvard, you know, and having that opportunity. That's
probably the best chance that he has if he is looking to become a road
scholar. That's gonna be his best chances to is go to the IVY League
and play IVY League football. You're gonna take a step down in competition,
so you're probably going to have much better stats if you're if you're if your
stats oriented football wise, I could see him going to the IVY League,
playing and playing in fcs UH football for a chance to maybe get that uh
that postgraduate scholarship to study outside of the United States before starting his military commitment.
Yeah, Steve, I don't think he's trying to get a road or
a true or a marshal Um. You know, he'll get us if he
goes to the IVY League, he'll get a solid degree. But the vast
majority of those candidates applied for that while they're in their last year or two
of their undergraduate experience, and then they usually that usually you're you're East West,
Marshall, Truman and Rhodes. Usually that's not your second master's program.
So I think he's just looking to get a solid masters degree and play football.
I don't. I think it's a RhoD scholarship thing. But well,
but then you could go to an IVY League and get and get one of
those top top tier absolute graduate degrees. Yeah, you know you've got a
Harvard Business School or something like that. Yeah, that point still stands.
I'm just to your comment. I don't think he's posturing to be a Rood
scholar. But but if you're looking to play, if you're looking to play
football, um, you know, him not being the prototypical FBS quarterback leads
you could lead you to think that he's probably uh maybe considering taking a step
down in um at the football level and maybe playing in an f for sure
for the love of the game. Yeah, I mean, he could end
up at a one double a you know FCS school. Um, you know,
could end up you know, let's say, backup quarterback at a like
a two lane somewhere like that. Could he end up with a position change,
you know, if he had an opportunity to I don't say fullback.
Could it be as a tight end? I don't know, but it could
be at a position change to go play it like a a Nebraska, a
cow wherever it may be. Might that be something he's thinking? Obviously we
don't know. But um, if he's going to want to continue on playing
because the transfer portal, you know, if he wanted to come back to
the Air Force Academy, I don't to me, the transfer portal isn't you
know, the option. Um, I don't know if you would have to
even enter it. Why would you even enter the transfer portal? Because you
know, to to do a turnback it requires approval from the academy, which
you know is they're granted in times of hardship in the the thirty thirty plus
thirty five plus, you know Air Force Academy football players, they were granted
turnback year. So they basically went home for the spring um and then came
back. And so he could take the spring semester off and then come back
at the fall in the fall and finish his degree at air Force. It's
not unheard of. I mean, he does have the eligibility to do it.
You know. The other one, like you said, is you know
is graduate school and there's you know, Mike articulated pretty well that you know,
the Air Force has been you know, civilian schools has been relationship that's
you know, I guess far stronger or far more, far more frequent.
Um. You know, Isaiah Sanders, who was you know, Rhodes scholar
candidate, went to Stanford, played you know, two seasons. You know,
they had some other players that were academic standouts. But I'm not going
to speculate. I don't know what Hazy Daniel's academic record is. I mean,
hope he graduates. That's all I care about UM, and that he
stays in good standing. But his you know, it's going to be interesting
to see what happens. And the other one is Brad Roberts. Because Brad
Roberts hasn't mentioned anything, or at least we haven't seen any kind of public
reports about Brad Roberts. One thing I thought was interesting in the postgame notes
that Troy Garnhardt, the sid sent out for the Air Force Academy after the
Bowl game, you know, did mention anything about you know, Brad Roberts,
quote finishing his career, or anything about Daniels you know, last career
game. It did mention Vince Stamford that it said in Vin Stamford he had
a sack in the Armed Forces Bowl and it said, quote caps his career
with sixteen sacks. Is it speculatory? Is there a reason for that?
I don't know, but I do know that Brad Roberts did not play in
two thousand nineteen. He really didn't even come on to the end of that
two thousand and twenty season. During his sophomore year, so he's really you
know, two and a half years is really what he's played so far,
because he didn't play at all is a fresh Could we end up seeing Hasye
Daniels, Brad Roberts back in an Air Force uniform or somewhere else next season.
I mean, certainly they have the eligibility. You know, I think
if you see that, I think as the as the national media and as
the visibility of academy football grows and the college football community is more interconnected,
my fear is that if you see this, there will be people both in
the leadership of the Department of Defense and in political leadership that sees this and
they realize that it's not just guys going pro taking people away from their commissioning
obligations. But but these guys are, you know, leveraging the college football
system that we have now and taking them away from their a service academy commissioning
obligations. And I know we'll talk about Andre Carter in the NFL thing next
in our next segment, but but this is kind of parallel to that.
And I'm just afraid that if you start seeing multiple players exercise the Master's option
and play football as well. There are going to be people, there are
definitely going to be people who are not going to be a big fan of
that. From an optics and a commissioning responsibility perspective, one hundred percent agree
with you, Michael. All right, let's move on and talk about the
National Football League, because we did talk about Andre Carter the second his potential
roadblock that all of a sudden came up in front of him. Well,
that is no longer there as there was a provision instituted or inserted in the
Omnimus Spending Bill that was filed and passed before Christmas, and that would allow
players to defer their service in order to pursue professional sports opportunities. And it
says quote and again this is a grant. This is being grandfathered in at
the academy's right now. According to the text in the Senate Appropriations Committee where
the provision was fild it says, quote shall only apply with respect to a
cadet or midshipman who first enrolls in the United States Military Academy, United States
Naval Academy, or the United States Air Force Academy on or after June one,
two thousand and twenty one. So basically, academy athletes that began at
their respective institution after June one of two twenty one, they would be able
to do this or before, I should say before it's it's fine for Andre
Carter the second, but I still think that the problem will still linger here
a price. And I'm sure Mike agrees with you with me about this.
You know, we're going to come to a point. You know, there
are going to be players at Army, at Navy, at air Force that
are going to be I don't know if they're going to be fringe NFL or
if they're going to be you know, legit first round type players like Andrea
Carter the second, But there are going to be cadets. There are going
to be midshipmen. There are going to be you know, folks at the
Air Force Academy, Air Force cadets that are going to have an opportunity to
play football at the next level in years to come, and this bill is
going to say no, no, no, you're not going to be allowed
to play football at the next level until you finish your military commitment. Now
that number is not is not anywhere, it's it's infantesimal almost when you look
at the percentage of you know, the the student body at these three academies.
You know, we're talking about what one in all three academies over the
course of four seasons, you know, so you're looking at it, it
is a very very small percentage. And I think that you should be able
to appeal that, and it should and those appeals should be heard on a
case by case basis. But this, this skill and this and this law
that that's uh, you know that's going to be signed, is not allowing
for that. And I think that that's that's a mistake. Yeah, Steve's
absolutely right. They fixed it for the one guy who's very deserving. But
going forward, and here here again, everybody heard my rant last show.
It's it's so simple. I don't don't understand how we can mess this up.
But here's the other thing. Here's the other thing. Of all the
professional entities that exist in this nation, in this country, in this society,
Congress is the most unpopular institution in the entire United States of America.
Right, what's the most popular institution in the United States of America Probably the
institution of football. So you have the most unpopular institution going against the most
popularity. Is there not a pr person in Congress? Is there not a
person in Congress go into this guy, this this congressman from Wisconsin and saying,
hey, this is not a good idea. Millions, tens hundreds of
millions of Americans love football, they love college football, they love pro football.
And you're you're fighting this one man battle to keep one or two guys
every four years from continuing to play football at places that need positive visibility.
It's just it's it's it's mind boggling to me. I know, I went
on a rant last week. I'm not gonna go on a rent this week.
But it's just mind boggling to me how institutions with such low approval ratings
want to go after people who are trying to get out to institutions with such
high approval rings. And if they go there, that can help out,
That can help everyone out. They can help the service academies out, it
can help the government out. Just free publicity is it's a win all around.
And I don't know why we're fighting something that's a win for everybody.
I don't get it. And it's not like and it's not like the player
can't perform a military commitment in a reserve fashion. We talk about this last
week. You can still make your military commitment while being able to play in
the National Football League. You're not playing fifty two weeks out of the year,
you're still going to get you can still get your pound of flesh after
they're playing. Career is over exactly. And the number of stories earned media,
stories, television, print, the amount of earned media you're gonna gets
a player. Let's take Andre Carter for example, who is going to get
drafted, go into camp. Those stories are going to be in every newspaper
that whatever team drafts him in their paper, and then every opponent's newspaper because
they're going to highlight him before every game and tell his story. So that's
about at least sixteen seventeen opportunities right there he's going to get, you know,
to have that publicity, really good publicity by the way, that's spread
all over the country for what he's doing playing football during the year, but
then doing his serve duty in time. You know, in the off season,
a fifth or sixth or seventh round draft pick to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
the Denver Broncos, Cincinnati Bengals Phoenix. Uh, they still got a
team in Phoenix Cardinals that they just a fifth, sixth, seventh round pick
will get you more earned publicity and more results than the entire recruiting budget of
the entire budget of the entire recruiting Army recruiting enterprise in that metropolitan area.
I guess, I guarantee yeah, exactly, it's free, and I guarantee
you that the numbers, the ROI numbers will support that. I just don't
get how we mess up something that's a win for everybody, and it's so
simple. It's a temporary fix, and it's an issue that's going to come
up again. It's not going away, because there will be another Andre Carter,
whether he's at West Point, whether he's an Air Force, it's going
to come up again. It's not even a fix. It's just kicking the
can down the road. And that's the problem. It's it's not a fix,
kicking the can. It's kicking the problem down the road two or three
years. For the next guy that comes to West Point, not recruited by
anybody, no stars, turns out to be a really good athlete, really
good student athlete, does well in the classroom, just like Andrea Carter.
It grows to be six six, two seventy with a wingspan of Chilean and
door and then the NFL says, the NFL says, Hey, we'd like
to take a flyer on this guy. This guy's athletic ability is worth a
third round draft pick. And then we're just gonna be talking about this all
over again in two years. Kid Andre Carter didn't go to the West Point
to pursue an NFL dream. He went there because he wanted to be He
wanted to go to the United States Military Academy. He turned out to have
the ability to be an NFL talent. And you know there there's there are
kids on each one of these rosters who could potentially have that. And then
we're just we're gonna kick this kick this can down the road another two years.
It's maddening frustrating. What's the Princess Bride line? In good CBA ball?
I can see he routes, he spouts off like three words in a
row when he gets off frustrated. I'm at that point I just can't remember
the line. It's gonna come up again. There's no question about it,
all right, let's step away because we got our Travis Manion Foundation on a
roll segment when we come back, and then we'll close it up with a
few news and notes in our highlights of the twenty twenty two season as well
as our most outstanding player. Will do that here on Yards and Stripes,
your home for Service Academy Football. In two thousand and seven, Marine First
Lieutenant Travis Mannion was killed in Iraq after saving his wooded teammates. Travis's legacy
lives on through the words he spoke before his final deployment. If not me,
then who Words that today fuel the spirit of Travis Mannion Foundation and through
TMF these words can live in you too. Show the world what you're made
of, because character is invisible until it's not. Find out how you can
strengthen the character of your community alongside empowered veterans, families of the fallen,
and inspired civilians at Travismanion dot Org. All right, we continue on on
Yards and Stripes, and you know it's time in the podcast for our Travis
Manion Foundation on a roll segment where we want to remember a following hero that
has given the ultimate sacrifice. We cannot think the Travis Manion Foundation enough for
partnering with us again this season to highlight the sacrifices and the families of those
that have given that ultimate sacrifice and the work that is continuing to be done
in their memory in communities across the country to develop future generation of leaders.
And you can find out so much more about the Travis Mannion Foundation at Travismanion
dot org where you can give and join their mission right there at the very
top right on the home page. They have activities that go on throughout the
year, led by Ryan Mannion, Travis's brother, who spoke performing the final
deploying for the final time. If not me, then who? And we're
so grateful for the Travis Manion Foundation and all their port here on Yarching Stripes.
In this week on our final episode of the season, we were on
to remember Navy Seal Brian R. Brill. He was a native of Stamford,
Connecticut. It was among thirty US service members killed on August the six,
twenty eleven, when their CH forty seven Chinook helicopter crash in the Wardat
Province of Afghanistan. Special warfare operator was assigned to a seal team that was
supporting operation and during freedom in Afghanistan. And he was born on August of
the twenty third, nineteen seventy nine. And Brian graduated from Trinity Catholic High
School in ninety seven and then he enlisted in the Navy in two thousand and
one. He became a Navy Seal in two and three and deployed in Iraq
on four occasions in Afghanistan four times. He was awarded three Bronze Stars with
Valor, a Joint Service Commendation Medal with Valor, a Navy and Marine Corps
Accommodation Medal, a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, two Combat Action Ribbons,
and more. And Brian survived by his parents, doctor Michael and Patricia
Perry, his father Scott Bill, and brothers Christian and Morgan, and sisters
Amy and Andrea. And the Brian Brill Foundations Warrior Healing Program was set up
with the help of his family, for individuals individual four day therapeutic retreats for
Special Operations Forces, active duty veterans and their spouses who have been deployed since
nine to eleven and as a result have mild traumatic brain injuries, combat post
traumatic stress in chronic pain, and you can find out more about that at
ww dot Brian Bill Foundation dot org and Brian along with his two best friends
and Navy seals Adam Brown and Mark Lee, along with the twenty nine others
who died on their helicopter on August the six, twenty eleven, They were
honored through the Travis mean and Foundations Character Does Matter program to service students to
students excuse me. Forty three students to be exact at West From Middle School
in Middlebury, Connecticut on February the eighteenth, twenty thirteen, and the girls
there were challenged to learn the stories of the fallen heroes and continue their legacy
of service within their own communities. And once again, you can find out
a lot more about the Travis Manion Foundation as well as the heroic sacrifice and
those just like Navy Seal Brian Bill online at Travismanion dot org. Travis Manion
Foundations nine to eleven Heroes Run five k Ray series unites communities across the country
and around the world to honor the sacrifices of September eleventh and the war since.
Join your community this September and register to run walk or rock by visiting
nine eleven Heroes. Run dot Org. The latest with Navy, Army and
Air Force on Yards and Stripes Service Academy Football. All right, final segment
here on our final episode of two thousand and twenty two Arts and Stripes your
home for Army, Navy, and Air Force. And we got a few
news and notes to pass along real quickly before we get into some of our
two twenty two superlatives that Mike, Steve and myself we're going to go through.
But before we get to those, want to talk about the Air Force
Academy in the Naval Academy. They are two US seven schools that will share
the American Football Coaches Association twenty twenty two Academic Achievement Award presented by the Memphis
Touchdown Club. Seven schools sharing that award recorded a one percent graduation rate for
members of their twenty fifteen freshman football student athlete class. Air Force receives the
award for the second time, while this is the Navy, while the Naval
Academy's first time receiving the award. That from a press release from the AFCA,
which I'm not sure why. It goes back to twenty fifteen, because
that's quite a ways back. Navy linebacker coach PJ. Vulker promoted to defensive
coordinator under new head coach Brian Newberry. Obviously, like I mentioned, he
was a linebacker coach. Now he will be the defensive coordinator under Brian Newberry.
Question in Monks everybody, in terms of midshipman fans is what is the
offensive staff going to look like? Well, we don't know just yet because
there is no official word or reports out about that, at least that I've
seen, and just after finishing our last episode, it did become official the
next day that Drew Thatcher announces the new offensive coordinator at Army and additionally the
Black Knights promoting three other coaches on staff. Matt Drinkle to co offensive coordinator
which we talked about, Mike VD to assistant head coach for offense offensive line,
and then Cody Worley to the run game coordinator and quarterback coach. So
that is just a couple of things as we get ready to close up here
on the twenty twenty two seasons. Also want to congratulate my friend Tys O'Neil,
WWE wrestler superstar and he was the Grand Marshal for the Military Bowl going
on today as we're taping this between Duke and UCF at Navy Marine Corps Memorial
Stadium in Annapolis. H Titus O'Neil, who's real name is Dad Bullard,
played college football at the University of Florida. His son TJ is a freshman
at UCF, so he's getting the uh the look, the up close and
personal look at Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium here today as UCF takes on Duke.
So congratulations to Titus. A great humanitarian and I can't think of a
better Grand Marshal for the Military Bowl than him. Price. That's one of
the other things you missed by not being down here in Tampa with Steve and
I is all the WWE wrestlers that live here. Hey, I'm going I'm
going to SmackDown on Friday, So uh here at Amily Arena. I used
to go, actually used to go in DC because our wrestling coach, Joe
will share it. He wrestled with Kurt Angle in college and so whenever there,
yeah, yeah, whenever they would come to DC, he'd always hit
up all Angle and I drugged Joel with me one time he couldn't take it.
He was ready to leave about not even halfway through it, just because
it was such a joke. But it was fun just to go with him,
all right. Highlights of the twenty and twenty two season before we give
out our Yards and Stripes twenty twenty two most Outstanding Player, which I don't
think that's going to be too big of a secret. But what do you
think? What was the highlight of the season or highlights of the season for
you guys? What do you think, Mike? I think I think for
me, it was the second half of the Army Navy game, the overtime,
the key of the tying field goal, Murrizky's tying field goal and the
Force fumble and in second overtime, and then Murritzky hitting that game winner,
and then going back to the end of the first half the block punt.
Army's season didn't start out the way it wanted to, too close losses Coastal
and UTSA. Then they dropped another game and they're not going to be Bowl
eligible, but they wrapped it up the best way they could with a with
a thrilling two OT win over Navy and some dramatic special teams played in that
punching the ball out inches from the goal line. Having Ben Chase, who's
setting the record for number of games having yards and Stripes, being able to
host him for that game, and for him to witness Army Navy for the
first time with us, that that was really you know, it's hard to
have a better highlight than a two overtime Army Navy game. Uh So,
I know I'm captain obvious here, but for me, it was was that
block punt and then uh, you know, the over to the last minute
field goal in the overtime dramatics of another classic Army Navy game, one of
the few rivalries that just never really disappoints. Steve. Yeah. For me,
uh, it's really the back end of Navy's season, the last the
last quarter of Navy's season. I mean, you remember when they got started
and they lost to Delaware in the first week of the season. We all
know, Jesus, here we go, this is gonna be another awful ride.
But then to see what they did in a loss to Notre Dame.
Uh, you know, even though that was in Annapolis. Uh, you
know the fact that they were able to come back and and really put a
scare into the fighting Irish and then to go to Orlando and beat UCF on
the road, and then what happened with with the double overtime game against Army.
Yes, I know they finished the final quarter of the season one and
two, but I really thought that they showed a hell of a lot of
fight, uh in that in a team that you know, could have rolled
over and said, you know, what the hell with it? And they
certainly did not. They had I thought, a fantastic finish, even though
a couple of the results weren't the way that they wanted to go. Uh,
they definitely showed themselves. Well, yeah, I thought, um,
there were several for me, uh, you know Air Force certainly as a
Commander in Chief trophy winners. You know, I was trying to think back
of a moment if there was like a specific moment, and I couldn't think
of one. Uh for Air Force's season, you know that their closest wins
were you know, over the Service Academy Team's Army in Navy. So probably
just you know, I think overall for you know, some of the eye
popping numbers that Brad Roberts put up, you know, along the way,
that was one of them, um, you know, because he won the
Commander Chief Trope and doing it, you know against Army, you know,
by six thirteen to seven in November, in the game that Mike was at.
I think another one was you know, there are certainly moments for all,
you know, for Air Force and mentioned I think maybe for Navy was
probably you know, the Daniel Davies field goal in for in double overtime,
you know, the game winner, because he hit one to put it what
in to send it to overtime? Then he hit what want did he hit
one in the first overtime? I can't remember, but they get a turnover
and he kicks that field goal in the second overtime and he was a guy
that hadn't even played because bj and Nichols was hurt. So he comes out
of nowhere and saves the day in a game that we all were like,
well, how bad is Navy gonna get beat? That's basically the only question
we had, you know. And then certainly for Army. You know,
the lasting memory is you know, the ball coming out at the goal line
by Anton Hall junior Navy. It's punched out literally at the goal line and
Army recovers in Bam kicking that field goal game set match to win the Army
Navy game. I mean, there were moments by all three teams, but
you know, I think probably Rice I got your air Force moment for you.
How about that just drubbing of Colorado at the Air Force Academy in that
weather after what, you know, after the bad blood left by Colorado several
years ago. That was big, just air Force, you know, just
putting their foot down on Colorado and just stopping them and kind of exacting a
little bit of revenge. And then I think for air Force also the win
over San Diego State kind of exercise a little bit of a demon there.
But for me, for air Force, really that's just thumping of Colorado.
Bad weather. You could tell Colorado who whined no part of that air Force
team and it was probably brought beyond Sanders to Boulder. Well, Carl Darell
was going anyway that that was That was by far the worst POWERFI program in
all of the United States. They were just awful. And that's saying something
seeing as you and I are both in Tampa, yea, and and I
grew up you know, I was in I grew up in Nashville too,
so I spent Vanilt watching Vanderbilt play, uh you know, in the hours
where I wasn't watching Tennessee. But yeah, Carl Darell was going anyway.
But yeah, but for me, for price to going back to air Force,
I think that that thumping of Colorado at air Force, that was just
a that was a football players game right there, where they just dominated another
team, just imposed their will on them. Yeah. They owned the state
this year too. I mean they they literally own the state of Colorado.
And there's no question best team in the state of Colorado. I think they
might want to have a little bit of a bite of the apple for the
Denver Broncos. Not that they could beat them, but that's how high the
Falcons are flying right now. It's the winners of the Commander in Chief Trophy,
all right, twenty twenty two most outstanding player from US here at Yards
and Stripes. Is there really any debate? Is there really any question?
Is there really any conversation outside of the winner who It's about as obvious as
you can get. Yeah, I was gonna say we should all say who
the winner is. On the count of three, one, two, three,
Yeah, what congratulations. Yeah, yeah, there's no doubt about it.
Brad Roberts, the senior from Arvoda, calif Arvoda, Colorado, product
of Ralston Valley High School, as mentioned, just what an outstanding season he's
had, caring for over seventeen hundred yards this season. And you know,
I talked about it a little bit earlier in the season, Mike. If
I had the vote now and you could vote at the very end to the
season, which is way I think, you know, the Heisman should be
done. This is why I think all Americans should be I don't think he
should be voting while their games going on. I would put Brad Roberts on
a second team All American ballot at this point. Yeah. I mean,
there's a lot of good running backs this year. The fact that he didn't
show up on any ballot, not even a couple of the awardees that do
third team ballots, to me is criminal. I'm shot. Yeah, I'm
sure. I under the kid at Illinois had a really good season. I
know Abraheim at Minnesota had a really good season. But what Roberts has done
this year, and I get it. He plays in the Mountain West,
so you got the competition angle, you got the time zone angle. You
know, a lot of not a lot of people watching what he's done.
You got the offensive angle. Yeah, you get the all you know,
the by product a system running back, you know, if there is a
such thing, right, But yeah, I think it's I think it's borderline
criminal h that he wouldn't at least on a third team All American ballot because
he just had a tremendous season. If you watch, it's one of those
things where if you just watch the film, you'll just watch him just crush
defensive lineman and linebackers over and over and over and over again. It's it's
really it's one of those things where it's kind of like the Mona Lisa.
The more you look at it, the more impressive it becomes. If you
just walk right past it, you're just like, oh, it's just another
pretty late on a painting. But if you stand there and stare at it
for thirty minutes or an hour, you see the beauty in it. It
takes you, it just takes you in to appreciate it. Yeah, it
was incredible. I mean, Brad Roberts has just you know, had a
season unlike uh, I mean really, I guess maybe the numbers would be,
you know, like a Malcolm Perry, you know kind of type,
or Keenan Reynolds you know from from Navy. Different being a running back versus
a quarterback because a quarterback has the ball in their hands every time. Yeah,
you got you gotta go back to like Napoleon McCallum to be honest,
to find a running back. I'll push back a little bit. I mean,
Kenyan Riynolds set the NC DOUBA record for touchdowns, right, yeah,
I mean it's a little bit again, that's different Ronal Still. I mean
that's a guy, you know, literally that was on Heisman ballots and should
have been in New York. I mean, he'd been absolutely criminal that he
was not in New York for that agreed because they had a helicopter ready to
take him from the Army Navy game to New York. That that you know,
you know, Stone's throw from Philadelphia to Update. That's that's coming from
a guy who's as big of an Army fan as anybody that kids should have
been in New York. That was that was criminal. Yeah yeah, not
not Peyton Manning criminal, but uh pretty close. But without a doubt Roberts.
I'm shocked he didn't show up on some All American ballots, especially like
as a third team at worst. All right, before we get out of
here, guys, anything else, I know that we're gonna close up shop
on twenty twenty two. Wish all our listeners a very happy twenty twenty three.
Thank everybody that is journeyed with us through this this college football season with
Army, Navy and Air Force. It's had a lot of incredible moments.
We had some great times on the show. Cannot thank you Mike enough for
joining on this year and Steve same thing with you. Guys are the best
co host that I could find. Especially Steve too for putting together every episode.
Is the producer extraordinaire of not just Yards and Stripes, but other podcasts
here on the College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast network. Thank you guys immensely
from the bottom of my heart. It's been a blast. Mike Price,
I would just like to recognize our listeners and I would just encourage our listeners
to reach out to us. We're listener friendly. Reach out to us on
our on our Twitter account. Uh you know, I'm at Mike l Underscore,
LWS Price, Well, what's can you can you give? And the
Yards and Stripes account at yards and Stripes on Twitter and you can follow us
on Facebook Steve yep and I am at Steve Carney and you can reach out
to all of the podcasts on the college Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast network at
Gridiron Coast. Also, I want to thank our sponsors here uh this year,
Ticket Smarter and BetUS dot com for all the the in the belief in
us in getting getting this up podcast out to as many of our listeners as
we can and as many college service academy football fans that are out there.
Yeah, as I mentioned during the TMF segment, you know, once again
thanks to the Travis Manion Foundation for you know, being with us yet again
this season on Yards and Stripes. But that will do it for us in
twenty twenty two, you know, once again, Happy new year to all
our listeners. But thank you to every single person that's invested time listening,
whether it's one episode, every episode, every single week. It's just been
a blast to do this with all our listeners because they're the ones that we
do this one four So thank you to everybody that has tuned in and taking
time to listen to us as offer feedback that's tweeted us during the season,
send us messages what you like, what you don't like, with everything across
our fingers and hope we will be able to be back and do this with
you again next season, because I know it's something that I look forward to
and hopefully I will be able to have my two guys, Mike love All
and Steve Carney with me once again next season. For Mike and Steve,
we will talk to you next year. In the meantime, have a happy
new year. We'll talk soon. Join us again next time for Yards and
Stripes Service Academy Football. To get more on all things Service Academy Football,
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