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,
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have got a lot coming at you the rest of the season, and Air
Force brought it this week Steve. They now have a leg up in the
battle for the Commander in Chief Trophy. Yet again Army was on the road
at LSU. They took one on the chin. But we will get into
all bit here in just as second. But Steve, welcome back in man.
It's good to see you and it was something to be hold on Saturday
in Annapolis. But how are you what's going on this week, friend,
Yeah, it's been a good week for me. Glad to have the family
back hole this week. My lovely wife is back from the frozen wilderness up
north, spending about a week in the Canadian Rockies for a festival. She's
just about thought out. It was actually snowing when she left Edmonton last late
yesterday, and you know, for Florida people, we don't do snow very
good. In fact, this is the first time that she had seen snow
in almost twenty five years, so it was it was definitely a sight to
behold. But when they tell you you have to de ice the plane,
you start getting a little bit concerned. But she's back, she's thought out,
and she is she is ready to go, and I'm ready to go,
and it's it's been a It was a fun week for Air Force.
Not so much for the other two service academies, that is for sure.
Well let's get into it right now without further delay. The first leg of
the Commander in Chief Trophy. It was played in Annapolis at Navy Marine Corps
Memorial Stadium on Saturday before a record crowd of thirty eight, eight hundred and
three that saw Air Force and Navy do battle, and in the end the
Falcons. They get their fifth straight win over the Naval Academy and win their
twelfth straight game overall dating back to last season, which is just now one
shive the school record thanks to a smothering defense and also a surprise return by
Air Force senior quarterback Zach Larrier and the Falcons number twenty two in the country.
They get a seventeen to six win over Navy to improve to seven to
zero. They are still undefeated. Navy dropping to three and four overall.
Is now the Falcons have the advantage and a chance to win the Commander in
Chief Trophy outright with a win over Army in two weeks. But that's coming
up. Let's get to how it went down. As I just mentioned.
You know, the surprise in this one, I think was Air Force senior
quarterback Zach Larrier coming back to play after coach Troy Calhoun saying last week he
would be out for a while after suffering a knee injury in the Wyoming game.
You know, Calhoun won to play some mind games every now and then.
Was it mind games? Was it really a sudden bounce back? Wednesday
of game week. Last week, I don't know. On the other side,
Navy's true freshman, Braxton Woodson, he got the start, only the
sixth freshman to start at quarterback for the midshipman. He was totally ineffective,
totally just eleven yards of total offense in one first downs for Navy through three
quarters before he was pulled in favor of ty Lavata. But that's smothering defense
of the Air Force Academy. It's they did the job, Steve. They
held Navy to three seventeen on third downs, could not get anything going on
the ground through the air I believe it was twenty two yards on thirty five
carries. Yes, do the math quickly. That's less than one yard per
carry. In the end, the Air Force defense almost has the shutout before
Navy gets on the board late in the game. But nonetheless, it doesn't
matter whether it's by seventeen points, shutout whatever. Navy does not have the
points. Air Force has more than the Naval Academy, and it's seventeen to
six Air Force with a big, big win to stay undefeated. Yeah,
and you notice the big line that stood out to me when you look at
the box scores. The fact that Navy had to throw the ball almost thirty
times in this game, twenty nine pass attempts for the midshipmen in this game,
and that just showed you the ineffectiveness of the running game that Navy had.
And you mentioned the numbers there, twenty two yards on thirty five carries.
A lot of that was a lot of the minus yards come from Woodson
being tackled in the backfield because the offensive line was not able to get the
push at all on Navy's front, on the front seven or the front four,
whatever you want to say. There was no getting to the second level
for the midshipman at all. In this game. Alec Teesa had just twenty
four yards. He only carried the ball twelve times. He actually also led
the team in receiving with four catches for twenty seven yards. And you mentioned
Braxton Woodson's ineffectiveness having to be pulled for ty Lavitai, who ended up throwing
two interceptions, including one that went back for the final Air Force touchdown in
the game. You know, I just look at how that I don't think
you can call that a discredit to Navy's offense, although I think that when
and when you're Brian Newberry, You're gonna look at your offensive line and go,
you gotta get a push on these guys. You have to be able
to get off the ball UH and allow us to be able to run the
football. But that's a credit to Air Force's defense and just how good the
Falcons are this year all around. And you were right about Zach Larrier UH
showing up and playing in this game. We talked, of course, to
Pete Medhurst, the voice of the Midshipman in last week's episode. I would
definitely recommend you go back and listen to that because it was a great conversation
that we had. Even though UH Navy came out on the on the short
end of the stick, but he had said that he that Zach Larrier wasn't
going to play. All the reports out there were that Zach Larrier was going
to was not going to play, And when he came out and started to
warm up, I remember watching and going, wait a minute, what is
he doing out there. He's not supposed to be out there. And you
actually saw the line move at the very end of the game, going from
Air Force minus ten and a half to Air Force minus eleven. The over
underwent down as well. It actually went down below thirty five. It was
at thirty six and a half. It got all the way down to thirty
four at kickoff. So if you had waited to get yeah, if you
had waited to get the under, you were probably kicking yourself because you're going
I could have had it at thirty six and a half and felt really good
about it. It turned out turned out it didn't. You know, the
total ended up being twenty three. So if you took the under, you're
welcome. But I was. I was blown away with just how incredible on
all sides of the football the Falcons were again this week. Every week I
seem to think, you know, they are they going to finally find that
level where they're like, okay, we can't go any further than we have,
And every week they just get better and better and better. And it's
why I think, not only are they gonna win the Commander in Chief Trophy
for a second consecutive year outright, but I have a feeling that they could
end up being like a top fifteen team, and who knows if they might
be the highest ranked group of power group of five team when all is said
and done, and they may end up in a New Year six Bowl game
with how they're playing. M hmm, yeah, it's certainly possible. I
mean you're looking right now at a team that very well could have the edge
on the you know New Year's Day six, that group of five spot,
and they could be the Falcons you know, that are playing, you know
on New Year's Day, that New Year six that you know, a group
of five is just guaranteed for and it's it's not out of the question.
It is certainly right there on the table, and they may even have the
inside track for it at this point. But you know, again that that
Air Force defense so dominant, I mean they were air Force dominating really the
line of scrimmage on both sides of the football. Brian Newberry said afterwards for
Navy that you know, they just got out physical, you know, in
terms of what that Air Force defense was able to do. You know,
they lose the shutout late, which would have been Air Force's first ever shutout
over Navy and only the second shutout in the series. The first and only
one was in nineteen seventy five when Navy beat the Air Force seventeen. Oh.
But you know, defense was the name of the game in the first
quarter, but the offense came alive for Air Force temporarily in the second quarter,
when on the very first play of the second Stanza Larrier connects with Dane
Kinneman down the right sideline a ninety four yard touchdown passes he outruns two Navy
defenders, the longest pass play in Air Force School history. And you know,
obviously from there you get that, you get that touchdown that evidently it
could be heard audibly in the press box Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium allowed it's
over coming from the Air Force coaches box. They just run away from it
from there. You know, you mentioned having to throw the ball late.
You know, ty Lavati comes in relief four Braxon Woodson plays the final quarter
and they basically had to throw it, you know, the rest of the
lay to even try and get back in it. It was ten to nothing
with what four minutes to go, and maybe had the ball, but Lava
Tits picked off twice, including the pick six by Air Force standout linebacker Alec
Mock with three point fifty one to go, and that was it. Lavataye
got Navy on the board to end the shutout. With a fifteen play seventy
eight yard drive that you know ended in a ten yard touchdown pass to Eli
heyden Wright. But it didn't matter at that point. It was game,
set match. As now air Force set up to play once again for the
Commander in Chief trophy coming up in just two weeks against Army, and as
we met, who knows could they be the group of my representative in the
New Year's Day six? We will find out, but air Force seventeen Navy
six is air Force now stays at a perfect seven to zero on the season,
as they will move up the rankings. We'll tell you about that in
a little bit. Steve is exactly what we thought in Baton Rouge, where
Army traveled to take on the number nineteen LSU Fighting Tigers and homecoming matchup only
the second meeting ever between the two teams, coming ninety two years apart,
and we thought this would be lopsided, and it certainly was LSU sixty two
to nothing over Army. It's going back now spanning three games that the Black
Knights have not found the scoreboard. It was I believe eleven minutes left in
the game against Boston College that Army got their last points, spanning again three
games as they were shut out for the second game in a row, number
nineteen. LSU scoring on six of seven first half possessions, led by a
Heisman Trophy candidate jayde and Daniels three touchdown passes, had another one rushing,
and he finished with two seventy nine through the air before giving it up to
backup gear at Neusmayer in the third quarter on a night when Louisiana Governor John
Bell Edwards and actually an eighty eight graduate of West Point, was the ceremonial
captain for the game and did the coin flip that might have been maybe the
only luck Army had the entire game, because they couldn't get it going on
offense either, you know, while it was a game of big plays or
a lack thereof, LSU had seven plays offensively of twenty three yards or more.
Army had zero offensive plays of twenty or more. Their longest of the
game was an eighteen yard run by Kanye Udo, who again a big bright
spot for the Black Knights, as it was all LSU in this one.
Steve sixty two to zero is Army now falling to two and five overall.
LSU six and two overall. Yeah, I started to turn away from this
game in the second quarter, right right around the time where it seemed like
the Black Knights where we're starting to have their issues, you know, maintaining
possession of the football. You saw the interception at the end of the first
quarter that that led to an LSU touchdown to start the second, and then
they would fumble the football and the Tigers would take that in for a touchdown.
They would turn the ball over on downs, they would go down and
kick a field goal, and then a three and out that turned into a
seventy two yard drive on just three plays to make it thirty eight nothing.
And about that point, I was like, all right, I think I'm
the watching this game heavily, but I kept it on. You know,
I'm in the background while I was while I was paying attention to to the
baseball playoffs, and so I did get a chance to watch any judo.
As you mentioned, one hundred and eight yards on the ground on twenty one
carries that I think was was was a pretty impressive performance for a guy who
was taking on a defense that obviously was leaps and bounds better than anything that
Army could provide in practice or in any of the games that he has seen
so far. And the fact is that, you know, they turned the
ball over three times or they had three interceptions and a and a fumble loss,
so they were minus minus four when it came to the turnover battle,
and you know, with all you're gonna be, you know, obviously out
athleted. You know, the athletic level was definitely going to be on LSU
side from the get go. But we had said that for them to have
any sort of possibility to even keeping this game close, they were gonna have
to keep jayde and Daniels on the sideline, they'd have to get the running
game going, and they couldn't turn the ball over. And unfortunately, they
didn't do any of those three things. So obviously this game was gonna get
out of hand early. And then at that point you get into the fourth
quarter and you can start you could start seeing Brian Kelly, you know,
starting to bring in the substitutes. The scout team got an opportunity, and
so when you saw Garrett and a Smyer get into this game, you started
seeing guys like Mason Taylor and Logan Diggs getting opportunities in this game, so
you weren't going to see Jane Daniels and Trey Holly and Malik Neighbors and the
likes, uh for the for the entire game. They were able to get
some of those guys off of their feet for a homecoming day. That was
very very good for for the folks in Baton Rouge and not so good for
for Army. And unfortunately the Black Knights get through the they they're now through
their hard part of their schedule. The bad part is is that they finished
that hard part of their schedule oh and four. Yeah, absolutely, you
mentioned, uh, you know, oh to four and that difficult part four
game losing streak that Army is now going to try and snap this coming weekend.
We'll tell you about their upcoming game. But you mentioned the turnovers just
you know, plaguing Army once again, you know, four turnovers seventeen now
on the season. You know, the bright spot I think maybe if you're
looking for one. You obviously had two freshmen under center at quarterback, but
freshman running back Kanye Udo again another bright spot for Army, as he finished
with twenty one carries in one hundred and eight yards. The first leave or
freshman to go over one hundred yards and back to back games for the Black
Knights since all time leading rusher Mike Mayweather did it in the last two games
of the eighty seven season. Is that a little four show foreshadowing for you
do? We don't know, but certainly that's nice company to be involved with.
But nonetheless, it was still LSU getting that win sixty two to nothing
over Army on Saturday night in Baton Rouge. Is now Army two and five
looking to snap a four game losing streak coming up. All right, we
got some game balls to give out. Steve, which way do you want
to go with your game ball? Well, you know me, Price,
I am always about the defense when it comes to game balls, Yes,
but not this week. But not this week. I'm going with Dane Kineman
and the ninety four yard bomb that he was able to take to the house
for air Force. It was obviously there were only five attempts by Zach Larrier.
He completed four of them. Kineman that was his only reception, but
he made it a good one, as he was the one that made it
seven to nothing. As you mentioned, you could hear the exclamation coming from
the from the coaches booth at Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium for the Falcons,
exclaiming that quote it's over, and that turned out to be a correct statement.
It was a profetic statement because Navy only got six points on the afternoon
that would that made it seven to nothing. Turned out to be all that
the Falcons needed. So Dan Kiddeman gets this yards and stripes game ball from
me. All right, I am going defense. We're on the opposite ends
this week, because I thought no doubt about it what air Force did defensively
holding Navy to its worst rushing output of the Triple option era and just twenty
two yards rushing Navy's lowest since they were held to twenty by San Diego State
in nineteen ninety four. Riley Rithman, you can make a case he could
get a game ball from somebody because he had probably had more action than anybody
on the on the Navy field during the day, since he punted, you
know, ten times. But the Midshipmen were forced to nine three and outs
in fourteen possessions, and that was led by partially led by Air Force senior
linebacker Jonathan Youngblood out of Atlanta, who posted a career high thirteen tackles in
the game, seven solo, including two for a loss. His previous high
of tackles coming into the season was eight, so he easily eclipsed at the
eight that he had against Boise State last year. But you know, that
entire Air Force defense, you know, almost posting a shot out. Look,
if they had posted that shut out, I may have gone, you
know, maybe just with the entire Air Force defense because they were that good.
Alex Mott getting the pick six late, But you know, Jonathan Youngblood
leading the way at linebacker with thirteen career high tackles, seven solo, two
for a loss. Jonathan Younglood getting my game ball this week. All right,
we got more games to preview. We got a pair coming up this
weekend. Umassied Army Navy is off. We've got Air Force at Colorado State
for that ram Falcon Trophy. We got the Travis Manning Foundation on a roll
segment. We got picks to make. We got a lot more to do
here on this episode of Yards and stra which you can hear on the College
Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast network. Just search College Gridiron, Coast to Coach
or Yards and Stripes. Wherever it is you get your podcasts, you can
listen to us in an array of college football podcasts all season long there on
the College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast network. He is Steve Carney on Price
Atkins and we will be right back to look ahead at this week's games coming
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latest with Navy, Army and Air Force on Yards and Stripes Service Academy Football
right continuing on here on Yards and Stripes. We've got a lot more coming
up. We've got our Travis Mania Foundation segment. We got picks to make.
But before we make picks, we gotta tell you about the games.
He's Steve Carney on Price Atkinson. Let's get into it, Steven first game
of two on Saturday. Again, Navy is off this weekend before returning to
action against Temple on Saturday, November the fourth, but two games this weekend
with Army on deck. First, they return home to Mikey Stadium looking to
snap a four game losing streak, and in that shutout streak that has spanned
three games, their last score coming with eleven forty three left in the fourth
quarter against Boston College at twenty seven to twenty four loss. But this game
against visiting UMass one in seven Army two and five. This one is gonna
kick off on the CBS Sports Network at twelve noon Eastern Standard Time, as
Army has been installed as a ten point favorite. Over under in this one
is forty eight in a series that Army leads all time five wins, no
losses, including last year when the Black Knights visited McGirk Alumni State in Amherst
and came away with a big forty four to seven win. I would expect
Army to do something similar or the same, but I think Army would say,
you right now, we don't care how it comes about, how many
points, we just need a win. As they are two and five on
the season. Stephen, Yeah, and especially if they don't have Bryson Daily
under center again this week, they are certainly going to be in need of
just getting some confidence for some of these young players. You know, whether
you look at whether it's Davis or the like, I think that they really
do need to be able to get some confidence going under center for these young
players. And they found a perfect place for this to happen. I think
that you know, obviously, if Daily could have played this week against LSU,
he would have played. But this is a this is the perfect spot
for a pleab for a first year quarterback to be able to have a little
bit more of a of an opportunity here. You can make mistakes against the
minute men, you can you can have things go wrong against you Mass,
because they are probably one of the bottom five programs right now in in Division
one FBS football. And I think that you're gonna be able to run the
football against you Mass. I think that you're gonna be able to throw the
ball if you need to against the minute men, and you're gonna find yourself
in really good shape. And you know, if you get to you get
to three and five on the year, and then you know, when you
look at the rest of Army schedule going forward, can they get two uh?
Can they get to six wins? I don't think so. I think
it's gonna be really difficult, especially because of the fact that they're gonna play
Holy Cross after the game against air Force, and you only get one Division
one FCS team to count towards ball eligibility, and they already have that win
with their win over Delaware State earlier this year, so that game is not
going to count. So you need this game and then you probably are gonna
have to to win. You're gonna have to win out uh to try and
get ball eligible. And of course the game after this is air Force,
so that means that means going and beating the you know, probably the best
team of the Service academies this year. Granted that game is at home,
but you're gonna have an opportunity here to to maybe get yourself in position two.
And then you also have to beat Coastal Carolina, who's a who's a
Who's a pretty good team, not as good as they have been in years
past, but you know, you've got to beat the chant Clears, you've
got to beat Navy, and you've got to be an Air Force after this
week if you want any chance of being Bowl eligible. Yeah, I mean,
you can make the case that they're not going to play another true road
game, and you know, I know Air Force is in Denver, but
you know, if you're looking for any you know positive or you know when
you're looking to try and split hairs coming down the stretch, because like he's
like you just said and articulated that Armies basically to get ball eligible, they
have to win out the rest of the way. They cannot lose again.
Will it be difficult, absolutely, but you got to start somewhere, and
it starts with U Mass a team on Saturday at twelve noon that you should
be they have. U Mass has not tasted a victory since the opening game
of the season when they beat New Mexico State forty one to thirty, and
now have lost seven straight times, and in many of those times they haven't
even looked competitive at all. So I would expect Army to come out and
really do their thing. But we'll see whether it's Champ Harris again, freshman,
Larry Robinson another freshman, or is Bryson Daily back. Jeff Munkin provided
no update at least so far this week on Bryson Daily status, so we
will have to see. But UMass An Army going to kick it off at
twelve noon Saturday, CBS Sports Network again Army a ten point favorite at home.
Over under is forty eight. Our other games Stephen this weekend. The
ram Falcon Trophy It's back on the line is number nineteen air Force now seven
to oh four and oh in the Mountain West Conference, taken on Colorado State
up in Fort Collins, who is three and four one and two in the
Mountain West a seven pm Eastern Standard Time kickoff five o'clock locally there in Fort
Collins. This one on CBS Sports Network again, air Force installed is a
twelve point favorite over under twenty nine and a half as the Falcons are off
to their best start since nineteen ninety seven and its best start ever since joining
the Mountain West Conference. At nine and oh, they are won of nine
undefeated FBS teams, the one of only two in the Mountain West and three
in the group of five. But, as I mentioned, the ram Falcon
Trophy on the line once again the forty third time is air Force holding a
twenty seven to fifteen advantage in the ram Falcon Trophy games. The trophy originally
dating back to Shelley Godkin, who was a former ROTC TC commander at Colorado
State, Steve who watched the teams play in the seventy eight game and sought
to translate his impression into a trophy of symbolic into a symbolic that symbolic of
the annual game, and that first ram Falcon Trophy game was played a couple
of years later in nineteen eighty is. The overall series is led by air
Force, as you would expect, thirty eight to twelve and one, and
the Falcons have won six straight and fourteen of the last sixteen, including three
straight in Fort Collins. Steve, so you know air Force is gonna have
to rebound once again. We don't know about Zach Larrier. Is he gonna
be good to go? Will they go with Jensen Jones? My guess is
Larrier will go again, But who knows. Just the staff think they can
get it done without Larrier? We don't know. But what we do know
is it will be another in interstate battle between Air Force and Colorado State on
Saturday night. I always laugh when I when I hear about the ram Falcon
Trophy because you would think that the way that these two teams play, that
the air Force would be that air Force would be the Rams and Colorado State
would be the Falcons. Because if you look at these two teams, all
of air Force's you know, production comes for the most part on the ground.
All of Colorado State's production for the most part comes through the air.
So it should be the other way around. It should be the Colorado State
Falcons and the Air Force Rams. But that's not how it is. But
you know, when you look at at Colorado State and you know the guy
that you're probably going to have to make sure has has an issue, it's
going to be Colorado State's quarterback, their freshman quarterback, Braden follow Nickelosi.
You know, this is a guy, a kid who is now thrown for
He's thrown for almost twenty two hundred yards so far this season. But he
has shown that he's a freshman. You know, he's thrown eleven interceptions here.
He's a red shirt freshman because he did actually get into games in the
in the twenty twenty two seasons, so he's not a true freshman. But
he's certainly been able to take advantage of his experience from last year to run
this game, to run how this offense for Colorado State wants to be run,
and of course his big target is the senior Tory Holton, who has
sixty five catches already this season after a career high seventy one all of last
year. So obviously that's that's the guy that you got to watch out on
the outside for Colorado State. But this is gonna be all about how quickly
can the front four of air Force get pressure on Fowler, Nickelosi and Ken
the secondary hang with Tory Horton, because if you can, you're gonna have
an opportunity to really put a hartin on this team. And as you mentioned,
the line is twelve, the over under is forty nine, so obviously
the folks in Las Vegas believe that there's gonna be some scoring done in this
game. And obviously, if Colorado State's gonna want to push this pace,
air Force is gonna want to try and keep the pace slow. But I
really, I really love watching this game just because it's so fun to watch
the irony in this being the ram Falcon Trophy and how it goes well.
You mentioned Fowler Nicolosi's thrown a pick in every single game. The only game
he has not thrown a pick in was one, and that was last week
in the loss to UNLV, which Colorado State came from behind in that game
last week three times only to lose it. Ramkicker Jordan Noyce. He drills
a fifty five yard field goal that seemed like that would be for the win
with forty four seconds left, but here comes UNLV. They get the ball
back and Jose Pizzano, who I think made six field goals in the game,
his six and final one coming with two seconds left from twenty eight yards
out and air Force excuse me, Colorado State dropping that game to UNLV and
his UNLV and the Rebels staying undefeated. You know, a game behind air
Force in the standings. You got to think the air Force was certainly cheering
their Colorado brethren in the Rams to win that one. But UNLV does get
the win. Is now had the Rams are three and four on the season.
Most people will remember when you talk about Colorado State, the one thing
that they know is they took that then the Colorado Buffaloes to double overtime and
d and coach Prime, you know before they lost a close one forty three
to thirty five. Steve, But you know, a team certainly that's not
going to roll over. This game is in Fort Collins. You know,
dare we say it? I don't think it's any stretch. You know.
Air Force the best team in the state of Colorado right now in this season.
I don't think that's any kind of secret. But it will be on
the line with the ram Falcon Trophy on Saturday again. This is a seven
o'clock kickoff Saturday night on the CBS Sports Network and air Force nineteenth in the
country in both poles is a twelve point favorite in this one. We will
pick some games coming up in a few minutes. But coming up next,
we got our Travismanian Foundation Honorable Segment. Steve, we're you honor remember a
fallen hero that has given the ultimate sacrifice. We'll do that and then we'll
come back and close up shop 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 wooted 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 fallen, and inspired
civilians at Travismanion dot Org. As we continue on here on this episode of
Yards and Stripes, it's time for our Travismenian Foundation Honorable Segment Maori Honor Remember
a fallen hero, one that has given the ultimate sacrifice, and this week
we're going to honor our members. United States Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Liam Flynn.
Flynn was born on December eighth, nineteen eighty one, and he gave
the ultimate sacrifice on March tenth, twenty fifteen, when he died as a
result of injury sustained during a training exercise in Florida. His U eight sixty
black helicopter crashed, killing six other Marines and four Louisiana National Guard members in
the crash. Staff Sergeant Liam Flynn was born in England and raised in Kline,
Ireland by two loving Irish parents, along with his seven siblings. In
July two thousand and two, he immigrated to the United States and settled in
New York City, where he found work as a construction worker, but always
dreamed of joining the United States Marine Corps. Once Flynn became a US citizen,
he enlisted in the Marines in two thousand and six, and he dreamt
of graduating from the Marine Corps Recruiting Depot in Paras Island in two thousand and
seven, which he did and began and his training as an infantryman in the
US Marine Corps School of Infantry. He served with the second Battalion, eighth
Marines based out of Camp Lejune, North Carolina, and he did four deployments
during his time with the Marine Corps in Iraq and Afghanistan. He met his
wife, Destiny in twenty twelve at a Starbucks in Fort Benning while they were
both attending Airborne School. They were married one year later in twenty thirteen,
and then had a daughter, Leilani, who was born in twenty fourteen.
Staff Sergeant Flynn was honored with a Bronze Star Medal with Valor, a Purple
Heart, and a Navy and Navy Marine Corps Achievement Medal for Valor. His
wife, Destiny wrote quote Liam never talked about himself, nor did I ever
hear him speak ill will about anyone. The one constant thing I heard about
Liam was his humility. At Liam's funeral, a friend kindly approached me and
said, I would not be here if it wasn't for him, and my
daughter would have been the one to receive the folded flag years ago. At
that moment, I realized how much he meant to so many people, and
how he left a print on people that from his wife Destiny would take the
time to remember United States Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Liam Flynn for giving the ultimate
sacrifice for our nation and for our freedoms. You can find out more information
about the Travis Manion Foundation online at Travismanion dot org, and there you can
find out ways that you can support TMF and also families who have lost loved
ones carry on the legacy of commitment and service in their communities across the country.
Once again, check out Travismanion dot org. Travis Manion Foundation's nine to
eleven Heroes Run five kra 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 heroesun dot
org. The latest with Navy, Army and Air Force on Yard Stripes Service
Academy Football. All right, wrapping up this episode of Yards and Stripes se
is Steve Carney, Iron Price Akinson a couple of news and notes to pass
along real quick. As we mentioned number nineteen, air Force, they are
nineteen, and both the AP and the Coaches poll moving up three spots from
number twenty two last week. So air Force now nineteen. How high will
they rise? We'll find out. Navy at Temple, their game coming up
on Saturday, November the fourth, announces a two pm kickoff on ESPN Plus.
Again that one going to be from Franklin Field on excuse me in Philly
against Temple on Saturday, November fourth, a two pm kickoff on ESPN Plus.
Speaking of Navy senior striker Xavier MacDonald and Army senior defensive lineman Austin Hill,
they have been both named as candidates for the Werfel Trophy, given to
college football's Premier service award winner. So that one going to college football's recognition
of community service. Is senior striker from the Naval Academy, Xavier MacDonald and
Army Senior Defensive Alignment Austin Hill up for the Werfol Trophy and also Steve real
Quick. You mentioned air Force one of nine undefeated teams. I mentioned that
UNLV in that group. UNLV undefeated in them Mount West, but air Force
one of nine undefeated FBS teams in the country, still remaining one of three
group of five teams. And Bill Connley's got a ESPN Plus article the kind
of dives into that takes a look at the remaining undefeated teams, ranking them
in some of the biggest questions remaining. Where did he have Air Force?
Yeah, he has them seventh out of the nine. Last week they were
the ninth best out of eleven. The only two teams that are behind them
are of course James Madison and Liberty, but he says that they're they're The
next biggest test is going to be week thirteen, their matchup when they go
to the Blue Turf in Boise to take on Boise State. But he says
their biggest remaining question is that can the dominance continue with a less dominant Zach
Larrier. Obviously, the knee injury that he suffered against Wyoming. He ended
up playing this week, but there there is still questions of just how will
Larrer be able to handle the rest of the season knowing that one of his
knees is not at one hundred percent. I'm I'm kind of interested in why
the next big test. I know it's a road game against Boise State as
opposed to a home game against UNLV, which is the team that you're that's
currently trying to chase you down for the top spot in the conference. And
you and I had this conversation off air. I do want to I do
want to bring it on air here about why it's Boise State and not UNLV,
because un LV schedule, apart from one game that they lost, has
not been a very good one, right mm hmm, oh yeah, it's
not been good at all. I mean they play un LV in terms of
teams they played and much less beaten. I mean, they've the only team
of any significance that UNLV has played is is obviously Michigan, who they lost
by four touchdowns, but you know everybody else they don't. They have not
played a team with a winning record currently on their schedule. Even Colorado State
was five hundred last week, so there they will not play a team with
a winning record, especially when it comes to conference until this Saturday night against
Fresno State on the road, and I believe we'll see Wyoming would be next,
followed by air Force, so you know, we'll see what UNLV has.
But I just think un LV at this point is there's just a lot
more questions about him, and UNLV hasn't had, you know, certainly much
success in college football much less been at this point in the season at six
and one, three to know in the Mountain West, and I don't know
how long. So you know, they're like to me their lack of you
know, playing in big games and you know kind of sustaining this. At
what point does the pressure maybe kind of you know rear its head for you
know, this rebel team. I just think there's no question that that Air
Force's biggest test, without a doubt, is going to come against Boise State
on the smurf turf on Black Friday. Yeah, And it makes sense because
you know, Boise State is a is a team that has been tested obviously,
has had success in seasons past. They're they're not. They are not
the team that beat Oklahoma in the Festival all those years ago. Can you
believe that that was like seventeen years ago? Now? Was my mind?
I keep thinking, oh, you know that that young, little upstart Boise
State that was almost two decades ago that they beat Adrian Peterson and Oklahoma in
the Fiesta Bowl in one of the most amazing games. I still go back
and watch the fourth quarter of that game because that if you want to see,
you know, two teams standing there and just slugging each other like Rocky
Balbo at Apollo Creed with no defense being played, you definitely want to watch
the fourth quarter of the two thousand and seven Fiesta Bowl between Boise State and
Oklahoma. But yeah, it makes sense. And the fact is that you
know, you get, You've got that game and then whatever the Mount West
Championship will be at that point. And then the question then becomes has Air
Force done enough to be the team that is selected from the from the group
of five for a New Year's Day six Bowl game? And I'm really excited
about that opportunity. You know, it's been a long time since the Service
Academy has played in a New Year Six Bowl Game. I think you gotta
go back to the seventies to find the last time that that a Service Academy
played in a New Year six Bowl game. I think it was like one
of the Navy. Navy teams in the late seventies played in a New Year
six. But it's been a long time, and if Air Force gets that
opportunity, it's going to be great to see them be able to do so
in what is going to be a huge stage and to show off what Service
Academy football means to a much bigger audience than what they've been able to do
so far this year. Yeah, no question about it. Excited to see
how it does play out the rest of the season. Steve, let's get
some picks. We got two games. Let's start with the UMass Minutemen heading
to Mikey to take on Army again. Army at ten point favorite over under
forty eight. What do you think of this one? Yeah, I don't
know about the total in this one. It seems a little high. Although
you know, the Black Knights did be Delaware State fifty seven nothing, so
they would have covered this forty eight by themselves. I do like the nine
and a half. You know, I certainly think that this is a game
that the Black Knights can use to try and sort out any wrinkles that they
that they've had, you know, to kind of smooth out the way that
their offense is playing. And I think it's the perfect opportunity for them to
hit the reset button. You know, this was a really, really tough
part of their schedule. We had talked about this earlier in the year,
you know, at Syracuse home for Boston College and for Troy and then at
LSU. You know, there there was talk that they could go and four
that in that stretch. I remember saying I thought that they could they that
they may not win one of those games, and they ended up going oh
and four in that stretch. So it's the perfect place for them to be
able to hit the reset button. I like the Black Knights. I would
give the nine and a half in this game if I was betting it.
Uh, the weather's gonna be yucky. It's gonna be you know, mid
fifties and raining on Saturday. That's the forecast is in West Point. So
it just really makes me think that this is gonna be a game that's decided
on the ground and who's better on the ground, Army is. Yeah,
Yeah, I think I think Army gets a win. I think they're gonna
cover the spread. I think that also, it's probably gonna come over like
you said, you know, forty eight. I think it's a little bit
high. You know. I like Army to the tune of say, maybe
a thirty to thirteen. You know, I think they'll win, you know,
in a game that kind of gets away, you know, in late
in the third quarter, fourth quarter, you know, fairly low scoring to
start. But like you said, you know, running the ball, the
team, which team can run it better? It's Army. I think Army
wins, you know something to the tune of thirty to thirteen. Other games
out, I have thirty, I have thirty four to three for min thirty
four to three. Okay, wow. Air Force Colorado State in Fort Collins
Falcons, you know, favored in this one by twelve over under forty nine
and a half. You know, an in state rivalry. Yeah, I
gotta say, you throw the record books out the window, but you know
the record for air Force right now looking really good at seven to oh while
Colorado State they're licking their wounds after letting one get away against unlv A last
week. What do you think about the Falcons in Fort Collins on Saturday night
at seven o'clock Eastern Standard time. Yeah, if Zach Larrier is under center,
this is this is a no doubter. Uh. You know, I
I don't use stone cold locks very often on this on this show, but
I would say that this is a stone cold lock if if I've ever seen
one. So I would think that this is a game that you're gonna see.
Uh, You're gonna see a lot of bludgeting from the from the Falcons
on the ground, whether it's Larrier, whether it's Emmanuel Michelle, whether it's
John Lee Herritge third. I really do think that you're you're gonna you're gonna
watch the Falcons really put the hammer down on on the Rams in this game.
I would, yeah, lay in the twelve is fine. I would
I would say this is probably. Yeah. I'm gonna say thirty eight ten.
I'm going I'm going big on this one, So I will I will
take air Force at a thirty eight ten clip over Colorado State. We're fairly
close, you know. I think I like Colorado State to score a little
bit more. But I think that I do think that they blow the you
know, the over over under forty nine and a half. I like air
Force to win thirty eight to twenty four. Obviously, that's what Zach Larry
or playing. I think Colorado State we'll be able to score some points and
you know, find some offense in this one, you know, behind that
young quarterback. But you know, in the end, you know, air
Force is just too complete on both sides of the ball. I can't go
stone cold lock or even you know, close to a stone cold lock because
you never know. And I've seen this game when air Force, you know,
was on the other side of this one when they had no business.
Jim mckawain's last year at Colorado State. I was there in the Springs when
air Force got a last second field goal on Black Friday to win it.
Say, you never know sometimes, you know, especially with these rivalry games.
But like we have talked about all season, especially in the last few
episodes and here today, air Force Orse is just too complete on both sides
of the football. Yeah, I like air Force to win also thirty eight
to twenty four. All right, Steve, that is going to do it
here on this edition of Yards and Stripes anything else before we get out the
door, buddy, No, just want to make sure that everybody checks out
the other podcasts on the College Good Iron Coast to Coast podcast Network. Obviously
this week in the ACC drops on Mondays, We've got Florida Football Insiders and
Get off My Pylon that drop around us on the Tuesday Wednesday time frame,
and then later on in the week we've got the Big Twelve Breakdown in Big
Ten Paradigm which come out later on in the week. But definitely check us
all out. You've got great college football talk for whatever teams you're excited for
in college football across the country. It is a great time to be a
college football fan, and it's great that you've been able to check us out
here on the College Good Iron Coast podcast Network. You heard it. That's
Steve CARNEI I'm Price Atkinson. We will do it again next week here on
Yards and Stripes. You're home for Service Academy Football as we are part of
the College Gridiron Coast to Coast Network. Have a great week, have a
great week, and enjoy the games. We'll talk to you next week.
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