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Need to get your football fix on
all things Army, Navy and Air Force.

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This is Yards and Stripes Service Academy
Football. Now here are your hosts,

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Price Atkinson, Steve Carney and Mike
love All. Welcome back into the

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Yards and Stripes Service Academy Football,
Army, Navy and Air Force. That

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is what we do here. And
I am Fryce Atkinson. He is Steve

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Carney his boy. The excitement ramps
up around these parts this week with our

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first leg of the Commander in Chief
Trophy. It is on deck. But

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once again we are Yards and Stripes
part of the College Gridarn Coast to Coast

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Podcast Network. We got a lot
coming at you this week. We got

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three games to recap, We got
our Travis mannon Foundation on a roll,

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we got some picks to make.
As I've just mentioned, the first leg

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of the Commander in Chief Trophy is
on tap this weekend eight Air Force at

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Navy. We have a special guest, the Playboy play voice of the Navy

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Midshipman Pete Medhurst is going to join
us a little bit to break down the

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matchup and talk about the first half
of the season for the mid Steve and

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it is time to get going.
How are you? How is the week

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going is? Again? Man,
I'm excited about this coming weekend. I

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know we got more to do.
We got some wins to talk about,

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some exciting matchups from last weekend to
talk about. But hope all as well,

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my friend. Yeah, everything is
great on my end. This is

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gonna be a bachelor week for me. I sent my wife away for the

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rest of the week. She is
actually on her way to Edmonton, Alberta,

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Canada as we speak, for what
is known as the Jasper Dark Sky

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Festival, where a bunch of astronomy
and space nerds will gather in northern Canada

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and look at the sky and speak
about things having to do with the space

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programs around the world and astronomy.
So she is speaking at the event,

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and so she left this morning on
her way to Alberta. I made sure

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she had a winter jacket. It's
not something that we normally have here in

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Florida, but she certainly is gonna
need it there, and so I wish

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Emily safe travels. She's on her
way to Minneapolis on the first leg of

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her trip. So it's been an
exciting morning already so far, and it's

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just a cap of what was a
really exciting week at least for two of

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the three programs this past weekend.
I don't know so much about Army,

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but I certainly think that you know, as Meatloaf said, two out of

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three ain't bad. Absolutely well.
I hope she has fun in Edmonton.

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Boy, I love I love getting
up to Alberta. Beautiful country up there,

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especially, I've never been the greater
Edmonton are. Yeah, it's h

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it is beautiful up there. Calgary, I you know, I guess if

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you're from Alberta, you know,
you typically fall in either of the Edmonton

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Calgary camp. I tend to prefer
Calgary a little bit more, but that's

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just me. But Hockey Central USA, it is north of the border.

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Hope she has a safe trip and
you have a little fun batching it at

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home this week, Steve and I
guess it gives us a little bit more

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time to talk some Service Academy football. So let's do that right now.

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Is we look back on last weekend. First game we'll start with is Navy

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getting its second shutout of the season. They go on the road in the

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first ever meeting with u n C. Charlotte and Navy punches home a fourteen

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to nothing victory, as again the
second shut out of the season, but

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their second straight win for the Mids
is they get to even steven overall and

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in the American Athletic Conference, three
and three overall, two and two in

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the American this season, Charlotte dropping
to one in five, zero and two

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in the America in their first season. And you know, Steve, It

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was no score at halftime, a
lot left to be desired offensively, but

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two long touchdown runs by Navy backs
Eli Heidenreich, the first one sixty nine

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yards with twelve thirty left in the
third and then Alex Tesca sixty two yards

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out with eleven two remaining in the
game. That was all the scoring in

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this one, and that's all Navy
needed en route to the fourteen to nothing

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wins. They lost senior quarterback ty
Lavatai early with a rib injury. He

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did not return, and freshman Braxton
Woodson led the Navy offense, completing five

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or fourteen passes eighty five yards and
tossing in fifty eight yards rushing as the

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Mids get their third win of the
season. Yeah, it was really good

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to see the second half of that
game first half, not so much.

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I would think that if you're Brian
Newberry in company, you would have liked

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to have gotten out to an earlier
an earlier on on a team like the

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forty nine ers Charlotte. Let's face
it, they're they're going to be at

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the bottom of the American Athletic Conference. They are, They're they're one of

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the newer programs in one FBS,
and I certainly think that they've got their

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work cut out for them playing at
a at a higher level of college football

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than they're used to coming over from
Conference USA. And I thought that,

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you know, after losing Lavata early
as you mentioned, with the rib injury,

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I thought that uh, it took. It took a moment, It

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took basically the whole rest of the
first half for things to kind of get

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ironed out. They go back into
the locker room and Brian Newberry's and and

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the UH and the coaching staff is
able to make the adjustments that they need

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to get those two long UH plays
that both led to touchdowns, and you

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know, they they'll tell you that
not everything can be a rembrant. Not

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everything's going to be one of these
high quality oil paintings. Sometimes you have

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to win Jackson Pollock style. It's
going to be ugly. But you know

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what, there's still three and three
and they're halfway to Bowl eligibility. Yeah,

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absolutely, and that is really the
name of the game is you want

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to get you know, postseason eligible. Clearly the name of the game this

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week is going to be, you
know, that first leg of the Commander

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in Chief Trophy. But I digress. We will talk about that in a

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little bit. But you know,
both teams, you know, exactly two

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hundred and sixty five yards of offense. This is you know, if you're

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looking for beautiful offensive football, this
wasn't the game for you. Nose third

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downs we were troubling for both teams. You know, Navy was three of

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fifteen on third down, Charlotte a
little bit worse, three of sixteen.

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But Navy's defense came up with three
more turnovers, forcing a fumble and then

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picking off Charlotte quarterback Trexler ivy uh
And so those those turnovers, you know,

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making a pretty big difference there in
this one. As Navy again flexes

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in, it's the fourteen and oh
sometimes they're not pretty. Just as a

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matter of getting there, and you're
happy for Navy right now if you're a

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midshipman fan sitting at three and three
overall, Steve at the halfway point,

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yeah, absolutely, you want to
be at this point, especially with the

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schedule that you've got coming up.
You know it's not going to be an

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easy week for sure. That we'll
and we'll talk about that coming up with

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Pete Medhurst in a couple of moments
here. But you've got you've got a

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pretty rough go for the second half
of your schedule from a from from a

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conference standpoint, I mean, you
still have to play SMU, which I

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think is going to be a very
very difficult game. Of course, Army

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is going to be hell on wheels
because you know, obviously it doesn't matter

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if one team is eleven and oh
and the other team is oh to eleven.

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That game is going to be a
close game. You know, there's

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going to be a and and you're
gonna play Temple UH the week after Air

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Force, and I think that you
know it's gonna be it's gonna be tough

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for for Navy UH to get to
Bowl eligibility, even though they're already halfway

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there. Now, I think that
the hardest part of their schedule is still

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to come. Yeah, I certainly
agree with you, but you you know,

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you try and find those three wins
wherever you can, and you know

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it's it's certainly, you know,
not out of the question, but you

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know, Navy is just gonna have
to, uh, They're really gonna have

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to dig in with you know.
Obviously Air Force is coming weeknd, You've

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got Temple and you still have a
few more home games after this week.

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You have U A B and East
Carolina come into Annapolis before you do not

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sleep on U A B. Do
not sleep on U A B. I

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saw I saw U A B up
close and personal here uh with with the

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University of South Florida. Trent Dilfher's
team is a hell of a lot tougher

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than their than their record uh indicates. And so they've they've they've had a

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very tough schedule, and that is
a very tough team. Well they've you

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know, you got three of the
four worst teams I say worse just going

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by standings and record in the American
Left. So it's out there. You

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can do it, but you're gonna
have to continue to get better. And

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that's what Navy seems like they're doing
although it's been a revolving door at quarterback

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with three guys taking snaps under center
for the men's mids. But they do

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get that fourteen. Nothing went at
Charlotte on the road to get to three

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and three overall up at Mikey,
Steve, you know it's not as a

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total radio show this week in rustin
Louisiana previewing Army and LSU. You know,

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it's not uncommon to see an academy
team lay an egg, you know,

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and I'm not talking just football.
I'm talking, you know, across

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all sports, just with the demands
that they have on them as student athletes

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and you know, everything that they
have going on. But boy, Army

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really laid one a little one on
Saturday last weekend at Mikey as they lost

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nineteen to zero. As Troy comes
in there and shuts out the Black Knights

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for the first time at home since
September of twenty two thousand and three,

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when USF came in there and shut
out the Black Knights twenty eight to nothing.

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It was the first time the Army
had been held scoreless since September twenty

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fourteen, when they lost thirty five
oz at Stanford. But I didn't see

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this one coming. I thought Army
might would win a close one. But

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the nation's leading rushier Comanie the doll. We gave you the statistics last week.

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When he goes over one hundred yards, they usually win seventy to five

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to eighty percent of their games.
He went for one sixteen as Troy used

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four field goals by Scott Taylor Renfrow
to hand Army its third straight loss.

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It's second straight at home, as
Army drops to two and four overall,

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now Troy five and two. Yeah, And I think the big, the

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big when you look at all of
the statistics, you look at the box

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score. The thing that will stick
out like a sore thumb on this is

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the fact that Army committed four turnovers
in this game. They fumbled them and

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lost the ball three times. They
threw an interception as well. They ended

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up minus three on the turnover ratio. And when you're a service academy,

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you can't do that and expect to
win against any other team. It doesn't

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matter if it's a Service Academy,
it doesn't matter if it's LSU coming up

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this week. If you're minus three
in the turnover ratio. You're gonna you're

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gonna end up losing games, and
you're gonna end up losing games, usually

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pretty poorly. And that's exactly what
happened here. They got obviously you mentioned

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Kamani Vidal's numbers there. They got
out rushed as a team two hundred and

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twenty two to one hundred and seventy
seven. So that's not that's not a

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normal outing for a Service Academy team. And this that's a that's a game

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that I know that Jeff Monkin is
Yeah, yeah, I don't. I

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don't know if you can really learn
too much from a game like this.

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This is a game that I bet
if you were to uh to talk to

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the coaching staff privately, they're gonna
tell you, look, we're gonna throw

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this one right in the circular file, uh, because there is really not

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much that we can learn from this
game other than the fact that if we

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turn the ball over, it's gonna
bite us in the rear end. Yeah,

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no question about that. And you
know the story of the game,

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the Trojans defense holding Army to one
seventy seven rushing. You know, third

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down mentioned that being a problem in
that Navy Charlotte game. Well, it

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was a problem, you know,
on Saturday for Army. Two of thirteen

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on third down, one a five
on fourth down. You know, you

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add those two together, that's three
of eighteen and that's gonna, you know,

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certainly not help you in time of
possession, which Troy had the advantage

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in. But just like in the
Navy game, Army starting quarterback bryceon daily

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Heat goes down in the second corner, did not return, and freshman Champ

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Harris from Miami played for Saint Thomas
Aquinas this time last year, the powerhouse

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out of the South Florida, Miami
area. He leads the Black Knights the

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rest of the way, going six
to thirteen sixty three yards through the air

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in a late interception, and you
know, Army just can't get anything going.

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When you got a punt, you
better be efficient at it, and

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Army wasn't very efficient there, averaging
only thirty yards per punt. And you

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know, honestly, Steve, I
think that score could have been much worse

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because for all the big plays that
Troy made offensively, they could make a

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key third down in the game when
they needed to. Having to settle for

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threes instead of Stevens. This thing
could have gotten a lot worse for Army,

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you know, thank goodness it didn't. I mean, nonetheless, I

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mean, no matter if it's close, you know, ugly, I mean,

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a loss is a loss. But
like you said, you know,

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Jeff munkinsoning on the execution side,
we got you know, quote need to

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block and sustained blocks with good fundamentals. We got to get off the blocks

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with good fundamentals. We gotta tackle
better with good fundamentals end quote. He

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just stressed fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals, over and over in the postgame press

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conference. Yeah, he sounded exactly
like John McKay did down here for the

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in the early
days of that franchise, when you would

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get some of the greatest comments from
a head coach. Ever, he would

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say things like, we didn't block, but we made up for it by

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not tackling either, And when asked
about the execution of his team, McKay

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once said that quote, I'm all
for it. So I'm sure that I'm

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sure that Jeff Munkin probably felt the
same way. Because if you're if you're

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at this point of the season and
you're still having distress fundamentals. I think

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something is something could be wrong,
and I think that's not a good sign

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for the Black Knights for sure.
Yeah, no it is not. And

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again, you know, Army falling
nineteen zero at home, now two and

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four overall five and two. Is
Troy now moves in one big bright spot?

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I know for Army fans freshman Kanye
Udo, who only had fifty two

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yards on fourteen carries entering the game
those first five games of the season,

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he went for one hundred and twenty
four on eighteen carries. And so a

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big day for kanye Udo. Might
they have found a new budding star in

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that freshman running back and that is
certainly a deep position for Army this season.

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All right, final game of the
weekend last Saturday, a big one,

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first place, the lead and the
Mountain West Conference on the line in

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Colorado Spring Steve and Air Force welcoming
Wyoming to Falcon Stadium and the Falcons get

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a thirty four to twenty seven win
tie game. Late in the ballgame after

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John Hoyman missed a what fifty two
yard field goal that would have put Wyoming

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up three, Falcons taking control with
less than two thirty to go when John

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Lee Elders, the third, took
a pitch around the right side and then

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took it to the house fifty eight
yards, game winning touchdown is Wyoming couldn't

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do anything and turn the ball over
on downs after that. A massive win

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00:16:25,039 --> 00:16:29,240
as Troy Calhoun's team now is six
and o four to and o in the

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00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:34,120
Mountain West Conference, leading the way, and most importantly, they are inside

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the top twenty five now on both
the AP and the Coaches polled, finishing

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this coming out this week as the
twenty seventh right, excuse me, the

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twenty second team in the polls in
both the AP and the Coaches. Paul

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I really loved the way that they
were able to take control of the game

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with the with the running game.
I mean, obviously that's what the Falcons

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do. They are what are they
first or second again in the country in

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rushing yardage. They had three hundred
and fifty six more yards on the ground

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on Saturday for an average of almost
seven yards to carry. They were efficient

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on third downs seven of ten on
third downs. You couldn't have asked for

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a better performance from the running back
corps and from Zach Larrier, and obviously

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Larier dealing now with an injury,
and now that it looks like he's not

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going to play this week for Air
Force against Navy. That'll be a big

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one that we'll get into here in
just a little bit. But the Falcons

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now are in the driver's seat.
They've gotten past the big hurdles that trip

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them up last year, you know, going to US State and also beating

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Wyoming. They had problems with both
of those teams last year. They get

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victories in those games here this year, and now they find themselves, as

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I mentioned, in the driver's seat
for a chance at a Mountain West Championship

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appearance. In the championship game,
you know, all you've got to do

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is keep the nose to the grindstone
and keep on going. Yeah, yeah,

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no doubt about it. You're certainly
setting up for the second half of

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the season really really well. If
you're an Air Force fan, I mean

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four and oh in the league right
now, atop the standings, and you're

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one of only two undefeated teams left
in the league, along with UNLV who

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is two games back. At just
two and oh, they've got a lot

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00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:49,720
left. Everything else left they have
this season is in the Mountain West.

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But Air Force right now, you
know they fall behind in this one fourteen

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oh. The Cardiac Cowboys jump out
to a fourteen oh lead before Owen Burt

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cuts the lead and half late in
the first quarter. But like you said,

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the Air Force running game a massing
three hundred and fifty six yards despite

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Zach Larrier going down with a second
half injury. We'll talk about that a

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00:19:12,559 --> 00:19:18,039
little bit later, as Jensen Jones
came in the senior to relieve the injured

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00:19:18,079 --> 00:19:22,240
Larrier. Larrier who led the way
before the injury, twenty carries one hundred

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00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:26,279
and eleven yards and a touchdown.
And Emmanuel Michelle he was a workhorse,

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00:19:26,319 --> 00:19:32,400
carrying twenty two times for ninety seven
yards. But it was probably the difference,

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00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:36,079
no doubt about it. That big
play on the option pitch by Eldridge.

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00:19:36,119 --> 00:19:38,599
It was just his third carry of
the game as he went for sixty

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00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:47,400
five and Air Force getting a massive, massive win over Wyoming to stay top

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00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:51,519
the Mountain West standings thirty four to
twenty seven over Wyoming. Now six to

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00:19:51,799 --> 00:19:55,039
four to zero in the Mountain West. All right, Steve time to give

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00:19:55,039 --> 00:19:59,200
out some game balls man fire away
with which direction you want to go this

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00:19:59,319 --> 00:20:06,160
week. Well, I'm known for
going defense, and I am going to

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go defense again this week, as
I just thought, Navy's defensive output against

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00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:19,759
Charlotte is exactly what the doctor ordered, and so I'm gonna go right to

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the top to Will Harber, who
was mentioned the American Athletic Conference on roll

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00:20:26,279 --> 00:20:30,240
this week. Eleven tackles against the
forty nine ers, three of them solo.

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00:20:30,319 --> 00:20:34,680
He had a half a sack tackle
for loss. He led the way

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00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:40,799
for Navy's defense, and it seemed
like his name was being called all the

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00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:45,319
time on the broadcast. So it
was good to see Will take care of

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that, the senior out of Frisco, Texas, and so he gets a

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00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:51,880
game ball from me. All right, my game ball is going to go

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00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:56,240
to John Lee Eldridge, third,
because his fourth touchdown of the season is

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00:20:56,319 --> 00:21:00,799
only one of the game against Wyoming
there with less than three minutes to go.

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My goodness, was it a big
play when air Force needed it,

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especially with your starting quarterback out.
I think they're gonna lean heavily on Eldridge

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00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:12,920
this coming weekend at Navy with Larrier
likely out now a few weeks. We'll

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00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:17,400
get into that with Pete Medhurst,
the Navy play by play voice coming up

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00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:22,920
next, but Eldridge to the third
with a fifty eight yard touchdown run taking

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00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:27,359
that option pitch from Jensen Jones down
the right side, making a few guys

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00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:33,599
miss to the house. Game set
match. As air Force stays undefeated and

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00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:38,200
now moves into the national rankings at
number twenty two. We will talk a

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00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:41,519
lot more about Navy and Air Force, and we're gonna do that here coming

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00:21:41,599 --> 00:21:45,880
up on the other side with Navy
play by playvoye Pete Menhurst. But first,

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00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:49,119
we are part of the College Gridiron
Coast to Coast podcast network. Wherever

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00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:56,079
it is that you listen to your
podcast, just search College Gridiron Coast to

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Coast or search Yards and Stripes.
There are a Myrianna podcast. Obviously,

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00:22:00,759 --> 00:22:03,839
we are right there as part of
the College Gridiron Coast to Coast network.

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00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:10,279
This week in the ACC the Big
Ten Paradigm Florida Football Insiders, Get off

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00:22:10,279 --> 00:22:14,240
my pylon, man. We have
it all covered for you all season long

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00:22:14,839 --> 00:22:19,039
on College Gridiron Coast to Coast as
Steve Carney is the man of the hour,

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00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:25,000
leading the way on many of those
producing and getting everybody sounding Tip top

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00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:29,559
for you during the twenty twenty three
season. But sounding tip top, that's

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00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:33,039
exactly what Pete Menhurst is gonna do
when we talk with him next, the

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00:22:33,039 --> 00:22:36,359
Playboy play Voice of the Navy Midshipman
about the first half of the season,

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00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:38,799
this matchup against Air Force, and
the first leg of the Commander in Chief

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00:22:38,799 --> 00:22:42,240
Trophy. It's coming up next here
on Yards and Stripes, your home for

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Yards and Stripes Service Academy Football.
All right, welcome back in Yards and

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00:24:12,599 --> 00:24:18,039
Stripes. Continuing on Bryce Atkinson,
Steve Carney. But the man of the

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00:24:18,079 --> 00:24:22,440
hour is our good friend, the
Playboy play Voice of the Navy Midshipman.

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00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:26,640
That's Pete Medhurst. You can follow
him on Twitter at Pete Medhurst. The

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00:24:26,079 --> 00:24:32,920
Voice of the Navy Midshipman is Navy
and Air Force getting ready to square off

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00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:37,599
in Annapolis on Saturday at twelve noon. Med I hope you're doing well.

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00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:44,440
It's been a crazy season, exciting
season, I know, so far highs

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00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:48,359
and lows going into the you know, the first CIC matchup hosting Air Force

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00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:52,039
on Saturday. You know, Mids
are riding a high two game winning streak,

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00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:55,839
you know, just encapsulate the first
half of the season for Navy.

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00:24:55,920 --> 00:25:00,160
And you know, head coach Brian
Newberry his first season, his first half

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00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:03,880
of the season at least on the
job. But I think, you know,

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00:25:03,319 --> 00:25:10,519
I've got huge respect for Brian,
have had many conversations with him one

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00:25:10,559 --> 00:25:15,200
on one, you know, and
through the years, and his football acumen

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00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:18,160
is off the charts. I mean, that's not even a discussion. You

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00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:22,119
know. He modified the staff a
little bit. Grant Chestnut has brought in

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00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:29,319
some modifications to the offensive system.
They've certainly not ditched the option by any

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00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:33,039
stretch of the imagination. They're still
running it, they're doing it in a

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00:25:33,079 --> 00:25:36,200
different form, and you know,
I mean, I think, look,

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00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:41,279
progress is being made. I mean, the team's results were not where they

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00:25:41,319 --> 00:25:45,039
wanted them to be, despite you
know, great effort by a lot of

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00:25:45,079 --> 00:25:48,839
people the last couple of years.
Coming out of COVID, it's been a

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00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:52,279
tough time, and I think we're
finally starting to see the kids turn the

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00:25:52,319 --> 00:25:56,400
corner a little bit. Look,
defense was awesome last year, and I

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00:25:56,400 --> 00:26:00,799
think that was the thing that was
so puzzling early in the season, was

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00:26:00,839 --> 00:26:06,680
maybe a little bit of the inconsistency
there. But even that group now through

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00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:10,880
some trial and error, I think
with the coaches and some personnel, and

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00:26:11,039 --> 00:26:15,200
we found some playmakers on that defensive
side. And I think that's the most

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00:26:15,279 --> 00:26:18,480
encouraging thing because look, coming into
this game, you got two teams in

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00:26:18,519 --> 00:26:23,839
the top forty four in defensive stop
rate. Last year was a slug fest,

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00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:30,960
and I think this year is probably
gonna be more of the same because

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00:26:30,519 --> 00:26:33,799
Army Navy is intense as hell.
Don't get me wrong, but let me

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00:26:33,839 --> 00:26:38,839
tell you, there's I think there's
hatred when Army and Air Force and Navy

347
00:26:38,839 --> 00:26:44,400
and Air Force play each other.
And we'll see what happens coming up here

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00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:47,519
on Saturday. No, of course, you want to kick your little brother

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00:26:47,559 --> 00:26:51,599
while he's down. That's that's how
it works. I mean, I mean,

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00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:55,200
well, I think we all I
think we all have siblings, and

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00:26:55,279 --> 00:27:00,599
that's that's what happens. You mentioned
the defense peat and all of the pieces

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00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:03,960
that have been so good this year, so I would assume that would probably

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00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:07,359
make this question hard. But who, then, who is your defensive MVP

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00:27:07,519 --> 00:27:11,839
for this year? There's six weeks. It's got to be ray On Lane.

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00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:17,559
You know he's got he's got three
interceptions, he's got game changing plays,

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00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:21,119
and you know, now you're starting
to see a PJ Volker walk him

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00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:25,759
up near the line of scrimmage,
bring him up there, and you know

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00:27:25,799 --> 00:27:27,400
I mean that, Look, I'm
not surprised. I mean, a kid's

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00:27:27,519 --> 00:27:32,279
very talented player. That's why he
started as a freshman. You knew he

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00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:36,160
had the goods then, and he's
just continued to get better. Obviously,

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00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:40,680
Prian was coaching safeties, you know
when he when you know, ray got

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00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:44,319
here, So you know you've had
one of the best tutors that you could

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00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:48,960
possibly have in that category, and
you know now they're just continuing to take

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00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:53,400
it to an even greater level.
And I think that's that's the thing this

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00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:57,279
week question is for a guy like
him, you know, he is so

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00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:03,720
aggressive and this is one of those
weeks where your eyes have got to be

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00:28:03,839 --> 00:28:07,759
in the right place. Troy Calhoun
is the master of formations, motions,

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00:28:08,359 --> 00:28:11,960
running the same stuff, he just
runs it out of a different jar every

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00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:15,920
time. And if your eyes are
in the wrong place just one time,

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they usually get you. And that's
the key I think Foray this week is

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00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:27,240
just to make sure reading your keys, keeping that eye discipline, then exploding

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00:28:27,279 --> 00:28:33,440
on the play once you see what's
happening, because he's definitely a difference maker

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on the defensive side of the ball, and I think the honorable mention in

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00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:40,400
that category would have to be Luke
Piris. He's starting to give them the

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00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:44,119
production that John Marshall gave them last
year, and that was missing in the

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00:28:44,119 --> 00:28:47,920
first few games. But I mean, look, I mean John Marshall is

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00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:52,200
an exceptional football player. Dude's catching
passes from Caleb Williams in high school before

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00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:56,440
he gets to the Naval Academy.
It's a tremendous athlete. But you you

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00:28:56,599 --> 00:29:02,079
just had to wait for someone to
develop. And Luke's only sophomore, so

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00:29:02,599 --> 00:29:06,599
you're gonna have this dude for you
know, hopefully two more seasons after this

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00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:11,519
and hopefully he can dup locate because
he's showing a lot of the great effort

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00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:15,079
that John played with, and he's
doing it with even more size. And

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00:29:15,119 --> 00:29:18,920
I think that's the impressive thing right
now is the player development by this Navy

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00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:25,240
defensive staff. As we continue in
Navy play by play of voice Pete Medthurst

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00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:29,759
again follow him on Twitter at Pete
Medhurst. Also the voice of Rosecroft Raceway

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00:29:30,319 --> 00:29:33,039
works on the Nationals and Ravens radio
network. He does it all, folks.

387
00:29:33,079 --> 00:29:37,440
There is nothing he cannot and does
not do you know, stability on

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00:29:37,559 --> 00:29:41,880
defense, Pete? I mean,
Navy is you know, that's really kind

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00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:44,880
of the bread and butter. But
for years, obviously we know it's all

390
00:29:45,079 --> 00:29:48,799
about offense, you know, the
triple option. There's been instability there,

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00:29:48,839 --> 00:29:53,319
and certainly it's been at quarterback.
Ty Lavataie obviously came got hurt Saturday in

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00:29:53,359 --> 00:30:00,279
the win over UNC Charlotte Braxton Woodson, the freshman came in relief after Blake

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00:30:00,359 --> 00:30:03,640
Horvath got the start the previous week, you know, at home, and

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00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:08,279
then Lavati relieves him in that comeback
victory. I guess the musical chairs at

395
00:30:08,359 --> 00:30:14,319
quarterback starting there. What's the situation. Do you think lavata is gonna be

396
00:30:14,319 --> 00:30:17,680
able to go? Do you think
we'll see the freshman Woodson that I know

397
00:30:17,759 --> 00:30:21,400
the coaching staff has been high on, but he missed some of what summer

398
00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:26,519
spring practice? What is the quarterback
situation for Navy heading into Saturday? Well,

399
00:30:26,559 --> 00:30:30,440
I mean, I don't think there's
any question. You know this.

400
00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:33,359
I mean Price, you worked up
here, you saw it on a daily

401
00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:38,680
basis. I mean, quarterback is
everything in this offense, and instability at

402
00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:45,200
the quarterback position in any offense is
something that drives And I asked, I

403
00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:49,960
asked Grant, that's the question our
offensive cordertor yesterday. I mean they go

404
00:30:51,039 --> 00:30:55,359
into spring thinking Teddy Gleeton and other
sophomore is gonna be the guy, and

405
00:30:55,640 --> 00:31:00,240
you know, unfortunately circumstances have dictated
that he's not playing right now. So

406
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:03,799
you start going through the other metrics. You have experienced guys like love a

407
00:31:03,839 --> 00:31:08,000
Tide, our line, you had
inexperienced guys like Warvaf and Woodson. You

408
00:31:08,039 --> 00:31:15,920
go watch practice and you see Horvaf
option chops are awesome. Certainly needs to

409
00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:19,519
continue to develop as a passer.
Woodson has all the tools, but he's

410
00:31:19,559 --> 00:31:23,599
a freshman, so you know,
you lean on your experience guys. At

411
00:31:23,599 --> 00:31:30,400
that point, you know Tye has
battled his body somehow he made it back

412
00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:34,119
on a really quick timetable from a
torn acl from last year. The young

413
00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:38,319
man's character is spectacular. If you're
gonna have a son, marry your daughter,

414
00:31:40,799 --> 00:31:45,720
we've got daughter's price. You know
that ty lovetties your guy and he

415
00:31:45,759 --> 00:31:48,559
gives everything he has, but his
body just continues to betray him. Right

416
00:31:48,559 --> 00:31:51,960
now, he has not been ruled
out for this week yet, So that's

417
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:56,839
the important thing, because experiencing a
game of this magnitude man means everything.

418
00:31:56,880 --> 00:32:00,279
You need somebody who can keep the
heartbreat down a little bit. But in

419
00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:07,240
terms of physical skills, Braxton Woodson's
got He's got all the skills. The

420
00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:10,839
toolbox when he shows up as the
repair man is full, so he can

421
00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:16,319
repair your appliance with anything in his
toolbox. But again, freshman, young

422
00:32:16,559 --> 00:32:21,799
young player. I will remind you, though, a freshman entered in Colorado

423
00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:25,759
Springs in the fourth quarter of a
game several years ago, and that young

424
00:32:25,799 --> 00:32:30,400
man went on to rewrite the record
books at the Naval Academy. I'm not

425
00:32:30,519 --> 00:32:37,960
saying that's the case here because every
player is different, but part of it

426
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:42,759
isalent price. And if you've got
talent, you got a chance. Braxton.

427
00:32:42,759 --> 00:32:47,319
Woodson has the talent obviously, with
Ti though not being ruled out yet.

428
00:32:49,039 --> 00:32:52,480
You don't know if Ty's's gonna get
to start in Braxton at this point,

429
00:32:52,519 --> 00:32:54,039
but you certainly love what you see. I mean, a young man

430
00:32:54,119 --> 00:32:59,559
through an absolute missile to Eli hyden
Wreich last week, and I will say

431
00:32:59,559 --> 00:33:02,559
this, because of his arm you
can take advantage of what I think is

432
00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:07,200
maybe the most team speed we've had
at the skill positions overall in a while.

433
00:33:07,319 --> 00:33:12,440
So I think that's the thing that
is enticing about the Navy offense potential

434
00:33:12,759 --> 00:33:15,839
with Woodson. But you also have
to live with the growing pains of a

435
00:33:15,839 --> 00:33:22,400
freshman as well. Yeah, and
success is talent meeting opportunity, obviously,

436
00:33:22,799 --> 00:33:29,200
mad I want to ask about talent
and opportunity at the upback position. We

437
00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:34,559
all have seen what alec Teska has
done so far this year, but I

438
00:33:34,599 --> 00:33:38,079
think that it's kind of it comes
at the expense. I hate to say

439
00:33:38,119 --> 00:33:42,839
the term that it comes at the
expense, but devil Fafuna, who was

440
00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:46,519
so good last year as taking a
step back. What do you think has

441
00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:52,400
led to ffun and not being as
effective on the ground this year as he

442
00:33:52,519 --> 00:33:55,880
was last year. And how does
Tesca's emergence help mitigate that? Well,

443
00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:59,160
I think the big thing with Tesca, I mean, and I kind of

444
00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:02,319
call it a thunder and lightning type
deal. Doubt Daba runs with a little

445
00:34:02,319 --> 00:34:07,240
more thunder. Alex clearly runs with
lightning, because I mean, you saw

446
00:34:07,279 --> 00:34:08,519
what happens. I mean, he
burst through the line the other day and

447
00:34:08,519 --> 00:34:13,639
it was over I mean fifty yards. He's spreading away from guys. That's

448
00:34:13,679 --> 00:34:16,400
the you know, Memphis, He's
running away from guys. And that's that's

449
00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:22,000
the only difference. They're both exceptional
football players, they just do it in

450
00:34:22,039 --> 00:34:25,000
a different way. And I don't
think it's as much Daba has taken a

451
00:34:25,039 --> 00:34:30,679
step back. I just think the
explosiveness of Tesca is something the coaches are

452
00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:36,239
leaning on a little bit more.
And you know, the great thing about

453
00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:40,519
Daba another I mean, just another
ridiculously great kid, well rounded, plays

454
00:34:40,559 --> 00:34:45,960
the cello like go he could go
play in an orchestra tomorrow if he had

455
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:50,599
to. That's how well rounded this
young man is. But it's more it's

456
00:34:50,639 --> 00:34:53,000
become more of a thunder and lightning
combination. But let's face it, you

457
00:34:53,039 --> 00:34:59,840
in sports, particularly in football,
if you have an explosiveness to your game,

458
00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:02,119
you're gonna get on the field.
And when you put the ball in

459
00:35:02,159 --> 00:35:06,760
Alex Teska's hands, that dude can
go fifty in the blank of an eye.

460
00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:08,920
That's what he's given them. So
I don't think it's as much anything

461
00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:15,800
Daba has done from a step back. I just think it's the explosiveness of

462
00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:20,519
Alex, which has earned him in
many cases, maybe a few more carries

463
00:35:20,559 --> 00:35:24,000
each game. But I think they're
both still very valuable. And look,

464
00:35:24,079 --> 00:35:29,159
this is gonna be a this is
gonna be a trench warfare game. Dob

465
00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:32,679
was gonna have some big carries on
third and short coming up in this game.

466
00:35:34,519 --> 00:35:37,360
I know it. I can feel
it, and I know forty five

467
00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:39,920
is can be ready to go.
All right, ned the home team nine

468
00:35:40,079 --> 00:35:44,480
and one in the last ten meetings. I believe the only blemish there is

469
00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:47,079
when Air Force came to Annapolis the
last time, what twenty twenty one,

470
00:35:47,639 --> 00:35:52,239
when they got a twenty three to
three win. You know, Navy's just

471
00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:55,400
one in five in SIC games over
these last three years. What's got to

472
00:35:55,559 --> 00:36:00,840
change on Saturday for Navy to shot
this number? Twenty two Air Force team.

473
00:36:00,519 --> 00:36:04,239
Well, first of all, navs, pre snap penalties have got to

474
00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:07,800
stop. Uh you know they get
I mean, look, Joe Miller broke

475
00:36:07,840 --> 00:36:12,920
it down this week, best analyst
in all of college football. You know,

476
00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:15,199
you look at our first down production. Based on our first down production

477
00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:19,440
price, we should be rolling the
ball down the field. The problem is

478
00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:22,199
we get six on first down.
We've been giving five of it back on

479
00:36:22,360 --> 00:36:30,000
second down because of pre snap penalties. So that's the thing that must absolutely

480
00:36:30,159 --> 00:36:32,679
must stop this week. You know, we we we've gone from being one

481
00:36:32,679 --> 00:36:36,599
of the least penalized teams and over
the last three games it seems like we

482
00:36:36,679 --> 00:36:43,360
can't do enough to allow the officials
to put themselves on TV and announce penalties.

483
00:36:43,400 --> 00:36:46,159
Man. So that's the key.
We've got to stay on schedule.

484
00:36:47,079 --> 00:36:52,400
I really believe our defense is gonna
rise to the occasion. The other night,

485
00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:54,960
Air Force lost their quarterback, Larrier
Calhoun says he's not gonna play.

486
00:36:57,039 --> 00:37:00,639
You know, Jones came in the
first two drives Price he put the ball

487
00:37:00,679 --> 00:37:02,840
on the carpet. Wyoming. Wyoming
should have won the game. I mean

488
00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:07,719
Air Force gift wrap two turnovers inside
the thirty and Wyoming only got three points

489
00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:12,199
out of it. And that's the
if you're wyoming, you got to be

490
00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:16,360
kicking yourself. But here's the thing
that makes Troy Calhoun so good. He

491
00:37:17,519 --> 00:37:22,559
usually will add a wrinkle. You're
gonna see a trick play somewhere along the

492
00:37:22,559 --> 00:37:28,280
way. He's an expert play caller, and you've got to be You've got

493
00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:30,880
to be ready for it. And
you know he is to Air Force what

494
00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:37,760
Paul Johnson was to Navy. The
man is just an offensive guru. I

495
00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:39,400
mean, I don't know if i'd
stop it at genius, but look the

496
00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:45,760
consistency of that offense and running what
they run, and the brilliance and consistency

497
00:37:45,880 --> 00:37:51,239
of the program is what it is. So you've got to have eye discipline

498
00:37:51,280 --> 00:37:54,159
on defense. But for Navy,
to me, the number one thing is

499
00:37:54,320 --> 00:38:00,000
stop the pre snap penalties. So
second and four remains second and four because

500
00:38:00,519 --> 00:38:04,880
I don't know, my public school
math tells me four is less than nine.

501
00:38:05,199 --> 00:38:07,039
If I've only got to get four, I got a better chance to

502
00:38:07,039 --> 00:38:10,639
get a first down. All right, man, last question for you before

503
00:38:10,639 --> 00:38:14,360
we let you get out of here. You know, obviously Saturday is gonna

504
00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:19,719
be an outstanding scene environment sold out
crowd. Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium there

505
00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:22,840
for Navy and number twenty two maybe
number twenty two Air Force first leg the

506
00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:28,559
se ic Trophy. You know,
two Navy greats, former quarterback Roger Staubach

507
00:38:28,639 --> 00:38:30,519
being honored, as well as former
head coach Paul Johnson, who's named of

508
00:38:30,559 --> 00:38:35,639
the College Football Hall of Fame class
at twenty twenty three. I know,

509
00:38:35,719 --> 00:38:37,639
as a broadcaster, these are the
kind of moments that you love. You

510
00:38:37,679 --> 00:38:42,639
pinch yourself for this. You know
what's building for Saturday? You know what

511
00:38:42,800 --> 00:38:45,400
talk about the excitement, the chance
to call one of these games. You're

512
00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:49,760
gonna have some crazy, awesome guests
in the booth. You know, you'll

513
00:38:49,800 --> 00:38:52,039
have a ton of former players back
in the house. What's Saturday going to

514
00:38:52,079 --> 00:38:55,039
be like for you as a broadcaster
behind the mic? Yeah? I mean,

515
00:38:55,039 --> 00:38:58,760
look, even after all these years, I get goosebumps still, man,

516
00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:00,440
because it means something to me.
I mean, being the voice of

517
00:39:00,639 --> 00:39:07,760
Navy football means everything to me.
And it's these types of games and the

518
00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:12,199
fact that we're honoring Roger and Paul
with what they've meant to Navy football.

519
00:39:13,079 --> 00:39:19,079
It's it's extraordinary. I don't think
people realize where Navy football was. When

520
00:39:19,159 --> 00:39:22,280
chet Gladshaw came in as the A
D and he hired Paul Johnson as the

521
00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:25,039
football coach, we weren't in a
really good place. I mean there were

522
00:39:25,039 --> 00:39:28,199
there were there were a lot of
people that wondered if we could you know,

523
00:39:28,840 --> 00:39:34,159
uh win quite frankly, you know, at the Division one Double A

524
00:39:34,360 --> 00:39:37,880
level and compete with those top teams
at the time. What Paul did was

525
00:39:37,920 --> 00:39:45,119
extraordinary and that's and there was such
a directness about Paul, and that that's

526
00:39:45,119 --> 00:39:49,320
what I loved about the man.
You knew where you stood. There was

527
00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:52,559
no there was no gray area when
it came to Paul Johnson, and the

528
00:39:52,599 --> 00:39:57,679
results clearly beared that out, as
the Georgia Tech people found out, uh

529
00:39:57,760 --> 00:40:00,559
you know after you know, unceremoniously
really trying to railroad him out the door.

530
00:40:01,239 --> 00:40:05,519
You saw what happened after he left. It was very hard times.

531
00:40:05,960 --> 00:40:08,599
So the man is an exceptional football
coach. He's a great guy. And

532
00:40:08,639 --> 00:40:13,119
let's face it, Roger staubacks one
of the greatest football players we've ever seen.

533
00:40:13,119 --> 00:40:15,239
I had a chance to do an
event with him and Doug Williams at

534
00:40:15,239 --> 00:40:20,119
the Naval Academy a couple of years
ago, and you know, just just

535
00:40:20,199 --> 00:40:25,840
a fabulous man. And you know
what he's done in business after football has

536
00:40:25,880 --> 00:40:30,000
even dwarfed what he did on the
football field. You know what some of

537
00:40:30,039 --> 00:40:36,760
his countries have done for for veterans
and and and people that have served our

538
00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:39,719
country. Just extraordinary. I mean, you're talking about a man of impeccable

539
00:40:39,800 --> 00:40:47,960
character and glad we're able to honor
him on Saturday. As again, I

540
00:40:49,039 --> 00:40:53,079
mean that what both men have meant
to Navy's football history. You put him

541
00:40:53,079 --> 00:40:57,719
Mount Rushmore together. There's a likelihood
both of those guys are on it right

542
00:40:57,760 --> 00:41:01,239
now, you guys, you and
Joe Miller, the color analysts. Obviously

543
00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:05,679
Keith Mills will be on the sideline, Scott whykeoff in studio. You guys

544
00:41:05,679 --> 00:41:08,880
will have the pregame coverage starting at
eleven am on the Navy Radio Network,

545
00:41:08,920 --> 00:41:14,400
special commentary from John Feinstein to call
at obviously twelve noon, and then you

546
00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:17,960
guys will have the thirty minute post
games show afterwards. Med We cannot thank

547
00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:22,320
you enough for the time today.
Always great catching up with you and talking

548
00:41:22,360 --> 00:41:24,159
to little Navy football man. Good
luck on Saturday and have a lot of

549
00:41:24,159 --> 00:41:30,039
fun appreciating you, Matt with you. Thank you all right. Once again,

550
00:41:30,119 --> 00:41:34,440
that's Navy play by play voice Pete
Medhurst. Always appreciate med for giving

551
00:41:34,519 --> 00:41:37,880
us his valuable time here on Yards
and Stripes. He is a man that

552
00:41:38,119 --> 00:41:40,960
is always on the move. All
right. We got a lot more to

553
00:41:40,960 --> 00:41:45,800
do here on this episode. We're
going to give some picks for our upcoming

554
00:41:45,840 --> 00:41:50,920
games this weekend. Also our Travis
Manion Foundation Honorall segment honoring a fallen hero.

555
00:41:51,039 --> 00:41:52,880
We got a lot more to do
here on this episode of Yards and

556
00:41:52,920 --> 00:42:00,719
Stripes, Your Home for Service Academy
Football, the latest with Army and Air

557
00:42:00,760 --> 00:42:07,760
Force on Yards and Stripes Service Academy
Football. Moving down the field here on

558
00:42:07,880 --> 00:42:12,599
Yards and Stripes, your Home for
Service Academy Football again Pryce Atkinson. He

559
00:42:12,719 --> 00:42:17,159
is Steve McCarney, and we have
got two big games coming up this weekend,

560
00:42:17,239 --> 00:42:22,159
including the first leg of the Commander
in Chief Trophy. It is on

561
00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:27,039
the line coming up Saturday in Annapolis. But let's start first because we'll save

562
00:42:27,119 --> 00:42:30,519
that one for last, Steve,
because that is the biggie. But it's

563
00:42:30,559 --> 00:42:34,559
going to be a biggie for the
Black Knights and a biggie test I should

564
00:42:34,559 --> 00:42:38,039
say, as the Black Knights are
going into Baton Rouge to take on Number

565
00:42:38,159 --> 00:42:45,360
nineteen LSU on homecoming. It is
a night time tilt at seven thirty pm

566
00:42:45,599 --> 00:42:50,199
from Tiger Stadium, going to be
broadcast live on the SEC network. Is

567
00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:54,320
Army two and four doing battle with
Number nineteen LSU. It is five and

568
00:42:54,400 --> 00:43:00,159
two and only the second ever meeting
between these two teams, Army actually winning

569
00:43:00,159 --> 00:43:05,719
the very first meeting twenty to zero
at West Point Back all the Way in

570
00:43:05,880 --> 00:43:09,559
nineteen thirty one. But this will
be the second time Jeff Mounkin and Brian

571
00:43:09,679 --> 00:43:14,440
Kelly have matched up as head coaches. Notre Dame won that meeting forty four

572
00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:19,400
to six in twenty and sixteen.
And boy to say that the Black Knights

573
00:43:19,480 --> 00:43:22,639
have their work cut out for him
this week, Steve, I think that

574
00:43:22,679 --> 00:43:29,400
would probably be a massive understatement,
especially when you consider Bryce and Dally who

575
00:43:29,480 --> 00:43:34,719
got hurt last weekend unsure of his
return. Will it be Champ Harris,

576
00:43:34,760 --> 00:43:39,360
the true freshman from Miami getting his
first career starts under the lights at Tiger

577
00:43:39,440 --> 00:43:45,440
Stadium on homecoming and obviously Army having
lost three straight. They're better ways that

578
00:43:45,519 --> 00:43:47,679
you could be going into this one
or feel better about it, certainly if

579
00:43:47,679 --> 00:43:52,920
you were Army, but a monumental
task, but certainly one that will be

580
00:43:52,960 --> 00:43:57,280
an unforgettable experience for every Black Knight
that's going to take the field and be

581
00:43:57,360 --> 00:44:01,199
there on Saturday night and Tiger Stateium
at LSU. Yeah, I mean most

582
00:44:01,239 --> 00:44:07,880
of these Black Knights players have played
in some pretty big stadiums, you know,

583
00:44:08,159 --> 00:44:13,719
obviously having played an Army Navy if
unless you're a true freshman, you

584
00:44:13,719 --> 00:44:19,599
know you've been in one of the
one of the most amazing moments in all

585
00:44:19,639 --> 00:44:23,880
of college football. But to be
under the lights at Tiger Stadium in Baton

586
00:44:23,960 --> 00:44:29,800
Rouge, I think is going to
be quite the feeling for this Black Knight's

587
00:44:29,880 --> 00:44:32,719
team. I really do think that
it is going to come down if it

588
00:44:32,760 --> 00:44:38,360
is if it is Champ Harris that's
going to be under center here this week.

589
00:44:38,559 --> 00:44:44,039
If Bryson Daily can't go, I
really do think that, you know,

590
00:44:44,159 --> 00:44:50,400
having played in Miami, playing football
in a powerhouse of a city like

591
00:44:50,519 --> 00:44:55,079
Miami as a high schooler, I
think that he's actually going to be less

592
00:44:55,159 --> 00:44:59,679
rattled than a lot of people think. And I think that it could lead

593
00:44:59,679 --> 00:45:02,440
to some good things because if he's
able to throw the football and if Isaiah

594
00:45:02,480 --> 00:45:07,599
Austin is able to to make catches
uh, because that was the one the

595
00:45:07,639 --> 00:45:12,920
one person you didn't hear his name
last week against Troy UH. I would

596
00:45:12,960 --> 00:45:19,400
love to see Isaiah Austen UH being
able to take take control of this game

597
00:45:19,880 --> 00:45:24,000
UH for Army and be able to
go up against uh An Lsu secondary that

598
00:45:24,199 --> 00:45:29,039
is UH. Let's face it,
it's not as good as it's been in

599
00:45:29,159 --> 00:45:32,239
years past. I think that it
is. I think that they are gettable.

600
00:45:32,679 --> 00:45:36,119
I think they're gettable through the air. The question is is how much

601
00:45:36,159 --> 00:45:39,639
does Army want to throw UH through
the air and will they be able to

602
00:45:39,719 --> 00:45:46,719
throw through the air. Yeah,
that's a big question mark. And you

603
00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:52,039
know, certainly with a with a
true freshman quarterback, I don't think you

604
00:45:52,079 --> 00:45:54,880
want to try and rely on that
arm you know, in a situation like

605
00:45:54,960 --> 00:45:59,480
this. But you know, if
they you know, like you said,

606
00:45:59,559 --> 00:46:04,079
their fences get a ball, you
can move the football on him. And

607
00:46:04,159 --> 00:46:06,559
we know, look, there have
been times when an Army in years pass

608
00:46:06,639 --> 00:46:09,639
has gone into some of these big
games against Power five opponents and you know,

609
00:46:10,320 --> 00:46:14,840
almost shocked the world in twenty fifteen. They you know, they lost

610
00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:17,199
by six to Penn State in twenty
eighteen. A lot of people remember that

611
00:46:17,239 --> 00:46:22,920
one, taking Kyler Murray and then
number five Oklahoma to overtime before losing twenty

612
00:46:22,960 --> 00:46:25,639
eight twenty one. And you know, the following year they took number seven

613
00:46:25,679 --> 00:46:30,559
Michigan to double overtime before losing by
a field goal. But Army's last went

614
00:46:30,599 --> 00:46:35,880
over a non Service Academy ranked team
was back in nineteen sixty eight when they

615
00:46:35,920 --> 00:46:42,480
beat number sixteen Cow ten to seven. But bryceon dally having him available,

616
00:46:42,880 --> 00:46:45,000
I mean, I don't know if
that's going to be a difference maker.

617
00:46:45,039 --> 00:46:49,280
I don't think so, Jeff munkinsaying
this week he seemed to be doing,

618
00:46:49,559 --> 00:46:53,119
you know, better than anticipated.
I was here for practice on Sunday and

619
00:46:53,159 --> 00:46:58,280
got treatment on the day off.
But he's hopeful that he'll be ready.

620
00:46:58,320 --> 00:47:00,960
But you know, you know,
when it's you know, triple option football

621
00:47:01,159 --> 00:47:05,079
at the Academy's you know, it's
it's in a lot of ways a plug

622
00:47:05,079 --> 00:47:09,320
and play situation because it's the system, not so much the player. But

623
00:47:09,400 --> 00:47:14,480
having Bryson daily would be a big
shot in the arm as you go up

624
00:47:14,519 --> 00:47:17,880
against the second best offense in the
country led by you know, quarterback Jaden

625
00:47:17,920 --> 00:47:22,599
Daniels, who's first in the nation
pass efficiency third and passing yards with over

626
00:47:22,679 --> 00:47:27,599
twenty four hundred and you know,
a bona fide Heisman Trophy candidate. That

627
00:47:27,760 --> 00:47:32,159
LSU offense can move the football on
anybody. It's their defense. It's been

628
00:47:32,159 --> 00:47:36,360
the problem. Just what can army
do? What wrinkles can they throw?

629
00:47:36,880 --> 00:47:39,760
You know, might they catch LSU
you know, napping for a while and

630
00:47:39,800 --> 00:47:43,280
next thing you know, they wake
up and they're in a game in the

631
00:47:43,320 --> 00:47:47,039
second half. Yeah. And not
only that, but you you figure the

632
00:47:47,079 --> 00:47:53,920
best way to keep their offense and
to keep Daniels from going after your own

633
00:47:53,960 --> 00:47:59,039
defense is to keep them on the
sideline. And so that's where I think

634
00:47:59,079 --> 00:48:02,719
the running game becomes so important.
And the question, uh, as I

635
00:48:02,800 --> 00:48:07,719
mentioned, becomes how much of a
wrinkle do you show the Tigers? Uh?

636
00:48:07,800 --> 00:48:12,920
You know, how much can you
how much can you show without getting

637
00:48:12,960 --> 00:48:15,320
out of you know, staying in
your lane. You've got to be able

638
00:48:15,320 --> 00:48:17,840
to, you know, if you're
a service academy, uh to win football

639
00:48:17,840 --> 00:48:22,719
games. Uh As, as they
say on Nick Cannon's Wild and Out,

640
00:48:22,800 --> 00:48:24,960
stay in her lane. Stay in
her lane. So, uh, I

641
00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:28,920
think you're gonna I think they're gonna
have to stay in their lane. They're

642
00:48:28,920 --> 00:48:31,360
gonna have to be able to run
the run the football with some sort of

643
00:48:31,400 --> 00:48:38,639
efficiency. Uh. Make the Tigers
come up and put eight guys uh in

644
00:48:38,719 --> 00:48:44,840
the box or even nine guys in
the box and find and then find a

645
00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:49,199
way to get Isaiah Austen in some
one on ones and be able to exploit

646
00:48:49,239 --> 00:48:52,039
that. If you can do that
and and be efficient in the passing game,

647
00:48:52,199 --> 00:48:57,360
I think you're gonna find yourself in
good shape. Uh. Maybe not

648
00:48:57,440 --> 00:49:00,519
to win the game, but I'll
tell you what. This game is thirty

649
00:49:01,440 --> 00:49:07,320
right now, that's where that's where
the sharps have it, and don't I

650
00:49:07,320 --> 00:49:12,320
don't think I'm going to surprise anybody
when I'm saying that I'm not laying thirty

651
00:49:12,360 --> 00:49:16,000
against Army. Yeah. Yeah,
As you mentioned, LSU a thirty point

652
00:49:16,000 --> 00:49:21,719
favorite. Over under is fifty seven
and a half for Army and LSU.

653
00:49:21,960 --> 00:49:25,119
The Tigers ranked number nineteen, and
both the coaches and the ap pole seven

654
00:49:25,280 --> 00:49:31,519
thirty pm kickoff there on the SEC
network is Army at number nineteen. LSU

655
00:49:31,920 --> 00:49:36,679
on Saturday night, all right,
our other game save the big one for

656
00:49:36,760 --> 00:49:40,239
last, number twenty two Air Force. Air Force twenty two now in both

657
00:49:40,280 --> 00:49:45,199
the coaches in the ap Pole,
undefeated at six and zero, traveling to

658
00:49:45,199 --> 00:49:49,880
Annapolis to take on three and three
Navy. This one a twelve pm Local

659
00:49:49,920 --> 00:49:54,079
Eastern Standard time kickoff on CBS the
main CBS, and air Force is a

660
00:49:54,199 --> 00:49:59,719
ten and a half point favorite over
Unders thirty six and a half. As

661
00:49:59,840 --> 00:50:04,400
you know, we just heard from
Navy play bluff playboys Pete Medhurst about the

662
00:50:04,440 --> 00:50:07,239
first leg of the Commander in Chief
Trophy gonna you know, be played there

663
00:50:07,280 --> 00:50:13,119
at Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on
Saturday. Air Force leading this series thirty

664
00:50:13,159 --> 00:50:16,599
three to twenty two overall, the
home team having won nine of the last

665
00:50:16,719 --> 00:50:22,599
ten. That only time blemish in
the last ten years was when Navy or

666
00:50:22,679 --> 00:50:27,280
Air Force came to Navy the last
time back in two thousand and twenty one

667
00:50:27,360 --> 00:50:30,239
and got a twenty three to three
win. But the story of this one

668
00:50:30,400 --> 00:50:35,199
steve no question about it. Health
of the quarterbacks, Who's it going to

669
00:50:35,280 --> 00:50:38,639
be? And we've heard from Troy
Calhoun already this week, you know,

670
00:50:38,800 --> 00:50:45,000
saying that quote Zach Larrier starting quarterback
quote, likely will be out for a

671
00:50:45,079 --> 00:50:51,440
while with a knee injury. As
the senior from Youngstown Youngstown, Ohio,

672
00:50:52,039 --> 00:50:57,280
has been the only person that has
attempted a pass I believe this season for

673
00:50:57,679 --> 00:51:00,239
the Falcons. Second on the team
with four hundred and seven three yards rushing,

674
00:51:00,639 --> 00:51:06,360
but has been more than instrumental in
helping our air force off to the

675
00:51:06,400 --> 00:51:09,079
six and zero start four and zero
in the Mountain West Conference. And then

676
00:51:09,159 --> 00:51:14,039
certainly ty Lavataie. We don't know
his status. Blake Corbath is probably out

677
00:51:14,039 --> 00:51:16,440
for a little while. Is it
going to be the freshman Braxton Woodson.

678
00:51:17,280 --> 00:51:21,920
We don't know what the situation is
for quarterbacks on either side, and that

679
00:51:22,079 --> 00:51:24,400
is going to be a major factor
in what happens in the outcome of this

680
00:51:24,480 --> 00:51:29,880
game. Steve Yeah, and it's
gonna make air force very one dimensional.

681
00:51:29,920 --> 00:51:34,480
As you mentioned, Larrier is the
only quarterback that's strowing to pass this year

682
00:51:34,840 --> 00:51:38,440
for the Falcons. I think that's
gonna be a big piece uh for Navy.

683
00:51:38,679 --> 00:51:43,119
UH. And that's gonna help out
the midshipman. Is the fact that

684
00:51:43,719 --> 00:51:47,519
you know, it doesn't matter who
uh Troy Calhoun puts under center, the

685
00:51:47,960 --> 00:51:52,880
next time that they step back and
try an attempt to pass will be the

686
00:51:52,920 --> 00:51:58,440
first time for anybody. Uh.
And so I think that, uh,

687
00:51:58,519 --> 00:52:00,840
you know, that's gonna allow me
to step up. I think it's gonna

688
00:52:00,840 --> 00:52:06,960
allow them. We mentioned with Army
and LSU about you know, when will

689
00:52:07,280 --> 00:52:09,960
the Tigers put nine men in the
box? Uh and start going the way?

690
00:52:10,000 --> 00:52:14,639
I would not be surprised if Navy
doesn't start with nine men in the

691
00:52:14,679 --> 00:52:21,000
box because Uh, I think that
you're gonna have to control the running game

692
00:52:21,199 --> 00:52:25,440
of air Force obviously with what John
Ley Eldridge has done, with what Emmanuel

693
00:52:25,519 --> 00:52:30,199
Michelle has done. Uh, you
know you want you're gonna you need to

694
00:52:30,239 --> 00:52:35,519
stop both of those guys. Make
the quarterback that's that's out there beat you.

695
00:52:36,119 --> 00:52:38,559
Uh and if he and if he
can do it, you tip your

696
00:52:38,559 --> 00:52:44,119
cap to him. Uh, you
give him a hand salute and uh and

697
00:52:44,119 --> 00:52:46,159
and you move on. But I
think that the way that the only way

698
00:52:46,199 --> 00:52:51,480
that Navy can win this game is
by is by loading the box and making

699
00:52:51,519 --> 00:52:57,360
that quarterback beat you. Yeah.
Navy's rush defense ranks seventy ninth in the

700
00:52:57,400 --> 00:53:00,400
country, giving up at just over
one hundred and forty eight yards the game,

701
00:53:00,440 --> 00:53:04,400
while air Force is rush defense is
ranked fifth in the nation, giving

702
00:53:04,440 --> 00:53:07,280
up seventy seven yards per game,
but total defense is a different story.

703
00:53:07,320 --> 00:53:12,519
Air Force third nationally giving up two
hundred and forty yards of total offense,

704
00:53:12,519 --> 00:53:17,960
while Navy is sixty eight giving up
three hundred and seventy five yards of total

705
00:53:17,960 --> 00:53:21,519
offense. And you know, Navy, as I mentioned, you know,

706
00:53:21,599 --> 00:53:24,760
the home team has won nine out
of the last ten, but Navy is

707
00:53:24,840 --> 00:53:30,880
won is twelve and nine all time
against air Force at Navy Marine Corps Memorial

708
00:53:30,000 --> 00:53:35,440
Stadium. It's the first time that
air Force has been ranked going back since

709
00:53:35,800 --> 00:53:40,400
the two thousand and nineteen season.
But this Air Force team, really you

710
00:53:40,480 --> 00:53:45,400
mentioned defense third nationally in total defense, while they leave the nation in rushing

711
00:53:45,719 --> 00:53:51,280
and in yards per completion throwing the
football. They're also first in the country

712
00:53:51,280 --> 00:53:54,840
in third down conversions and fewest tackles
for a loss. I mean, they're

713
00:53:54,840 --> 00:54:00,000
a pretty darn good complete team,
Steve on both sides of the football.

714
00:54:00,079 --> 00:54:02,079
All. You know, Matthew Dpoor, if you've got to give an edge

715
00:54:02,119 --> 00:54:06,159
at kicker, I probably would certainly
give it to the poor an Air Force.

716
00:54:06,239 --> 00:54:08,199
YEA, they're maybe not in the
punting game, but you know,

717
00:54:08,239 --> 00:54:12,559
if you've got to kick and you've
got one on the line, that might

718
00:54:12,599 --> 00:54:15,159
be the place. You know,
you're gonna look and say that Air Force

719
00:54:15,239 --> 00:54:19,039
kicker, I got more faith to
do it than the other guy. But

720
00:54:19,639 --> 00:54:22,239
you know, still, once again, I think this one is gonna come

721
00:54:22,280 --> 00:54:25,960
down to who has the healthier quarterback, Which quarterback if you have to in

722
00:54:27,079 --> 00:54:30,480
relief, which quarterback can make the
plays or maybe not even make the plays,

723
00:54:30,599 --> 00:54:35,559
not lose the game for you.
Yeah, you're absolutely right. It's

724
00:54:35,599 --> 00:54:38,760
it's exactly what you're gonna have to
be looking for, and especially if you're

725
00:54:38,800 --> 00:54:45,280
the Falcons, because you mentioned all
of these numbers, you know, the

726
00:54:45,280 --> 00:54:50,280
the amount of rushing yards that have
been allowed, the efficiency in the most

727
00:54:50,360 --> 00:54:54,960
yards per completion, you know,
all all this stuff offensively, that air

728
00:54:55,000 --> 00:54:59,679
Force can do it all. It
all runs. You know, the first

729
00:54:59,719 --> 00:55:04,480
person to touch the football is the
quarterback, and so Larier has been involved

730
00:55:04,519 --> 00:55:09,199
in every single play and now that's
going to change and this week and now,

731
00:55:09,760 --> 00:55:14,800
uh, it doesn't matter if you
if you're using uh A Jensen,

732
00:55:14,840 --> 00:55:19,679
Jones or whoever it's gonna be,
it's gonna be different. And I think

733
00:55:19,760 --> 00:55:24,719
that that that's something that Navy's gonna
have to capitalize on early is the fact

734
00:55:24,719 --> 00:55:30,360
that they've only had, you know, this week of practice uh to to

735
00:55:30,400 --> 00:55:35,880
get ready uh for the midshipman defense. And so with someone new under center,

736
00:55:35,960 --> 00:55:39,559
it's it's totally different. And I
think that Navy can, If Navy

737
00:55:39,559 --> 00:55:44,400
can capitalize that on that early,
I think that uh, that they've got

738
00:55:44,400 --> 00:55:46,960
themselves to shot. The problem is
that I don't think that they I don't.

739
00:55:47,000 --> 00:55:52,119
I think that air Force is much
too talented overall, and their talent

740
00:55:52,239 --> 00:55:57,480
level is much higher than than what
we have in Annapolis. And so I

741
00:55:57,519 --> 00:56:00,719
think that air Force still comes out
with a victory in that once again,

742
00:56:00,800 --> 00:56:05,960
number twenty two air Force six and
zero at Navy three and three. This

743
00:56:06,119 --> 00:56:10,760
one a twelve noon kickoff Eastern Standard
time on National CBS. The Falcons giving

744
00:56:10,800 --> 00:56:15,119
ten and a half over under thirty
six and a half is the first leg

745
00:56:15,159 --> 00:56:19,039
of the Commander in Chief Trophy will
take place in Annapolis. We got more

746
00:56:19,079 --> 00:56:22,679
to do here. We got our
Travis Manion Foundation Honor Roll segment coming up.

747
00:56:22,960 --> 00:56:23,800
We got a few notes to pass
along, and then we got a

748
00:56:23,800 --> 00:56:27,840
few games to pick two of them
to be exact. And we'll do that

749
00:56:27,880 --> 00:56:30,880
when we come back here in Yards
and Stripes, your home for Service Academy

750
00:56:30,880 --> 00:56:34,960
Football. In two thousand and seven
Marine First Lieutenant Travis Mannion was killed in

751
00:56:34,960 --> 00:56:38,280
Iraq after saving his wooted teammates.
Travis's legacy lives on through the words he

752
00:56:38,360 --> 00:56:43,840
spoke before his final deployment. If
not me, then who words that today

753
00:56:43,840 --> 00:56:47,159
fuel the spirit of Travis Manion Foundation
and through TMF these words can live in

754
00:56:47,239 --> 00:56:52,119
you too. Show the world what
you're made of. Because character is invisible

755
00:56:52,400 --> 00:56:55,159
until it's not. Find out how
you can strengthen the character of your community.

756
00:56:55,400 --> 00:57:00,119
Alongside empowered veterans, families of the
fallon and inspired some millions at Travismanion

757
00:57:00,159 --> 00:57:12,519
dot Org. Welcome back into yards
and stripes. Now it's time for a

758
00:57:12,599 --> 00:57:16,440
travisman In Foundation honor, roll segment
or honor and remember a fallen hero one

759
00:57:16,440 --> 00:57:21,960
that has given the ultimate sacrifice for
our nation and for our freedoms. And

760
00:57:22,000 --> 00:57:27,960
this week we're going to remember Army
Sergeant Gary Andrew Eckert. Junior Sergeant.

761
00:57:27,960 --> 00:57:30,159
Eckert gave the ultimate sacrifice on May
the eighth, two thousand and five,

762
00:57:30,400 --> 00:57:36,440
when he passed away from injury sustained
earlier in the day when an ied detonated

763
00:57:36,480 --> 00:57:39,079
near his home vy in Samara,
Iraq. He was just twenty four years

764
00:57:39,119 --> 00:57:44,000
old at the time of his passing, Sergeant Eckert was assigned to the nine

765
00:57:44,079 --> 00:57:49,480
hundred and eighty third Engineer Battalion unit
based out of Montclova, Ohio. Andy,

766
00:57:49,599 --> 00:57:52,119
who was known as Andy by all
his friends, was a native of

767
00:57:52,119 --> 00:57:55,920
Toledo, Ohio, and he enlisted
in the Army Reserve in two thousand and

768
00:57:57,239 --> 00:58:01,000
one as a carpenter. After completing
base training at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri

769
00:58:01,000 --> 00:58:06,039
and ait at Gullport, Mississippi,
he was assigned to that nine hundred and

770
00:58:06,039 --> 00:58:09,960
eighty third Battalion. In two thousand
and three, Andy was activated as an

771
00:58:09,960 --> 00:58:15,480
individual augmentee for a regular Army Engineer
Battalion and then deployed to Iraq with that

772
00:58:15,599 --> 00:58:20,519
unit. During that deployment, he
was wounded by shrapnel from an ied and

773
00:58:20,559 --> 00:58:24,800
received his first Purple Heart. After
returning from his first deployment, his reserve

774
00:58:24,960 --> 00:58:30,239
unit once again activated and deployed to
Iraq. When he gave the ultimate sacrifice

775
00:58:30,320 --> 00:58:35,199
in May of two thousand and five, he was awarded his second Purple Heart

776
00:58:35,360 --> 00:58:38,880
and a Bronze Star. Andy survived
by his wife, Tiffany Anne, children

777
00:58:38,960 --> 00:58:44,719
Marley and Miles, as well as
his parents, Deborah and Gary Andy service

778
00:58:44,760 --> 00:58:52,159
and sacrifice was honored during the twenty
and sixteen Montana Expedition with the Travismanian Foundation,

779
00:58:52,719 --> 00:58:57,000
and once again TMF is doing work
in communities all across the country to

780
00:58:57,039 --> 00:59:01,920
remember the legacy of commitment and service
of folks just like our heroes like Andy

781
00:59:02,119 --> 00:59:07,360
Eckert. And you can find out
a lot more information online ways you can

782
00:59:07,400 --> 00:59:14,000
get involved at Travismanyon dot org.
They have events happening all across the country,

783
00:59:14,280 --> 00:59:17,239
including their nine to eleven Heroes runs
just wrapped up last month in so

784
00:59:17,400 --> 00:59:22,239
much more, and you can join
the mission once again online at Travismanion dot

785
00:59:22,360 --> 00:59:28,519
org. Travis Manion Foundations nine to
eleven Heroes Run five kra series unites communities

786
00:59:28,559 --> 00:59:31,519
across the country and around the world
to honor the sacrifices of September eleventh and

787
00:59:31,559 --> 00:59:36,480
the war since. Join your community
this September and register to run, walk

788
00:59:36,599 --> 00:59:43,800
or rock by visiting nine to eleven
Heroesrun dot org. The latest with Navy,

789
00:59:44,199 --> 00:59:50,920
Army and Air Force on Yards and
Stripes Service Academy Football a right welcome

790
00:59:50,920 --> 00:59:53,159
back as we begin to wrap up
here on this episode of Yards and Stripes

791
00:59:53,199 --> 00:59:59,039
for Shape, the Travis Manyon Foundation
for joining us begin this weekend and partner

792
00:59:59,119 --> 01:00:01,119
or partnering with us this season.
I should say find out a lot more

793
01:00:01,159 --> 01:00:07,320
information online at travismannon dot org.
Ways that you can get involved in a

794
01:00:07,360 --> 01:00:10,920
community near you, and a couple
of notes to pass along mentioned to you

795
01:00:12,199 --> 01:00:15,239
before as we talked to Pete Medhurst
and preview the game. The Navy Air

796
01:00:15,280 --> 01:00:21,559
Force game is sold out this weekend. Navy will honor Rogers Staubach and then

797
01:00:21,599 --> 01:00:27,159
former head coach Paul Johnson prior to
a Saturday's game, so I'm sure Navy

798
01:00:27,159 --> 01:00:30,960
fans will want to be in their
seats early with everything all the pageantry that's

799
01:00:30,000 --> 01:00:35,719
going to take place there. Junior
punter for the Midshipman Riley Riithman named the

800
01:00:35,760 --> 01:00:39,480
American Athletic Conference Special Teams Player of
the Week after punting eleven times for five

801
01:00:39,559 --> 01:00:44,440
hundred and nine yards that's four hundred
or that's forty six point three yards per

802
01:00:44,480 --> 01:00:50,079
clip last week against Charlotte. Four
of those eleven punts were down inside the

803
01:00:50,119 --> 01:00:54,000
twenty and two of them inside the
ten yard line. Is He is averaging

804
01:00:54,000 --> 01:00:59,719
a school record forty five point two
yards per punt this season with the longest

805
01:00:59,719 --> 01:01:06,719
sixth the Joe Moore Award, leasing
releasing their most outstanding offensive line units in

806
01:01:06,760 --> 01:01:12,239
college football this week their mid season
honor roll coming out Air Force. No

807
01:01:12,400 --> 01:01:15,480
surprise there, they are named one
of the twenty three units named to the

808
01:01:15,559 --> 01:01:20,360
mid season Honor Roll for the Joe
Moore Award, which is given out annually

809
01:01:20,400 --> 01:01:24,280
to the most outstanding offensive line unit
in college football. And then finally,

810
01:01:24,400 --> 01:01:30,199
Troy Calhoun named to the Paul Bear
Bryant Coach of the Year watch List award

811
01:01:30,599 --> 01:01:36,760
is twenty six active head coaches make
up the American Heart Associations twenty twenty three

812
01:01:37,559 --> 01:01:44,000
Coach Bryant Coach of the Year Award
List as that is given out to the

813
01:01:44,039 --> 01:01:47,559
top honor or, the top honor
given out to the top head coach in

814
01:01:47,639 --> 01:01:52,039
college football that sponsored by the American
Heart Association. So those news and notes

815
01:01:52,119 --> 01:01:54,679
just to pass along to you real
quick. Let's get to some picks here,

816
01:01:54,719 --> 01:02:00,960
Steve. We got Navy versus Air
Force. We got Army at LA

817
01:02:00,119 --> 01:02:06,360
Which way you want to go?
Let's start with Army at LSU. Yeah.

818
01:02:06,400 --> 01:02:13,239
The fact that this is a thirty
point spread should scare Tigers fans.

819
01:02:13,719 --> 01:02:16,960
I know that that means that there, you know, Vegas wants a whole

820
01:02:16,960 --> 01:02:22,360
lot of money to come in on
Army, because that's that even in college

821
01:02:22,360 --> 01:02:27,199
football, when when you're looking at
two teams like this, that's a boatload

822
01:02:27,239 --> 01:02:32,880
of points. And so I probably
would take the thirty points. I'm more

823
01:02:32,960 --> 01:02:38,480
interested in the under fifty seven and
a half. I think that that's more

824
01:02:38,719 --> 01:02:45,840
likely to hit because if it's forty
three nothing or something like that, that

825
01:02:45,360 --> 01:02:50,559
LSU is winning this game, that's
still under fifty seven and a half.

826
01:02:50,599 --> 01:02:53,119
So I probably would take the under
before I would take the points, but

827
01:02:53,199 --> 01:02:59,079
I would still take the points.
I hear you. I did go a

828
01:02:59,119 --> 01:03:01,000
little bit of an opposite direction.
No, I'm not gonna take Army to

829
01:03:01,039 --> 01:03:04,639
win the game. I think LSU's
gonna win the game. I think they're

830
01:03:04,679 --> 01:03:08,559
gonna cover the thirty points spread.
I just think Jayden Daniels right now putting

831
01:03:08,639 --> 01:03:14,119
up just massive numbers. I don't
think they're gonna be out there to embarrass

832
01:03:14,920 --> 01:03:19,440
Army by any stretch of the imagination, even though Brian Kelly might like to

833
01:03:19,480 --> 01:03:22,239
do that from time to time to
certain teams. I don't think that they're

834
01:03:22,320 --> 01:03:25,280
going to be out specifically to do
that, but they're certainly going to be

835
01:03:25,320 --> 01:03:30,000
out to win a homecoming football game
as they get ready to go into their

836
01:03:30,000 --> 01:03:32,639
bye week, and I think that
LSU is handily going to win this,

837
01:03:32,840 --> 01:03:37,639
especially with questions at quarterback. We
don't know bryceon Dally's gonna play, or

838
01:03:37,639 --> 01:03:42,400
if it'll be Champ Harris or Mike
Jeff Munkin and the company have something or

839
01:03:42,480 --> 01:03:45,440
somebody else up their sleeve. We
will find out, but I think that

840
01:03:45,599 --> 01:03:49,679
LSU wins big. I do think
they cover the thirty points all right,

841
01:03:49,719 --> 01:03:52,440
the big one first leg of the
Commander in Chief Trophy, Steve Air Force

842
01:03:52,480 --> 01:03:55,760
and Navy. Which way are you
gonna go? Are you gonna go with

843
01:03:55,800 --> 01:04:00,840
an upset? No, I'm not
gonna go with an upset. As much

844
01:04:00,840 --> 01:04:05,159
as I would love to go with
an upset this week, being a Navy

845
01:04:05,199 --> 01:04:11,840
guy, I would I would certainly
love to see the midshipman be able to

846
01:04:12,559 --> 01:04:16,199
leave the first leg of the Commander
in Chief Trophy with a victory. I

847
01:04:16,280 --> 01:04:21,760
don't see it happening. I just
think that I mentioned the running game for

848
01:04:21,840 --> 01:04:26,840
the Falcons is just too strong,
even with a even with a new quarterback

849
01:04:27,559 --> 01:04:30,320
under center, I think it's just
going to be too much of a of

850
01:04:30,360 --> 01:04:34,559
an ask for for this for this
Navy team. So I'm gonna say it's

851
01:04:34,559 --> 01:04:41,599
going to be air Force twenty three
Navy thirteen. All right. I'm not

852
01:04:41,679 --> 01:04:45,920
gonna go upset either. I think
that I think the complexion of this game

853
01:04:45,960 --> 01:04:50,920
has changed drastically without Zach Larrier,
with him being announced this week he's gonna

854
01:04:50,920 --> 01:04:55,000
be out for a while with a
knee injury. Jensen Jones going to be

855
01:04:55,000 --> 01:04:58,519
in for air Force. You know, like like Pete Medhurst said, you

856
01:04:58,519 --> 01:05:01,119
know, Troy Calhoun's got some of
his sleeve, always does. Might he

857
01:05:01,239 --> 01:05:04,239
have something up his sleeve at quarterbacks? Somebody we hadn't seen. It's not

858
01:05:04,360 --> 01:05:10,880
uncommon for Troy Calhoun and the Air
Force staff to roll somebody out that is

859
01:05:11,039 --> 01:05:15,159
unexpected. But that could be the
case. But I think with Larrier out,

860
01:05:15,679 --> 01:05:19,039
I think that certainly makes this a
more winnable game, if you will,

861
01:05:19,239 --> 01:05:23,719
for Navy. I think the difference
in the end is air Force has

862
01:05:23,760 --> 01:05:29,960
got more playmakers offensively, especially Emmanuel
Michelle and John Lee Eldridge. You know,

863
01:05:30,039 --> 01:05:34,239
the two most outstanding playmakers and explosive
athletes you know in this game.

864
01:05:34,679 --> 01:05:39,079
They can break it in any time. But I think probably ultimately the difference

865
01:05:39,159 --> 01:05:42,440
is going to be Air Force's defense. I think Air Force's defense is just

866
01:05:43,119 --> 01:05:45,599
it's just much better. You know, They're kind of in a category.

867
01:05:45,639 --> 01:05:48,960
I know they playing play in the
Mountain West Conference, you know, but

868
01:05:49,079 --> 01:05:53,320
to be third in the nation in
total defense at this point, that's no

869
01:05:53,440 --> 01:05:57,320
fluke halfway through a season. We
know what they did last year, and

870
01:05:57,360 --> 01:06:00,639
they have built off that defensively AUEA
in this year. So I think that

871
01:06:00,719 --> 01:06:03,880
the Air Force defense is gonna be
the difference. I'm going to go something

872
01:06:03,880 --> 01:06:08,599
in the neighborhood of I think it'll
be fairly close. I'm gonna go Air

873
01:06:08,639 --> 01:06:13,320
Force with a twenty four to twenty
win on Saturday in Annapolis to take the

874
01:06:13,320 --> 01:06:16,840
first leg of the Commander in Chief
Trophy. Steve, Yeah, I can

875
01:06:16,880 --> 01:06:19,400
certainly see that happening. Like I
said, I'm a little, I'm a

876
01:06:19,400 --> 01:06:23,719
little. I think it's gonna be
a little wider of a margin. I

877
01:06:23,719 --> 01:06:27,840
think it's gonna be on the other
side of a touchdown. But I do

878
01:06:27,880 --> 01:06:30,239
think that it is going to be
a lot closer than most people think that

879
01:06:30,360 --> 01:06:33,840
this game is going to be.
Well, it's going to be exciting,

880
01:06:33,880 --> 01:06:39,199
nonetheless, because when academies match up, fun things happen. Of course,

881
01:06:39,239 --> 01:06:42,000
you know, this could be low
scoring, like many of these matchups are,

882
01:06:42,000 --> 01:06:45,199
and boy, we could have a
first half that's played under an hour

883
01:06:45,280 --> 01:06:47,400
if it weren't for TV timeouts on
CBS, you might even be able to

884
01:06:47,400 --> 01:06:50,800
play it in like forty five minutes
because they move the ball and you know,

885
01:06:50,880 --> 01:06:55,480
first down so quickly. But it'll
be fun. In Annapolis on Saturday

886
01:06:55,679 --> 01:07:00,920
is Air Force and Navy matching up, and of course are me at LSU

887
01:07:00,039 --> 01:07:04,159
on Saturday. But enjoy the games
this weekend. Have a great week.

888
01:07:04,719 --> 01:07:09,880
Enjoy wherever it is you're spending your
college football Saturday. Hopefully it might be

889
01:07:10,000 --> 01:07:13,519
at Tiger Stadium or in Annapolis.
But we will do it again next week

890
01:07:13,559 --> 01:07:15,840
here on Yards and Stripes for Steve
Carney, I'm Price Atkinson. We'll talk

891
01:07:15,880 --> 01:07:23,599
soon. Join us again next time
for Yards and Strikes Service Academy Football.

892
01:07:23,840 --> 01:07:27,800
To get more on all things Service
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893
01:07:27,880 --> 01:07:31,559
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894
01:07:31,639 --> 01:07:39,079
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895
01:07:39,519 --> 01:07:42,400
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