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 the twenty twenty three
college football season is upon us and you have come to your home for service
Academy football. Once again, we are Yards and Stripes your home for Service
Academy Football as we are part of a college gridiron Coast to Coast podcast network
and I'm Price Atkinson and he is my man, Stephen Carney. Down in
the Sunshine States. We're going to bring you everything that you need to know
all season long, Steve, about Army, Navy and Air Force. Is
the season is here. It's Navy and Notre Dame are kicking off in week
zero, and we will get into Army and Air Force in a little bit
as they will kick off next weekend. But all that aside, just for
a second, Steven man, how has your summer been? How are you
It has been warm? The first thing, Price, you know, I
work for Major League Baseball during the summer and my time is spent outdoors here
in the Sunshine State of Florida, and with heat indexes of around one hundred
and ten degrees trying to score nineteen or eighteen and nineteen year olds playing rookie
ball. It's definitely been a wild I feel like I've lost weight. The
scale tells me I haven't, but I feel like I have. But it's
been It's been amazing and amazing off season for me. It's been a lot
of fun. But I'm excited. I mean, I don't know about you,
but college football seems to get going a little earlier every single year,
and here we are week I know they call it week zero. This is
a technically week double zero because zero is basically next week. But I mean,
so we've got a couple of games that are going on, but none
are more important than the game that we're gonna get to here in just a
few minutes, as Navy and Notre Dame get going in Ireland, no question
about it, the aer Lingus College Football Classic R Lingus. I don't have
the Ireland lingo down, Steven, help me out with that, but come
on, price, it's Ireland in Dublin. Nonetheless, a Viva Stadium Navy
Notre Dame that the number thirteen rank Irish in both polls without a doubt.
As you said the game of the weekend that if you're going to be watching
college football, look, we've been starved for it all offseason. Everybody's going
to suck up every bit that you can. That's on the two. But
if there's the like the game, it's no question about it. It's Navy
in Notre Dame, which will kick off at two thirty on Saturday. Before
we get into it, Steven and you know, break down the game and
talk about you know, we'll hit on all three of the teams here real
quick, but you know, let's start with Navy because they are on deck
first, real fast. It has been an offseason the changes. Brian Newberry,
first year head coach. This will be his first game leading the midshipment
out after serving as a defensive coordinator the last several years. We obviously no
coach Kenney Mantalolo unceremoniously let go in the locker room immediately after the Army Navy
game last year. Check Glad Chuck, the athletic director at the Academy and
Annapolis. He installs Brian Newberry as the new head coach, and for a
team where defense really has led the way. We will always think about triple
option and offense, especially at the academies, but it's been the defense.
It's led the way for the midshipman. The last couple of seasons. You've
got nine starters back. The entire defensive line is back. They were number
three in the country and rush yards allowed last season, and that's after facing
three of the top ten rushing offenses in the country. So that was no
fluke in terms of a number, but no doubt about it. I think
this team is going to be led on the defensive side of the football with
Brian new Berry. That is his calling card. You move up PJ.
Volker, who move up from a position coach now as a defensive coordinator,
has been with Brian Newberry for several seasons quarterback. There's some familiar names,
there's some new names. We're going to get into that, but you know,
overall, this is going to be somewhat of a little bit of a
new look for Navy with a new head coach and a brand new offensive coordinator
that came from Kennesau State who's going to be running a little bit more of
a wrinkle with that spread option. Yeah. Absolutely, you look at what
Navy has done from you can go all the way back to I mean,
you can go back decades, but really with Paul Johnson moving into Kenny Neomatalolo,
there was a very it was very clear how about what the triple option
meant to the midshipment and now bringing elevating Brian Newberry to head coach from defensive
coordinator, and you look at what the athletic department did in bringing in a
new a new offensive coordinator from Kennislaw State. This team is going to look
much like Kennisau State did over the last couple of years. Yes, there
is still going to be triple option, but you're going to see more passing
from the midshipman this year than you have in years passed with the With the
new offensive coordinator, Grant Chestnut coming in, as I mentioned, you're going
to see different formations. You're not going to just see the flexbone out there.
You're going to see eye formations. You're going to see pro style formations.
You're going to see the spread option out there with a single back,
and I really do think that that's going to be a real interesting feel for
the midshipman, especially the upperclassmen that have now had three or four years even
in the triple option and the flexbone that Kenya Mantalolo ran for so many years
in Annapolis. It's gonna be real interesting to see how things look with Brian
Newberry at the helm. And I think it's going to be to be you
know, to be honest, I think it's gonna be fun. I think
it's gonna be Uh, We're gonna be really interested to see how it looks.
Maybe not so much this week with Notre Dame, but in the upcoming
weeks when when Navy gets into its full schedule and gets back from Ireland,
I think you're going to see something very interesting from them. Yeah, you
mentioned Grant Chestnut, the new offensive coordinator in the word You've said several times.
Look, I think what fans are going to look and see is they're
going to see an offense uses a lot more form different formations, and a
lot more motion to go along with a quicker passing attack. You know,
the fullbacks. Uh Daba Fofana has talked about, you know this August camp
about you know, yes, full back will be continually used in that triple
option style with this offense. But you know, coming out of the backfield
catching some quick passes or two which will almost act like his runs in a
lot of ways. But it's just something to try and keep the defense going
to side to side. They didn't want to show their cards certainly, and
you know a lot of the things they've talked about, you know, with
what the offense is going to look like. But you go back and watch
some of the film from when Grant Chestnut was a kind of Saw State for
several seasons running the spread option. I mean, they had some big offensive
numbers where they ranked in the top three in the FCS in rushing offense six
of the last seven years. You know, Brian Bohannon, the head coach
at kind of Saw obviously as a disciple of Paul Johnson and Kenney and Mantalolo,
having played it coached at the Naval Academy when all those guys were there.
So I think you're just it's going to have a different look, in
a different feel, but certainly the onus is still going to be on running
the triple option, and it's going to be a little bit like what I
think that you're going to see, not identical in any way shape or four,
but Army changing things up. We'll get to that in a little bit.
But it's an evolution. It's a it's an evolution. I think I
think I think you would you would agree if me saying, you know,
the triple option has evolved over over the years from what Paul Johnson ran at
the Academy, from what Kenny ran for so many years, and now with
what Brian behind did at at Kennesaw State. You see a little bit of
the evolution. And now it comes back to Annapolis. It's gonna it's gonna
get tweaked again and the good parts are going to be accentuated. Some of
the things that may not work with Navy are going to be kind of phased
out, and you're gonna see what the new Navy triple option and flexbone offense
kind of looks like going forward, yeah, and pulling the strings. It's
all about the quarterback right in the triple options. Oh my god. And
you look at what what what they have this year. We know that tay
Labattai got hurt last year, the knee injury. He missed springball, still
trying to work back from that knee. That knee injury, Xavier Arline,
who took over for laviti He plays lacrosse during during the spring, he got
banged up playing lacrosse, and so there's a question of just how close to
one hundred percent he's gonna be uh coming into this, uh this college football
season. How is he still dealing with some of the bumps and the bruises
that he took from the lacrosse sticks. Out there on the field, They've
got guys like tadros Gleeton and Blake Horvath of course as an as an option
guy. I really do think that you're going to see a plenty. You're
gonna see plenty of these guys, especially in different situations. I think that's
that's certainly something you could see like, oh my god, there's a there's
been somebody else that we don't expect under center. And I wonder how much
of a surprise that brings to Notre Dame. We'll going into the game this
week. Brian Newbery has said that ty Lavatai and Blake Horvath are basically one
A and one B. Both are likely going to play. You know,
obviously we know what Lavitai has done. He's primarily a runner Blake Horvath came
and you know he ran the scout team and played mostly all JV last year.
He comes from a triple option offense in high school, but also Teddy
Gleaton. He was actually the starter at quarterback coming out of the spring,
but he's been limited all August because he's been in summer school and because of
the practice schedule where they practice in the mornings. He's only been at like
one or two or three practices, most of which are on the Saturday into
things, so he has hardly even practice. Who knows if he'll even make
the trip to Dublin. But then you mentioned Zavier Areline, probably the most
electric runner of those that we've talked about at quarterback. I think that you'll
see him take a bunch of snaps at slot back and there'll be some special
packages here and there for him, because when you have somebody with that kind
of athleticism can't throw the ball. We all know that everybody was watched film
on Navy knows Arline can't throw it. Somebody give him a stitch, Somebody
came out no kidding the guy is. They're going to take advantage in special
situations, and certainly as I mentioned Daba Fafana, you know, the fullback.
He burst on the scene last year at a time where Navy for several
seasons has not had that. You know that that fullback, you know he's
back as a junior, ran for one hundred and fifty nine yards as a
career high last year against Tulsa. He's only five eight, but two oh
five. I mean he's kind of that guy that you've been Really is he
really two oh five Price? I don't believe that he's two oh five.
He is every bit of two twenty five that that you could put on that
frame. I don't know how he's only two oh five. He looks two
twenty five, two thirty. I want to be listed as two oh five.
I'm closer to three oh five, but that's I want to be on
that. I want to be on that scale. Yeah. Yeah, he's
a stun and they've got him back. You just want to keep him healthy,
you know, That's what you also want with a lot of a lot
of experience back, and you've got a bunch of offensive linemen that are returning.
I believe you've got what four offensive lineman back, so things should be
pretty solid on the offensive side of the football, you just want to continue
to make strides. But I think defense, you know, the defense with
the entire secondary, the entire defensive line, especially a guy that's I mean
talk about a nose guard under size six foot, two hundred and fifty six
pounds Donald Bernair Junior. I mean, you just don't find many of those.
And then you've got a converted nose guard that plays like is a tackle
and six three, two hundred and ninety two pound Clay Cromwell. It's always
good when you've got that that much returning experience up front on offense and defense,
and that's what Navy has. You're going to be looking for a few
of those playmakers like uh, you know, the linebacker, the hybrid outside
linebacker, defensive endspots. But the couple candidates like John Marshall and Nicholas Straw
who are standing out so far. That's really your one question on defense for
Navy is who's gonna just that that playmaker you know at linebacker. Yeah,
And and for me, I'm looking more on the offensive side. If they
look to try and play some some spread option, that's gonna lead that's gonna
lead to some some big moments for these wide receivers, and I look at
Jade Numbarger, who you know, these guys are mostly meant to block,
but he had sixteen catches last year and and two touchdowns. I think that
they could probably surprise teams early on by by throwing a spread option in their
first series, you know, and trying to trying to get the ball down
the field at least once or twice in the first couple of series, you
know, make defenses try and play Navy honest, and then then you can
go back to shoving the ball down their throats with fafauna incoming. M Yeah,
Navy. It also get gets out of August camp pretty much injury free,
outside of sophomore wide receiver Nathan Kent, he's missed most of with a
knee injury. Six foot three, one hundred and seventy five pound wide receiver
who was rookie of the Meat at the Outdoor Patriot League Track and Field Championships
last year, winning the two hundred meter and placing second to four hundred.
So you got some speed outside. But he's on the shelfer right now.
But the big thing is for Navy avoid a lot of the injury asolutely in
August camp and that's always a win for any program. As you get ready
for the first game of the season. Navy picked to finish ninth out of
fourteen teams and the new look American Athletic Conference this season, two lane was
the choice to win the league. I don't think that's a big surprise.
But we know UCF, Cincinnati, Houston, they are gone to the Big
twelve, which is sad because remember remember Navy beat UCF at the end of
last year. That was a big win for the midi's last year and that's
that's a win that they're not going to have the year. But as you
mentioned, there's there's new group. There's a new group coming in with UNC
Charlotte, with Rice, with North Texas. I believe is or is it?
Is it North Texas. That's that's now in the American UAB Charlotte,
FAU, North Texas, Rice, UT San Antonio. Man, you got
a litany of new teams, Stephen. I mean, it's gonna be a
new look. It'll it'll be a way, it'll be wild first year of
the new look American Athletic Conference, that's for sure. All I know is
my alma mater, the University of South Florida. I had to do well.
We will, we will see. Navy will play the longest regular season
in the country this year, as they will open up obviously we know against
Notre Dame this weekend, the earliest Navy has ever opened the season. Also
August the twenty six with their final game regular season game that is December the
ninth, against Army in New England. All right, let's turn our attention
because we're gonna talk a little bit more Navy here in a minute, Stephen,
is they get ready for to take gone the number three Notre Dame fighting
Irish in Dublin, Ireland. Let's such an army and an air force real
quick, let's talk Army first. You know six and six a year ago,
you know five Bowl games in the last six seasons where they went four
and one in those you know, three two or three double digit win seasons,
you know in the last couple of years, including eleven wins in twenty
eighteen. But last year was a little bit of a step back, no
question about it. And you know, while six and six and years pass
would have been totally fine with any Black Night fan after what they had endured
before Jeff Munkin arrived. That's not good enough. The schedule is a little
bit tougher this year. I don't think there's any question that it's been beefed
up a little bit. But new offensive coordinator Drew Thatcher. We touched on
him at the end of last season on the podcast. He's coming in from
Nebraska. Carney a high power rushing, you know, spread option attack.
He's got options back though he's gonna have to find your quarterback. But Jacobe
Buchanan his back at fullback. And then we know that six for wide receiver
Isaiah Alston, who's gotten NFL looks he's going to be back as well.
That will help the new signal caller up at West Point, Steve. Yeah.
And looking at Army's schedule, we mentioned they'll they'll actually start a week
from Saturday on the road in Monroe, Louisiana. But they've got quite the
schedule in front of them as they will have to go to Syracuse. They
will go two number five LSU as well, and they will host teams like
and of course going to Air Force as part of the Commander in Chiefs Trophy
run there. But then they also have to go home, and they will
host teams like Coastal Carolina who was very good last year. Boston College will
will also come to Mikey Stadium as well. So you mentioned their their schedule,
they they definitely have quite the schedule in front of them. Should be
a fun one if you're a Black Knights fan. I mean, how often
do you get to go down into the Bayou and take on LSU. That
should be a fun one. And we need not remind any Army football fan
right here that what they've done to scare the dickens out of some of these
high major Power five programs over the year, Brian Kelly and company better be
ready for that one, which I'm sure they will be and probably be in
mid season fourm But Army Black Knights, we know, will have they will
have the undivided attention of the LSU Tigers when they go down there. All
right, let's take a look at air Force real quick. Is there's no
question. See we talked about it all last season and when we wrapped it
up, and the Air Force was the toast of the town when it comes
to service Academy football tenant to five and three in the Mount West. You
beat Baylor in the bowl game. They beat both Army and Navy to win
the Commander in Chief Trophy again. Brad Roberts the standout of last season,
the best offensive player amongst any of these three academies. He's gone Hasy Daniels
quarterbacks starting quarterback from Troy Calhoun's Falcons. He has also gone going to be
a lot of new faces, especially on the offensive sign of the football.
But they have got things rolling there in Colorado Springs as Air Force will open
up with Robert Morris next Saturday at one o'clock. I didn't know Bobby Moe
had a football team until I looked it up and saw that today, Stephen,
they're playing the Big South Slash OVC. I had no idea Bobby mo
who's known for some upsets over the years in basketball, I didn't know they
played college football. Dude. Yeah, I was kind of surprised when I
saw Robert Morris. I was thinking, wait a minute, that that doesn't
sound right, But yeah, Robert bars in the OVC in the Big South
for football. I think that. You know, when you look at what
Troy Calhoun has done in Colorado Springs every year, it's never rebuild. It's
always reload. They've won ten games four out of the last five years and
the only reason it's not five out of five is they only played six games
in twenty twenty, so uh, you know, and even without Brad Roberts
and without how's he Daniels. Daniels tried to transfer for a graduate year and
was denied, so instead he's actually working at the prep school, UH this
year, helping out the football players at the prep school as he gets ready
to embark on his on his officer career with the United States Air Force.
But not having those guys on the field they're going it's going to be very
big for both for kid coach Calhoun to try and find out where he's going
to get those yards from. But he's got plenty of options there. The
Falcon's gonna play three Friday night games this year. They're gonna play at home
against Utah State and then on the road at San Jose State and at Boise.
Of course, Falcon Stadium undergoing a major renovation right now, so they'll
play a couple of neutral site games, including that game against Army in Denver
at Mile High Stadium. They're gonna have they're gonna have the longest schedule of
anybody I believe. I saw they're going to be They do five time zones
in nine weeks, five different times they could be playing games, and so
wow, unbelievable, especially because you're going to go to San Jose State,
then you come back, you know, across you know, to Annapolis,
and then you play Hawaii Hawaii. Yeah, it's it's just insane. But
if you're Troy Calhoun, who I think we'd all agree is one of the
most underrated coaches in college football, with what he gets out of his crew,
the Falcons or are going to be more than ready to pick up where
they left off and last season. And Coach Calhoun mate, not this year,
but maybe next year may have a couple of new teams that he's gonna
have to worry about playing because of the four remaining teams left in the Pac
twelve that have not left, I would assume that the Mountain West takes a
large, a huge run at cal Stanford, Oregon State, and Washington State.
Those would be big gets for air Force. Boy would they would they?
Ever? We're gonna talk a little bit more about that coming up.
We're going to break down Navy and Notre Dame. Is there more pressure on
Notre Dame than first year head coach Brian Newberry and what Marcus Freeman and his
second season guiding the Irish boat team is going to be donning some new look
uniforms for this game that under Armour has supplied them as Notre Dame just signed
a massive long term apparel deal with under Armour to be their official apparel provider
for Notre Dame football. Navy obviously has been with under Armour since two and
fourteen. We'll talk a little bit about that and we'll get some picks in
our predictions. We'll do that when we come back here on Yards and Stripes.
As we are part of the College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast, we'd
come to you every single week during the college football season Army, Navy,
and Air Force. We're your home for all three service academies. We're coming
right back here on this very first episode of the two thousand and twenty three
season. Yards and Ripes is sponsored in part by ticket Smarter. The twenty
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about Service Academy Football, Yards and Stripes continues here once again our Price,
Steve and Mike. All Right, pig skin is gonna be flying this weekend
as Navy and number thirteen Notre Dame kick it off at two thirty pm Eastern
Standard Time this Saturday from Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, and there our
LINGUS College Football Classic. As we're back here on Yards and Stripes, your
home for Service Academy Football, Price Atkinson and Steven Carney, and we're gonna
get into the matchup as Notre Dame, last I checked, is giving the
Midshipman twenty and a half points over under is an even fifty for this matchup,
the ninety six all time meeting between Navy and Notre Dame in a series
that the Irish lead eighty one, thirteen and one. They won the last
five, including a thriller last year that well, what became a thriller,
I should say it was a snoozer at halftime, but the midshipman roor I
mean row back and make a furious comeback and fall short thirty five thirty two
in Baltimore. It was a catch of the year, a touchdown pass from
quarterback Drew Pine. I think it was one of plays of the year where
Notre Dame wide receiver catches it basically with pins it against the Navy defenders back.
It was, I mean, just incredible stuff. Man. But the
last time these two teams played in Ireland was at Aviva Stadium in twenty twelve
when Notre Dame knocked off them and Shipman fifty to ten. But Stephen,
this game is sold out and you told me a little nugget a little bit
earlier, you know, from our folks and our partner this season at ticket
Smarter. Yeah, it's it's certainly going to be an affordable ticket to get
in if you have the ability to get over to Ireland, if you are
looking at just going over and maybe you realize, oh my god, I
can go watch Navy and Notre Dame out of Viva Stadium through ticketsmarter dot com.
You can get into the building for as little as eighty nine dollars and
you can be down in the lower bowl in the Navy end zone for as
little as two hundred and seventeen dollars. So it's a it's not a bad
proposition for one of the one of the biggest games and one of the longest
running rivalries and all of college football. I mean, this is the ninety
sixth time that Navy and Notre Dame will face off on the football field,
and as you mentioned, it's been a lot of Notre Dame, but it
hasn't been easy for the fighting Irish over the years. And some people might
ask why, you know, I know, a lot of our listeners are
familiar, but there's some that aren't, because, honestly, without Navy,
there's a chance that Notre Dame football may not even exist today. Because you
know, during World War Two, when Notre Dame the student body population basically,
you know a number of students at the school fell very, very low,
and you know, Navy came to the rescue when they set up a
base there training special training base on the campus there in South Bend. That
essentially kept the University of Notre Dame afloat at a time when so many young
people were being drafted into serving And so you know, pretty much from that
point on, Notre Dame, their administration and folks there at the school made
a commitment that as long as we have a football program moving forward, we
will continue to play the United States Naval Academy. And that is why this
matchup is played every year. But it's a little bit unique when you're taking
it across the pond and going over to the Motherland for Notre Dame to play
it in Dublin. And you know, Navy's pulled this one off before.
Navy's defeated four ranked team four ranked Notre Dame teams in the past. Now,
an upset on Saturday would make Brian Newberry the very first head coach in
Navy history to beat a ranked opponent in his first game. But the Irish
are no slouts. We know that there is a ton of talent there for
Marcus Freeman's team as he's entering his second year after they finished nine and four,
knocked off South Carolina and the Gator Bowl last year. But they've got
eleven starters returning thirty one letter winners off that team from a season ago.
Boy, Steven, I think that all eyes are on the quarterback. Sam
Hartman, who graduates from Wake Forrest set all kinds of records there at Wake
and Winston Salem and across the ACC He's now toking over as Tommy Reese offensive
coordinator has gone to Alabama. Jared Parker takes over as the offensive coordinator.
But Boy, after Tyler Buckner and Drew Pine they both transfer, I don't
think you could have found a much better replacement at quarterback than Sam Hartman,
who, in my opinion is probably the most talented quarterback they've had in South
Bend since Brady Quinn. Yeah, I think that's probably the right the name
there to go back to. You look at some of the names that you
saw it at Notre Dame in the in the nineties when you're looking at guys
like Ron Polis and the like. But yeah, you've got to go back
to Brady Quinn to find a quarterback that was as talented as Sam Hartline is.
I mean, you look at it, thirteen thousand yards that he threw
for at wake Forest and led the Demon Deacons to the top of the ACC.
I mean, you think about it, all the all the teams that
are in the ACC is the Florida State, it's the Miami, He's the
clem Sins. Wake Forest was up there and running with the best of them,
and it is a certainly a credit to Sam Hartman and his time under
center in Winston Salem and now moving from a small program and let's face it,
Wake Forest the smallest school in the ACC and moving to perhaps the biggest
college football program in the country and being their quarterback for just a single season.
I think Sam Hartman's got himself in a perfect situation and to be able
to start out going to Ireland and taking on a Navy team that is coming
off a disappointing year with a first year head coach and a number of different
looks that they're going to have this year and kind of question marks that are
out there, I think that he's found himself in a really good spot.
Yeah, no question. I think Notre Dame is going to be better defensively
than they were a year ago, especially obviously Marcus Freeman his defensive pedigree.
But you know, Hartman's going to have a couple of big time talents at
wide receiver to throw it to, and Jaden Thomas and Tobias Maryweather. But
you know one thing has remained the same for the Fighting Irish over the year,
Stephen, and that's that running game, running the football, because you
know how many guys they produced and put in the NFL from the offensive line
year in and year out, and what's his name, Joe Ault. You
know, it's leading the way this year as a preseason All American first team
by a lot of people. And last year Notre Dame was seven and zero
when they ran the football for more than one hundred and fifty yards a game.
When they were under one hundred and fifty yards a game rushing, they
were two and four. That's in. Yeah, I can go back and
get you some statistics from the last like ten years when they run for over
one fifty, but it just says it remains the same Notre Dame when they
take advantage of that big offensive line, those outstanding tight ends with Michael Mayer
now off to the NFL, but they still have, you know, some
guys at tight end that any school in America would want lining up, you
pound in ground, but now you've got a guy and Sam Hartman can then
throw it all over the yard. I'm curious to see what this Notre Dame
offense looks like where you're going to take advantage of his arm. But at
the same time, you're playing, especially a Navy team, where you're bigger,
you're stronger, you'll want to wear them down and just run it right
down their throat at times. Yeah, and you think about it, the
best way to keep Sam Hartman from throwing the ball all over the field is
to not let him get the ball to begin with. And I think that
Navy's got themselves in a very good situation in that case, because, let's
face it, Notre Dame gets on the field, Hartman starts throwing the ball
to guys like Merriweather and the like. We know that Navy secondary is I
don't want to use the word substandard, but it's definitely not up to par
with some of the other with a lot of the other schools in the FBS.
They their corners got picked on mercilessly last year, and I don't think
that the defensive secondary has improved significantly to make that any different. This year.
So I think that if you're going to let Hartman throw the ball,
he's going to have success. But if he doesn't have all the time in
the world to throw the ball because he's not on the field, that certainly
swings the odds a little closer to even. And I think that's the reason
why I think Navy can make this a much closer game than the odds will
indicate. Yeah, and while you mentioned that secondary, you've got everybody back.
You know, it was a secondary last year that ranked one hundred and
twenty fourth out of one hundred and thirty one FBS teams and pass defense efficiency
and teams average ninety six yards per completion nineteen yards per completion against that Navy
secondary. That just cannot happen in boy Oh, when you got a guy
like Sam Hartman that's slinging it this thing, if that hasn't improved, it
could get ugly by a guy that is as good as has been in college
football in the last you know, five ten. I mean, Sam Hartman
is the real deal. Yeah, he's gonna be. I mean they called
Sammy Boss, sling and Sammy Ball. I think they're gonna start calling him
sling and Sammy Hartman a year before before too long, that's gonna end up
being his college his college nickname. And we'll see what Hartman wants to do
if he if he's thinking that this is going to be the way to get
himself to the NFL. I mean, I don't think that there's a team
that would take a look and go, hey, there's a guy that's thrown
for you know, sixteen or seventeen thousand yards in his college football career.
Let's let's pass on him. I think there's gonna be a lot of people
that take a look at him the next level. We'll give you our picks
here in just a little bit. The Navy Insider Show will air from twelve
to one thirty Saturday on WBA L and w NAV and Annapolis, with the
pregame show getting underway at one thirty before kickoff again at two thirty pm on
NBC that you can watch live nationally across the country. The boat teams are
going to wear special under armour uniforms. They're both outfitted, obviously by under
Armour, these Gaelic style jerseys with stylized striping in the aer lingus classic in
that in that vein that with the Strengthen Unity concept and tagline. It's reference
to the origins of this Navy Notre Dame series, you know, in mentioned
World War Two just a little bit ago. So that Ireland collection by under
Armoured you can check out online and on under Armour's social media. But it's
gonna be pretty cool. It just adds to you know, if you look
good, Stephen, you play good, right, And I think it's going
to be exciting for these teams to strap on some of these new look reds,
you know on Saturday as you're playing before a brand new audience here in
Dublin. Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean you're gonna have just such such
awesome looks. I mean I just saw what what Notre Dame is wearing.
Uh. And and of course Navies looks from under Armour you can see them
both. Under Armour has them online on their on their social media feeds and
taking a look at both of them. They're both beautiful. The Gaelic looks
for them, uh really calling to uh the Irish that will be in the
stadium. It's gonna be a lot of fun. Yeah, it absolutely is.
Before we get to our picks, we'll step away, uh, and
then hit on what's ahead for Army and Air Force again next week. But
real quickly, Stephen, you know, Notre Dame was a slow starting team
last year. You know, they two lost Ohio State, then you know,
literally laid an egg at home against Marshall. You know, is there
more pressure on Marcus Freeman this season? I think, you know, with
Brian Newberry coaching his first game as head coach, you gotta feel like you're
I mean, nothing's gonna happen to you after one game. But Marcus Freeman,
you know, trying to kind of you know, they went nine and
four, you know, trying to recapture what Brian Kelly did. You know,
there's Brian Kelly detractors out there, but I mean he took them to
the college football playoffs several times, a BCS National championship game. Granted he
didn't win any of those games, and he was beat soundly several more times
than not you know, but you know, with Notre Dame, you know,
trying to get back into that playoff hunt amongst the turmoil with conference realignment.
Where will Notre Dame land in this? Will they stay independent? Will
they end up bending to the acc or possibly the Big Ten, and then
with an NBC TV contract that's going to be renegotiated. You know, they've
been with NBC since nineteen ninety one, but it's it's scheduled to be well,
I guess the question is will they still be at NBC when that twenty
twenty five season starts and the former NBC Sports chairman, he's going to actually
be taking over for Jack Swarbrook as athletic director next July. All that being
said, it feels like there's just a ton of pressure on Marcus Freeman to
get this done this year because you don't want to be going to a TV
contract negotiation, you know, with an eight and four type of regular season,
especially as you're trying to show value for your TV contract and everybody knows
what the Notre Dame brand is, you know, if you're potentially going to
move conferences. Yeah, it's going to be very interesting to see. And
I agree that definitely the pressure is on Marcus Freeman much more than than Brian
Newberry. I would think that the pressure is on Marcus Freeman more than it
would be on Kenny Neumatalolo if he had stayed on as as the Navy head
coach, and the question had been, Okay, can can he turn this
thing around? Or is there going to be a fourth consecutive disappointing season for
the midshipment? But I think your abs right. The question mark hanging over
all of college football, not just service academy football, but all of college
football. What is the top tier of college football going to look like in
the future. I put out a couple of weeks ago on social media.
My thought is that they end up going to an eighty team, four conference
upper tier of college football and go into a form of promotion and relegation,
much like they do in professional soccer in Europe. Where you start out,
Okay, these are the eighty teams and the four conferences that have a shot
at winning the national championship this year. You break them into eight ten team
divisions. Most of them are geographically based. There are a couple of places
where you can't really do that. With the West Coast folks, I had
to put poor Texas Tech in there with BYU Colorado and all the all the
schools out west. But and you have to think of Okay, now you
have to worry about where are the independent is going to play where no.
PYU is no longer an independent, so you don't have to worry about them.
But you got to worry about the University of Connecticut. They're an independent.
They they've got to you've got to find a place for them. Air
Force UH in the Mountain West, you want to move. You want to
keep them with the with the other service academy teams, and of course Army
is an independent. You know, what do you do with an independent and
a and a team in the in the Mountain West that really doesn't have a
spot that you can that you can put in the in the group of eighty.
I found spots for Army and for Navy. It was very difficult,
and you have to go, Okay, what do you do with air Force?
And I think air Force deserves a spot more than the other two because
of how well they've played over the last five years. I think that they
would be the first of the service teams into an eighty team UH upper tier
before like a premier league to get into UH college football. So it's it's
a huge question mark, and it's and it's definitely pointed. The sort of
damocles is certainly pointed at Marcus Freeman because A nerd Dame's independent. B.
They've got a television contract coming up. See how much more can television contracts?
B. We all know that streaming is the future. You know,
television network television is has has hit and nadier for watch, you know,
for watching you know, hours watched. So more there are more people that
are that are streaming things now. I mean I've cut the cable chord completely
now, yeah, so I'm I'm I'm also I'm all on streaming and with
with an antenna in my window here, uh that that I'm using to pick
up some of the local channels. But you know that that's that's a huge
question that the folks at Notre Dame, the higher ups, the athletic director,
the president, the chancellor, are all gonna have to worry about when
they go into that negotiation. And that's gonna that's gonna trickle down into the
football program. Yeah, there's no question that Notre Dame is the biggest wildcard
when it comes to the college football landscape, and as it continuously continuously shifts,
and it's going to continue shifting. I did think I don't know if
you saw this as Steve, I think it may have been Andy Staples who
posted this proposed the idea, but I thought it was interesting of taking the
three service academies, Notre Dame and then callin Stanford and having almost like a
small mini football conference which would preserve all your rivalries that you've had and a
lot of non conference games that the teams, you know, play against each
other. I kind of think it would be a great idea and love to
see all all six of those institutions together. I mean, you think about
it. You can take and you could find a way to make a almost
like an IVY league of football schools. Now the IVY Leagues. The IVY
League does play football, but they play at the FCS level, But I'm
talking about in an FBS level, taking the three service academies, callin Stanford,
Georgia Tech, uh, and you could and you can get a couple
of and there there are a couple of others like Vanderbilt. You know,
you look at teams, you know, programs that are more known for their
academics than for their athletics and make and make a football conference out of Unfortunately
Notre Dame probably in a winning month of the years, but that's another story.
For another time, but you could certainly do that. Yeah, And
you can't convince me that down the road with you know, especially the ACC
kind of changing its model to more of a performance based you know, pay
out if you will, you know, to the different schools that do more,
that have more success versus you know, basically the same check that Vanderbilt
and you know, Alabama and Auburn would get in the SEC that eventually,
way down the road, I have this feeling that you're going to see like
the Vanderbilts, the Boston colleges, the Georgia Techts, wherever, whatever league
they might be playing in at the time, get squeezed out because people saying
what are they doing? What are they bringing to the table, And that's
where you know, you could see them, you know, if everything were
to fall right in the timing, you know, to making that kind of
academic league, if you will. But I think it would be interesting and
fascinating to see. But I think we're certainly going to see more happening,
There's no question. Yeah, I think I think you're all right, Stephen.
Let's let's step away here because we're going we need to get back here
and we need to do some picks, which we will do here on the
other side, don't forget as we come to you every single week during the
college football season as we are part of the College Gridiron Coast to Coast Podcast
Network. We have an array of podcasts right there, the football Florida Football
Insiders. Get off my pylon. I mean, there is there is something
for every there, especially if you're a college football fan. There is a
ton to keep you busy all week as you get ready for kickoff on Saturdays.
And we are getting ready for kickoff on Saturday between Navy and Notre Dame
and Steve Carney and I are going to make some picks win. Come back
here on Yarchs and Stripes or Home for Service Academy Football. In two thousand
and seven, Marine First Lieutenant Travis Manion 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 Manion 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 phone, and inspired civilians at Travismanion dot org. Welcome
back into the Arcs and Stripes, your home for Service Academy Football. And
you know, if you've listened to the podcast before, we've come to that
point here in the show where we take a step back and we like to
honor and remember those that have given the ultimate sacrifices for our freedoms and for
our country. And the Travis Manning Foundation Honor Roll segment were so blessed to
have them on board with us yet again this season to highlight these fallen heroes,
but also the amazing work that the Travis Maaning Foundation is doing in communities
across the country and the words that Travis himself spoke, If not me,
then who? And on this very first episode here of Yards and Stripes getting
ready for the twenty twenty three college football season, we're gonna remember Navy Seal
Kevin Everett who gave the ultimate sacrifice on November the twenty four, twenty twelve,
when he was killed in action supporting stability operations in Afghanistan. He was
just thirty two years old at the time of his death. A native of
Arcata of California, Everett graduated from Arcatta High School and then pursued a bachelor's
degree in music from UC Santa Cruz. He enlisted in the Navy in two
thousand and six and reported to bud School soon after. In addition to a
seal training, he was also trained as a hospital corpsman and intended to pursue
a career as a physician after leaving the Navy. And the words of his
longtime friend Josh Krebbs, quote, for me, Kevin was a benchmark of
what someone could do if they dedicated themselves. He was incredibly successful in everything
he did. Quote and Kevin Evert survived by his wife, Ursula, his
mother, and his sister, as well as two step sisters, stepfather,
and other relatives. In two twenty three, Kevin's wife, Ursella, participated
in the Travis Manning Foundations Survivors Summit Expedition in Granby, Colorado. Ursula and
twelve other surviving lives friends excuse me, fiance's and girlfriends carried on the legacy
of their fallen hero as they experienced the healing power of the Mountains. Ersla
also participated in the twenty fourteen Survivor's Summit expedition in Lima, Peru in honor
of her late husband. Kevin's sisters Samantha Evert mar Tinas has honored her brother
in many TMF expeditions and races. His mother, Charlie Jordan has honored him
as part of the two nineteen TMF Guatemala expedition. And as these heroes like
Kevin Ebert who give that ultimate sacrifice for all of us every single day,
but they're never forgotten, and we certainly want to highlight and want to more
than highlight, remember and recognize their service and their commitment to service of these
fallen heroes. And the Travismanion Foundation is doing just amazing work in communities across
the country keeping the memory and the legacy of servicing commitment of these fallen heroes.
That you can find out a lot more information at Travismanion dot org.
Ways that you can get involved in support the Travis Mannion Foundation and the work
they're doing in these local communities. So we take this time here on Yards
and Stripes remember the fallen heroes like Kevin Ebert who gave the Ultimate Sacrifice.
Travis Mallion Foundations. Nine to eleven Heroes are on five K series units 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 on dot Org. The latest with Navy,
Army and Air Force on Yards and Stripes Service Academy Football. All right,
final segment here on Yards and Stripes, Price seconds and Steve Carney appreciate
everybody tuning in. Is we get you ready for yet another season of Army,
Navy and Air Force and we will certainly folks, don't worry Army and
Air Force fans. We're going to talk a lot about you guys next week
and gets you ready for Robert Morris at Air Force next Saturday and then Army
at U. L. Munroe there at Malone Stadium. Is Jeff Munkins team
going to take on the Warhawks down there on Saturday night in a primetime affair.
We will talk and preview those games next week. But Stephen Navy and
number thirteen Notre Dame, the thirteenth rank Irish in both polls. As we
mentioned, big favor over the Midshipman over Under is fifty. In this game,
they're given twenty and a half points to the Midshipman and the ninety six
all time meeting. Which way are you going or do you think Navy can
shock the world and pull an upset Brian Newberry's first game, or do they
have enough wrinkles Maybe with this new offense against Irish team that's gonna be breaking
in some new bodies and some new faces at some key positions, but still
talented all across the board. Nonetheless, you know, I would love to
be able to say that Navy is going to shock the world, that Brian
Newberry is going to become the first Navy head coach to ever beat a ranked
opponent in his debut. But it's not gonna not unfortunately. I think.
I think Notre Dame just has way too many weapons. Their offense is just
so high powered that I think that when they do get on the field,
they're not going to have much trouble getting down in the field and getting huge
chunks of yards, especially against a Navy secondary that has not lived up to
the standard of what you would expect from an FBS defensive backfield. That being
said, I think twenty and a half is a lot of points to give
a rivalry like this. I don't think it. I don't think it gets
to three times. I think it gets to three touchdowns. But I think
that Navy can get a late touchdown and actually cover backdoor. I think this
ends up being a thirty four seventeen type of game. You end up you
see, you see it as a seventeen, And I think that people that
put that will take the twenty and a half points and take Navy may find
themselves smiling as they head back to the pay window. Yeah, I'm with
you and a lot of that. I certainly I think Notre Dame is gonna
win the football game. I think they just got too many weapons offensively,
especially Sam Harton Hartman, that can overwhelm any defense. You know, maybe
you know they did the job on the ground last year and they were able
to get off the field a bit better. They ranked thirty second in total
defense, given up just three hundred and thirty nine yards per game, and
they were twenty third in sacks at almost three a game. And they're gonna
need to be that good, if not better, But with so many starters
back on defense, I think they can be better. The problem is you've
got Sam Hartman over there pulling the strings, and I'm just not sure if
this new the new wrinkles in the Navy offense are are going to be,
you know, if it's gonna be fully ready, you know we're gonna see
you know, you know we're gonna see as ready as it's going to be.
But it's going to I think that offense is going to get better,
especially as the year goes on. You know, it's new terminology, different
terminologies they're using, so the players are going to have to adapt and adjust.
I just don't think Navy has especially the offensive firepower. I don't.
I'm thinking a thirty six to thirteen type of result. I think that Notre
Dame is going to find a way to cover the twenty and a half.
But I just think it's gonna be a long afternoon for the midshipman over there
in Dublin at the aer Lingus College Football Classic, a place where they played
twice before and come up empty handed. And I think that's what's going to
be the case for the mids on Saturday, Steve. Yeah, I don't
think it's gonna be forty to ten like the like the folks in Vegas feel
that it's going to be. But yeah, I think that that Navy,
and I think the number is probably pretty close to what you're looking for.
So I see them as just barely backdoor covering and price obviously you see Notre
Dame being able to cover that is indeed correct. All right, we will
step away, and we will hope we got you ready for kickoff. I
think we did yeoman's work here and getting ready for this twenty twenty three college
football season, especially Navy and Notre Dame on week zero, which I think
is the stupidest thing in the world. If it's if you're playing games,
it's week one in my opinion, But that's another debate for another podcast.
Army and Air Force, we got you next week. Don't worry. We're
gonna talk a lot about the Falcons and the Black Night, Steve. But
we appreciate everybody tuning in again. You can catch a new episode all season
long here of Yards and Stripes, your home for Service Academy Football and the
College Gridiron. Coast to Coast podcast Network Apple podcast a, Spotify, wherever
it is that you listen to your podcast, you can find Yards and Stripes
with Steve until next week. Enjoy the games, my man, we will
do it again. Then join us again next time for Yards and Stripes Service
Academy Football. To get more on all things Service Academy Football, like Yards
and Stripes on Facebook and follow them on Twitter at yards and Stripes. And
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