Need to get your football fix on all things Army, Navy, and Air
Force. This is Yards and Stripes Service Academy Football. Now here are your
hosts, Price Atkinson, Steve Carney and Mike love All. Welcome into Yards
and Stripes, your home for service Academy Football. I am Price Atkinson,
he is Steve Carney, and we are the Yards and Stripes Podcasts, your
home for service Academy Football. As we are part of the College Gridiron Coast
to Coast podcast network, coming to you every single week during the college football
season with a brand new episode. And Army, Navy, and Air Force.
That is what we do right here at Yards and Stripes and Stephen,
you had games to talk about, we got even more games this weekend to
talk about. We got a potential conference change or conference addition, if you
will, should I say for Army possibly leaving its independence status behind mentioned Army
and Air Force. They hit the field for the first time the season.
We've got our Travis Manion Foundation on a roll segment. We got game balls
to give out, we got picks to make. Man, we got a
lot to do. Brother, how are you down in the Sunshine State.
Well, now that you've left Florida. And for those that are just listening,
here we are a couple of days later than we normally will drop.
We normally drop on Tuesday Wednesday time frame. Here we are, we're taping
this Thursday afternoon. Price found himself in Florida over the last weekend. Was
last last weekend before the kids go back to school? Or you having a
good old time down in central Florida enjoying yourself. But you left and the
rain showed up. That was the that's the one thing. Price Price came
to town and the whole state dried up, and it was and there was
no rain. To speak, he had a great time. We talked on
the phone a couple of days ago. He was telling how much he enjoyed
himself and the fact that he didn't rain. He leaves, the rain came
back, and here we are. It is pouring here in Tampa Bay.
And so hopefully uh this, uh this keeps the heat down because we've got
a pretty big college football game coming up here in about a week and a
half, which should be fun. My alma mater, the University of South
Florida and Alabama going at things. Uh here a week from Saturday. But
We've got great games coming up this week. For the first time here in
twenty twenty three, all three service academies are going to play, and we'll
get to those here in just a moment. I want to start, though,
price by talking about just dropping dropping a little bit about what happened on
Saturday with Army go to Monroe and dropping a seventeen thirteen decision. Because this
is a game that Army had well in hand until the final six minutes of
the game. I mean, you think about it. For fifty four minutes,
Army had had a two score lead, and with six minutes to go,
the Warrocks go down and score two quick touchdowns. They get a sixty
two yard touchdown run from Hunter Smith, their backup quarterback Hunter Herring throws a
nine yard touchdown pass to Tyrone Howell on a corner route with about four minutes
to play to take the lead. But for me, the big issue with
Army is fundamentals, and Jeff Monkin said this after the game I listened to
his postgame press conference, said the team needs to get back to working on
those fundamentals. My problem is is that the Black Nights should have been working
on fundamentals since spring ball, and they didn't look like they had a good
grasp after having to work on fundamentals. And you and I know this rule
number one in college football. You have to keep the ball in your hands
and off the ground, which is something that Army did not do. You
look at it. They had four fumbles, they lost three of them.
They threw two interceptions as well. They were they were five turnovers. They
were minus three in the ratio. That is unacceptable for a Service Academy team
to be that far behind in the turnover ratio, especially when you're gonna be
the smaller team against just about anybody that you face at the one FBS level.
Yeah, five turnovers, you know, two of you know, four
red zone possessions. You get the ball down inside what five yard line at
least twice, you get nothing. Two field goals on four red zone possessions
is not going to win you a football game. Then you throw in,
you know, five turnovers to capitalize it, including you know, uh,
you know what one fumble by Bryson Daily, the new signal caller and quarterback.
And you got to expect a few growing pains. You know that,
you knew that there would be some growing pains for Army in that first,
you know, that very first game with the new offense. You know,
you can simulate it in practice scrimmages all you want, but when the lights
come on, it's just a little bit different, especially on the road against
an opponent that's you know, that's capable, you know. But in addition
to that, you know, obviously, you know, not scoring an offensive
touchdown. It was the first time. It's twenty twenty breaking thirty four consecutive
games that Army has failed to score an offensive touchdown. But you know,
you mentioned they still had the lead midway through the third quarter. The defense
was trying to win the football game, almost did win the football game all
by themselves. I think if you're an Army fan, you certainly take solace
in that because your defense one side of the football. With everything that went
wrong offensively, the defense still almost won the game for you. But you
come up short seventeen to thirteen. One of the other things you know,
to me with the new offense, I mean, I think for me,
it was all about the offense, right, it was the mistakes, the
miscues and not taking advantage of field position, you know. But Jacoby Buchanan,
Tyson Riley probably the two in terms of ball carriers, easily the two
most experienced, maybe the most dangerous without Tyrell Robinson, you know, back
from injury, but they carried the ball combined nine times for twenty one yards.
And then Isaiah Alston, I mean he was targeted on seven of Army's
twelve pass attempts. He had three catches in a drop for forty seven yards,
but one of the ones that was thrown to him was intercepted and the
other one just flat out didn't get to him. The ball was not put
in the hands of a lot of the playmakers to help take some of the
pressure of bryceon Daily in his first game. Yeah, and you look at
it. Their final four possessions of the game, when they're up thirteen three,
what happens they go three and out, they have they have an interception,
I'm sorry, three and out fumble, interception, fumble. Those are
their final four possessions of the game, two of which they had the lead.
And you can't you can't do that and expect to win ups. Yeah,
I still I still thought Army was gonna come back and win. They
were still in control even though they gave up that touchdown. You know they
on a third and ten, you know, Bryce daily completion that that moved
the change, got them the first downs, and then Marshall, you know,
fumbles the ball trying to you know, get some extra yardage and you
know you're always trying to get you know, yak yards, but you can't
put the ball on the ground. And you did it. Marshall did it
twice. Yep, he did it twice. And you know you just we
all on this podcast, but it just bears repeating. When you are usually
out talented, outsized, out everything is service academies most of the time,
always are. You cannot neutralize things even more by putting the ball on the
ground and making the mistakes that Army did, you just can't do. It
doesn't matter if it's at home, doesn't matter if it's on the road,
it doesn't matter when it is. But you still got to be better.
Only rushing for one hundred and seventy two yards only three and a half yards
per rush. You just got to be better. And I think this Saturday
they will be better. The question, though, Stephen, do you think
this is going to be a long term problem for Army this season. Are
they going to be looking for another guy at quarterback at Bryson Daly, has
you know, another Game War two like he did this weekend this past weekend.
Or is this just a blip on the radar, a one time thing.
Getting that new offense installed with truth Thatcher coming in and then daily obviously
taking those snaps. Now, Yeah, I think that's gonna be the big
question that's gonna have to be answered here over the next maybe not this week
when you're going up against one FCS team like they are, and we'll get
to that matchup here in a few moments, but I think that this is
going to be the biggest question for the at least the first half of Army
season is what sort of changes are they going to have to make? How
much tweaking are they going to have to do to this offense in order to
make it fit their personnel, because obviously you're not going to go into the
transfer portal and get guys to come to Army. That doesn't happen. You
have to win with what brought you to the dance, and you have to
make the scheme fit the personnel and not the other way around. Every other
team outside of the service academies can make the personnel fit the scheme. Army,
Navy, and Air Force are not able to do that, So you
have to make the scheme fifth the personnel. How much flexibility Wilm Army have
in making the scheme fit the personnel, we will find out. I don't
think we're gonna have a lot more questions answered as they're they're going to welcome
Dell State, a Delaware State to the Hornets to Mikey Stadium on Saturday at
twelve nude. We'll get into that game. We'll give you our picks here
in a little bit, Stephen, Let's turn the page and talk about the
Falcons, because they hit the field for the first time get a forty two
to seven dominant win over Robert Morris, the sixteenth straight opening win, third
longest streak in the country. Now for the Falcons behind Alabama in Ohio State.
They led it. They led twenty eight nothing at the half. It
went as expected. This game went a lot like I think Saturday will go
for Army against Dell State. Nonetheless, you've got to go out there and
play it. Air Force did and they played it to the tune of a
dominant win where basically anybody in uniform played and contributed in the win, with
thirteen guys carrying the football, led by Zach Larrier, who getting his first
start under center. Much like Bryson Daily for Army, Zach Larrier the starting
quarterback. He leads the way for the the Falcons two or three passing eighty
four yards team highs fourteen carries ninety nine yards in two touchdown how to how
to Eric pitch? You know, credited with a fumble on that pitch,
but still pretty much did anything and everything you asked him to do in his
first start. Steve, Yeah, and this was the game. As we
mentioned, they got everybody in on offense. We'll we'll talk about that here
because I'm sure that that's going to be a point that one of us is
going to bring up when it comes to delivering our game balls for the week.
But I look at you mentioned twenty eight nothing at halftime. It was
forty two nothing early in the fourth order, and you could see Troy Calhoun
and company going, all right, I think I think we're gonna be good
at this point, and I think a six touchdown lead, they're not going
to come back. With the with twelve minutes to go and score six and
score six touchdowns. I think we can kind of back the dogs off a
little bit, and they certainly I think they did that at that point,
and Robert Morris was able to get the final score of the game with ten
minutes to go, and then it became a game of which teams punter could
could get could get going. Uh, you know, back the guys back
up further. I really think that for Air Force this was a wonderful demonstration
of what their offense is going to look like this year when it is running
on all cylinders. When you get to the Mountain West Conference schedule, you're
not going to have everything running on fulls on every cylinder. So it's nice
for the Falcons fans and for the Air Force faithful to be able to see
this and go, that's the sort of game that we know that the Falcons
can put up and and that gives them a point to shoot for in every
game going forward. How did we look anything like we did against Robert Morris?
And if they came close, especially against better quality opponents, they can
say, Okay, we're staying in the right direction. We've got momentum still
going on our side, and if they can go all right, that didn't
work, that didn't work, that didn't look like it did against Robert Morris.
Those are the things that they know, the coaching staff and the players
will know that they need to get fixed during the next week of practice.
Yeah, no doubt about it. But you know it's the right way you
want to get going. You start with that big win, you're gonna have
to get better and you're gonna have to be a lot better. I think,
Steve, we're gonna talk about a little bit later because there they Air
Force Falcons are going to be traveling down to Texas yet again, and this
time they're going to be facing the team in their first, well first season
playing FBS football, but their second game as an FBS member of Conference USA,
and that's sam Houston State, and that is going to be no pushover
of an opponent. A technically what will be I guess a neutral sight game.
But we'll talk about Air Force in sam Houston State here in a little
bit, Steve, let's give out some game balls because we got some more
games to preview. We got a Travisman and Foundation on a roll segment we
got to talk about possible conference realignment coming to the service cavities. But before
we do that, which way do you want to go with your game ball?
Lets you fire first this week? Well, for me, my game
ball is definitely going to go to the Big Uglies. For the Falcons,
the offensive line was absolutely fantastic for air Force. I'm gonna give you the
first three, four, five, six, seven, eight of their nine
of their nine series that went when they went down, touchdown, touchdown.
Okay, they turned the ball over on downs on a fourth down play,
touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, and then the end of
the game. So they were fantastic in making sure that the ball kept going
in the correct direction on the field. And so I'm going to give a
game ball to the entire offensive line at air Force. Yeah, I'm gonna
keep it in that same vein Stephen, because I'm gonna go with the running
back corps led by Zach larry Or making his first career start, but he
was one of thirteen players, including four quarterbacks, in the game for Air
Force to carry the football. Thirteen players carried it basically anybody in uniform that
was capable of taking a handoff or a pitch, they carried it and they
it was to the tune of three hundred and sixty two yards rushing in the
game behind that offensive line. But Zach Larier in his first start at quarterback,
he led the way of those running backs and ball carriers and quarterbacks fourteen
carries again ninety nine yards in two touchdowns, playing fairly mistake free football as
they will now get ready to take on Sam Houston State the Bearcats down in
Houston, Texas this weekend. So those are our game balls. We got
games for preview our Travis Mannion Foundation Honor Roll segment. Appreciate you downloading,
listening, subscribing. You can listen to us every single week on Apple podcast,
Spotify, wherever it is that you get your podcast every single week.
As we are part of the College Gridar and Coast to Coast podcast Network.
New episodes come to you usually every Tuesday, sometimes Wednesday. Apologize for the
lateness of this one as I was out of town this week, but nonetheless,
Stephen and myself we are going to continue on here with this episode of
Yards and Stripes and get you ready for this weekend set of games and more
coming up here. On this episode of Argent Strikes Your Home Force Service.
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Smarter. It's everything you need to know about Service Academy Football. Yards and
Stripes continues here once again our price. Steve and Mike. All right,
we got three games this weekend. We're gonna tell you about all three here
in just a second. Is we are Yards and Stripes. You're home for
Service Academy Football, Army, Navy, and Air Force. That's what we
do. I'm Bryce Atkinson, he is Stephen Clarney, and all three teams
are going to be in action this weekend. They are going to be in
action all on the CBS Sports Network, a triple header of Service Academy football.
And ironically, all three teams that the Academies are playing are going to
be first time opponents. And we will start at Mikey Stadium where Army will
have their home opener at twelve noon on the CBS Sports Network against oh and
one Delaware State again the home opener for the Black Nights, the first ever
meeting between Army and Dell State as the Hornets. They lost their opener last
week, and Steve, I think this one could get way out of hand
way quickly. But the Hornets losing to D two Bowie State last weekend twenty
two to twelve. Last year, they weren't that bad. They went five
and six in the MEAC. Not a horrible conference to play your college football
in, and to get five wins, you know it's solid. But when
you lose the D two Bowie State out of the gate, something cannot be
right. I know they have a first year coach, Lee Hull, who
I think played at holy Cross, but nonetheless, the Hornets will be coming
into Mikey and visiting the Hudson for the very first time twelve noon. I
have not seen a line in this game. I don't think we will,
Steve, because it being a FCS opponent. Yep, you're absolutely right,
no line in this game for being FBS versus FCS, And you're right about
Lee Hall went to holy Cross very nice was a wide receiver in the Canadian
Football League for three seasons. So you know, he is all about throwing
the football down the field, and I think he's gonna want the Hornets to
do that. They lost, uh, not only two Division two Bowie State
last week, but they lost at home to Bowie State, uh in their
first game in the in the Lee Hull regime. But uh, this one,
this one is going to be very interesting. This is their bowl game.
You know, Delaware State is not going to be playing a whole lot
of top, top quality. Uh. I think they have one other FBS
game this year, and that's against Richmond. I think Richmond is a is
an FBS team. Now they may they may still be an FCS team,
but those are basically their two biggest games on their slate here in twenty twenty
three. So this is basically their bowl game. You know, hey,
you're gonna get an opportunity to go up against the United States Military Military Academy.
You're gonna get a chance to go to Mikey Stadium, one of the
most beautiful venues in all of college football, and you're gonna be able to
play a team that is known for being a very strong offense, you know,
and a smart offense. And I really do think that this is going
to be eye opening for the Hornets players, and I think that's a good
thing for them. It's gonna give them a chance to see what top echelon.
And I'm not calling, uh, you know, I'm not comparing Army
to Alabama or to Clemson, or to any of these Power five teams.
But this is an FBS team that they're going to get a chance to go
up against and and try and compare themselves and see where the bar is at
top echelon college football. It'll be it'll be a fun it'll be a fun
experience for everybody involved. I think, yeah, it definitely will. And
I think, you know, certainly for Army, I think, while yes,
you've got to be concerned about your opponent, and I know Jeff Monkin
said, you know, we just don't have a lot to go on although
they played you know, Bowie State, you know, we don't have any
kind of common opponents or anything. With a new coaching staff as well,
so you don't know one hundred percent what they're going to do. But I
think the onus for Monken, like he said this week in his press commerce,
is going to be more about us, you know, cleaning up the
mistakes, playing turnover free football, you know, doing the little things that
you have to do it in an academy. And I think still ironing out
this new offense that drew Thatcher is you know, the rpo out of the
shotgun while it is you know, still heavy on the run and the option.
You know, you've just got to iron things out, and I think
this is a perfect opponent to do it. But you want to keep those
mistakes at an absolute minimum to get some momentum, you know, going into
your next game. You want to get the taste of victory. That's first
and foremost, but you want to play mistake free football. And I think
that's what it's going to come down to for Army on Saturday, is these
two oh and one teams again meeting up at Mikey Stadium on CBS Sports Network,
twelve noon kickoff Eastern Standard on Saturday, all right, second game of
the tripleheader on the CBS Sports Network, Steve the Naval Academy. They had
the week off, certainly after traveling to Dublin. They kind of licked the
wounds a little bit, but they get on the back on the practice field
and they get to iron some things out as they're going to be welcoming Wagner.
Also a first time opponent out of the Northeast Conference. Wagner oh and
one of course Navy oh and one as well, this one kicking off at
three thirty at Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, the home opener for the Mids,
who are giving thirteen and a half points in this game over under I
believe at thirty seven for this game Saturday, Navy looking to win its first
home opener Steve for the first time. So it's two thou nineteen when they
defeated holy Cross. They've lost since twenty nineteen. They have lost their last
three home openers. Get this by a combined score of one hundred eighteen to
seventeen. So you're looking to get back on the winning ledger, this is
the opponent to do it. Yeah. If there's a team that Brian Newberry
needs to bounce back against, it's certainly Wagner. Now, this isn't Robert
Wagner, this isn't Jack Wagner, this isn't Honness Wagner. It's the Wagner
Seahawks, and they are the Robert Morris of Navy's schedule, and you look
at them. They were one in ten last year in FCS and lost last
week by thirty points to Fordham in New York, just outside of New York
City. And of course Fordham is better known for producing football broadcasters than football
players. I looked it up. Do you know how many players right now
are in the NFL from from Fordham University. I'll give you, I'll give
you a gues I'll give you a guess. It's less than five. It's
actually three. And the only three NFL players that have come out of Fordham
since nineteen fifty five. John Skelton the quarterback, uh it went to Fordham.
Chase Edmonds, the running back, went to Fordham. He's now with
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So that's how I know. Uh, Chase Edmonds
went to went to Fordham, and they have a tackle, uh that is
in the NFL. But those are the only three Fordham Rams that are in
the NFL since nineteen fifty five. And of course Fordham known for Vince Lombardy.
Uh. But uh, this team, this team is really really in
a bad in a bad way, and I think this is perfect for Brian
Newberry and to get everything fixed and kind of like how Air Force did with
Robert Morris. You use this Wagner game to go we should have We should
be running on all cylinders here against this team. We should be they should
be sending them back back home, licking their wounds and going what we just
run into. Yeah, yeah, no doubt about it. You want to
go out there and take care of business on Saturday, and do it in
a big way again, you know, playing mistake free football, but getting
out there and getting the win to give your team confidence against a team that
you should theoretically just you really should take control from the very first snap.
Whether you're on defense or offense, it really doesn't matter. You need to
seize control from the very beginning. A note from Navy Sports information Director Scott
strassmayern this week's game notes. Wagner's Special teams coordinator or linebackers coach Jim Munson
very familiar with the Naval Academy program because his son James, was a two
thousand graduate of the academy and played football for three years at Navy under former
head coach Kidney Amountalolo before serving as a student coach his final season and he
is now serving in the United States Marine Corps. So one of the coaching
staff, certainly you know there at Wagner knows a little thing or two about
Service Academy football, having a child that played there in the program and the
very you know, you know recently. So it'll be interesting to see,
you know, how Navy comes out, especially what maybe new wrinkles. We
might see what they worked on. I think it'll be pretty apparent Steve pretty
early on what Navy worked on when we see them take the field of having
that extra week off on Saturday. Yeah, I don't I don't want to
see any wrinkles. I want to see things ironed out here. Yeah,
there should be no wrinkles. It's like it's like their uniforms, no wrinkles
in the uniforms. Everything's going to be ironed out. Creases have to be
sharp. This has to be a sharp, creased offense here against Wagner,
and if it's not, I think that Midshipment fans need to be disappointed in
them. Again. Theyvey hosting Wagner three thirty on Saturday the CBS Sports Network
three thirty kickoff there at Navy Marine Corps Memorial State all right, final game
of the weekend, air Force hitting the road. They are heading to sam
Houston State air Force one. And oh, of course Sam Houston State lost
their opener last weekend fourteen nothing to BYU in their first game as an FBS
opponent. This game is going to kick off at eight pm Eastern Standard Time
on Saturday night in NRG Stadium in Houston on the CBS Sports Network. That's
about eighty miles from the sam Houston State campus. But what, Steve,
what do you see last air Force giving thirteen and a half over under thirty
seven for this game? I believe, Yeah, it's it's just under two
touchdowns for the Falcons and a thirty seven over under. And here's here's how
big this game is for Sam Houston. I went online and looked, and
they're running bus service from Huntsville, which you mentioned is about an hour and
a half away down to NRG Stadium for thirty bucks apiece. So they they
certainly want all of their they want all of the students down in Houston for
this game. And obviously you're playing it at the home of the Houston Texans,
so I would expect this crowd to be quite boisterous. I would expect
it to be quite an interesting, uh dynamic there because you're playing you know,
Bowers Stadium, which is where sam Houston State plays. You know,
they they only fit. It's one of the it's a tiny stadium, like
I want to say, it's like fourteen thousand people. It's basically it's it's
a glorified high school type stadium. Bleachers on two sides. You're going and
you're playing it in NFL stadium for this game. Uh, this is this
is another one that's gonna be eye opening for their players because congratulations, you're
you're in the FBS. You're in Conference USA. Now Bearcats Bearcats with the
K by the way, which I can't like, but uh, you know,
congrat ulations, you're in the FBS. You still haven't scored a point
as an FBS team though, so getting shut out by BYU, I think
I think that there's a there's a very good chance that Air Force also shuts
them out, and so they may be going into week three of their of
their season still looking for point number one as a top tier college football program.
Well, this is going to be the Air Force Academy's third straight trip
to Texas in the last three seasons, and Air Force head coach Troy Calhoun.
This will be his first time back in Energy Stadium since serving as offensive
coordinator for the Houston Texans in two thousand and six. But Mitchen, this
is the first ever meeting between the two schools, and you know, Sam
Houston State they have been one of the they you know, prior to coming
over and making the move to the FBS and in Conference USA, they were
one of the elite teams you know, in the FCS prior to this transition,
winning the FCS National chant. I think they were the only team not
named North Dakota State to win an FCS national championship in like the last eight
years or something like that. But Casey Keeler, you know, it's got
a team built on you know, transfers and strategic redshirts for this first FBS
season, including a couple of you know, quarterbacks that played at the at
the higher level. Grant Gunnal from North Texas after starting his career at Arizona
and then Xavier Ward who makes the move over to sam Houston State from Washington
State. But it wasn't either one of those guys under center last weekend.
It was Keegan Shoemaker who went eighteen to thirty three with three interceptions against BYU.
We will see what they can do, but Steve is we'll make our
picks here in a little bit. This is the first of a home and
home series because sam Houston State will make the return trip in twenty twenty five
to air Force. This is going to be a game that could very well
be dominated by defense and low scoring. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if
you see another fourteen nothing game. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna make that
prediction, but I think you're absolutely right. This is a This is gonna
be a defensive heavy game. This is going to be It's gonna be very
important for the Air Force defensive backfield to come through because obviously sam Houston State
loves to throw the football down the field, as evidence by three interceptions thrown
by Keegan Shoemaker last week against BYU. They're going They're not that's not gonna
deter the Bearcats from throwing the football down the field. They're gonna continue to
do that. They're gonna continue to apply pressure, especially against a team like
Air Force that the defensive backs that for the most part, they're a little
smaller than you would normally see in an FBS team, and so you're gonna
you're gonna say, Okay, I'm gonna pick on them, even though I
think that the defensive backs are going to be up to the challenge. You're
not gonna stop doing what you believe you do best just because you're going up
against a team with a really good defense. Yeah. Once again, eight
pm Eastern Standard time, kickoff between Air Force and SAM Houston State. They're
in Houston at NRG Stadium, first ever meeting between these two teams on the
CBS Sports Network. All Right, we got more to do here. We
got the Travis Manion Foundation Honorable Segment coming up. We've got some picks to
make and could Army be on the move? Maybe? Might they be joining
a conference for the first time since two thousand and four. We'll talk about
coming up here on this episode of Yards and Stripes, You're home for Service
Academy Football when we continue. In two thousand and seven, Marine First Lieutenant
Travis Mannion was killed in Iraq after saving his wooded teammates. Travis's legacy lives
on through the words he spoke before his final deployment. If not me,
then who? Words that today fuel the spirit of Travis Mannion Foundation and through
TMF these words can live in You two show the world what you're made of.
Because character is invisible until it's not. Find out how you can strengthen
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we're going to remember Army Sergeant Kenneth W. Westbrook, who died October the
seventh, two thousand nines, from wounds he suffered during an insurgence attack on
his unit in Afghanistan using small arms and indirect fire on September the eight,
two thousand nine. Kenneth Westbrook was born in Fort Riley, Kansas, on
August the thirteenth, to his parents, Ruth and Sergeant first Class Marshal Westbrook.
He joined the US Army even before he graduated Ship High School, entering
the delayed entry program in August in nineteen eighty six. On July six,
nineteen eighty seventy, officially became a soldier in the US Army as a heavy
anti armor weapons infantryman. On November the eleven, two thousand and eight Veterans
Day, Kenneth deployed to Afghanistan with a specialized group of soldiers that were assigned
to the Military Transition Team from Port Riley, Kansas. He and his team
played a critical role by acting as liaisons between the US Army and the a
ANDA, the Afghian National Army. His role in that of his unit were
to mentor the A and A soldiers and earn their trust. He lived.
He loved the notion of becoming a career military soldier, just like his father,
who was a Vietnam veteran and served twenty years in the army himself.
He wanted to make his dad proud and prove to the world that he was
going to make something of himself. Quote. He once asked me and confided,
if I should not come home, don't forget about me. I made
a promise to never forget him. Quote that was from his wife, Charlene
Westbrook. Kenneth service and sacrifice were honored by his family in the twenty sixteen
expedition to Gallop, New Mexico. He's survived by his wife Charlene, his
parents, Marshall and Ruth. And we take the time to honor remember the
sacrifice of those like Kenneth Westbrook and that have given the ultimate sacrifice and so
many others who have given that ultimate sacrifice that the Travis Manion Foundation is honoring
and remembering communities across the country. And what better way to honor remember folks
like Kenneth Westbrook than nine to eleven Heroes Run that are coming up this month
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org. The latest with Navy, Army and Air Force on Yards and Stripes
Service Academy Football. Appreciate the Travis Mannion Foundation for supporting us again this season,
but also for US and our listeners supporting the Travis Mannion Foundation as well,
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across America, and you can find out a lot more ways you can get
involved with the Travis Mannion Foundation online at Travismanion dot org. As I continue
here with Stephen Carney, I'm Pryce Atkinson. We got some picks to make
Steve, but before we do that for our three games ahead this weekend report
what I think it was over the weekend, but Pete Famle from ESPN dot
com was the first to break the news that I saw. But Army could
they be on the move. Reportedly the Army Black Nights are the top choice
to replace SMU in the American Athletic Conference. Now, Army has been independent
in football since it left Conference USA and after seven seasons there, that last
season coming in two thousand and four. But the report that Army could be
the very next team in that fourteenth team to replace SMU as a football only
playing member in the AAC Appalachian States another team that's being talked about. But
I think an interesting caveat really quickly as you say, well, boy,
Navy and Army would be you know, that would work wonders because they'd be
in the same conference as conference opponents. Well, reportedly, Army and Navy
would not play the annual Army Navy game as conference opponents. They would still
play it as the very last regular season game of the college football season before
bowl games start, but they would it would not be a conference game.
So what would that mean, Well, that would mean that Army and Navy
could technically play in the conference championship game of the American Athletic Conference and then
the next week they could play a non conference game, the Army Navy Game,
which would be crazy. It would be interesting. Will it happen?
Who knows? Will Army even join the American Athletic We will see, but
momentum is being reported that the Army. There's mutual interests. Let's just say
on both sides of Army becoming the next addition to the American Athletic Conference.
Stephen, Yeah, not only is Army the top choice, but by many
reports, they may be the only choice because while Appalachian State is another team
that is being that has been mentioned, the folks at the American Athletic Conference
to have only had talks with one school and that's Army. So obviously they
want Army to join the join the AAC. And I would love to see
Army join the AC. I think they would be good for the Black Knights
to get a higher caliber of opponents and having that conference schedule, I think
it's going to be a big plus. Uh. Let's face it, the
American Athletic Conference has taken a step back because a lot of the teams that
were the upper tier of the American have left for greener pastures. We saw
Houston and UCF and the likes leave for the Big twelve. Obviously, now
SMU leaves to go to the ACC to join Calan Stanford as the three teams
that are going to join that conference coming up here starting next year and bringing
Army in is you know, I wish Army was able to come in with
the full high level American Athletic Conference because, let's face it, if you
look at the outside of what is now going to end up being the Power
four, because the PAC twelve is dead. Uh, you know, God
bless the PAC twelve, but it gave its life to have four power conferences.
So outside of the Power four, I would venture to say that the
strongest of that next tier of college football is probably the Sun Belt because you
know, having Coastal Carolina and Troy and South Alabama, those are really really
good young programs that are on their way up, and unfortunately for the American
a lot of a lot of the teams in their conference right now seem to
be foundering. I mean, I work for one here in Tampa that looks
like it's going to be on the on the right it's on the right track
now with Alex Golesh running South Florida. But you know, getting Rice and
unc Charlotte and FAU to replace UCF and Houston, you know that it's it's
not it's not a fair comparison, and so I like, I would like
to see Army come in and bring the level of college football and the level
of competition in the American UH to get better. But I think the big
stumbling point is what happens if the scenario that you mentioned happens. What happens
if Army and Navy play in the American Athletic Conference championship game and then the
next week they got to play each other in Philadelphia in the Army Navy game?
And what does that mean for conference schedules because now you're gonna have one
fewer conference game that Army and Navy are gonna be able to play because it
can't play each other in conference play. So it's it's just it's just very
weird. It's very strange. There are a lot of hurdles and stumbling blocks
that I that I see going forward that something's gonna have to be worked out
if if Army really does want to join the American Athletic Conference. Well,
it's interesting that you know, talking about joining the American because to me,
it looks a lot like not with the same teams, but it feels like
what Conference USA was. You know, many years ago when they left.
You know, some of the you know, similar schools of the same kind
of ilk, you know, if you will, so what's different? You
know, why go back into a league if you're you know, enjoying independent
status and the control that comes with that. You know, I think some
of it, it you know, stems from it, certainly with the changing
landscape of college you know, conference realignment and everything. What are bowl tie
in's gonna look you know, look like. But you know, Army has
always faced this, you know, potential of being weazed out of a bowl
game. You know when it happened what I believe it was last year when
you know, you finished five hundred. Uh you know, certainly winning the
Army Navy game to get ball eligible. That doesn't help you that late in
the game. But still you can't find a home where you know, when
you're an independent, you basically got a lot of ways hope that all the
bowlslots aren't filled and then you know, you know, a bowl can come
calling. But you know, I think that the squeeze out factor of what
can happen in that situation has become real and the kind of money that you
miss out on because you know, you need now in the light blood.
Yeah, they're propped up by the federal government, but also the kind of
money that you need, you know, coming from you know that the conference
can help deliver you, you know, to you know, help a recruiting
budget and do the things that you need to do with all your other sports
because you know Army. I'll just let you go to their website and go
check out how many varsity sports they have. There are a lot that they
have, so I think that money would certainly help. I think the other
thing that helps is the fact that they are currently independ and I think that
reduces many complications you have right there from being a current member of a conference
going to another conference. So you know, as you're sitting as an independent,
you can make that move pretty quickly if you want to, say for
the twenty and twenty four you know season to the AC. The question the
question becomes for Army do you are you looking for the best quality conference play
that you can get, because if you can, you're probably looking. I
would be looking to be joined to join the Sunbelt if anything, just because
I think the quality of the conference opponents that you would get are going to
be much better in that conference than it is right now in the American Athletic
Conference. Could that change? Sure? I think I think it certainly could
change. But right now, are you willing to wait it out in what
is probably maybe the second best uh conference? Uh? And out of that
group of group of five or a group of six? Now, yeah,
you know, I obviously I think it's better than what Conference USA looks like?
Is it? You know? I mean obviously they're not going to the
Mountain West geographically. Uh. But you know, you look at some of
the some of the you know, the the Metro or you know some of
some of those some of those smaller conferences that you know like Miamia, Ohio
is in and stuff, and and you know the MAC. You know,
do you want to do you want to play in the MAC? Do you
want maction? Uh? I think that that's gonna be. That's gonna be
the big question for Army is you know, are they going to be satisfied
with the level of conference opponent that they're going to get in American? Yes,
Navy is Navy is gonna be great, But you're gonna play Navy in
every year? Anyway? Yeah? I think so much as you just don't
want to get left out. You don't want to get squeezed out, which
is you know you're right about that, you got you almost want to be
pre emptive if anything, you know, to make sure that you're not left
behind, because you know, I you know, call it what you will,
you know, Oregon and in Washington to the Big Ten. That was
I think more of a panic move than anything. Especially you can say it
was on you know, the school's party and the league's part. I think
it was a panic move. You know that you you know, certainly you
don't want to get left behind if you're those two schools and then you see
the Big Ten, because then your cal then you're callin Stanford having to go
to the ACC right exactly, or your Oregon State and Washington State that are
going to get stuck in the Mountain West YEP. I think that would be
beneficial for Army to join the American Athletic Conference because yes, you would you
know, seed control of your schedule, which in a lot of ways,
that's why Army has been able to, you know, kind of rise back
up to the top of Service Academy football at least for a while, is
by playing some of these opponents that you and go in and just beat on
and then sprinkle it in with some you know, you know, buy games
if you will tough opponents that they you know, it's been a confidence building
process and it hasn't just been the schedule. I think Jeff Mounkin has been
the perfect guy to go and turn it around. Don't get me wrong,
but I think that that could be something that uh you can lean on and
make the argument why it would be a good idea. But long term,
I think it would be beneficial to army more to join the American than to
continue sitting it out, so to speak, as an independent. Steve.
Yeah, the only question, the only the only problem that that I see
is if you're if you join the American Athletic Conference in your army, you're
not going to get to go to LSU. You know, you're not getting
those games. And and obviously, you know, we talk when we talked
to Jeff Mounkin last year in the in the middle of last season about this
this very possibility, you know, you and I talked with him about,
Hey, you know, is there thought about maybe uh, you know,
relinquishing independent status and joining a conference to try and help with your schedule,
uh, you know, having a conference schedule instead of having to try and
piece together opponents. And he said, we're going to LSU this next year
or which is now this year. You know they've got they've got some really
big opponents that they already have on the schedule over the next two or three
seasons that if they join a conference, that the conference is gonna have to
work around those. Yeah. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what happens.
But his reports are that nothing in terms of a decision is imminent,
So we will see. It'll be something, certainly, without a doubt.
We will be keeping our eye on here at Yards and Stripes and will continue
probably talking about it as we move forward through the season, and we will
certainly let you know if and when there is news to pass along. All
right, Steve, let's get to some picks before we get out the door.
Here are three games this weekend. I guess let's go ahead, and
let's just start at the top, triple header on the CBS Sports Network,
Army Navy going first and then second, and then Air Force capping off the
evening against Sam Houston State first, Delaware State at Army What I mean forty
five to three. I don't know what the score is gonna be. It's
gonna be a lot to a little. Yeah, you're right, it's this
is going to be forty two seven. This is this is Air Force Robert
Morris all over again. I think the Hornets are going to try and throw
the football. Lee Hall is known for his coaching of wide receivers. He
was a wide receiver, was a wide receivers coach at some pretty big programs
like Maryland and Oregon, went and coached wide receivers in the NFL. So
obviously he knows receivers and he knows how to throw the football down the field.
The problem is going to be that Delaware State is going up against a
much better caliber of an opponent. Uh then they would in the MEAK or
in some of these other teams. Uh, you know this is this isn't
Bowie State who you lost to at home. You're going on the road to
Army. Uh yeah, I would say this is this is forty two nothing,
This is forty forty two three, forty five three. Yeah, it's
this is Army all the way, absolutely all right. Waggner in the Naval
Academy three thirty kickoff there on the CBS Starts Sports Network OH and one bow
teams looking for their first wins of the season. I think this is going
to be a whole lot like that first game, a lot to a little
in favor of the Naval Academy. What say you, Stephen, Yeah,
this is this is going to be another bludgeoning. Uh that that I that
I think they're gonna have to They're gonna have to call this Bloody Saturday because
these first two games are going to be blood baths, and I think that,
you know, the Seahawks are are in big trouble. I think the
Midshipman get the first win for Brian Newberry and the entire core of midshipman that
are going to be there supporting this supporting that team at Navy Marine Corps Memorial
Stadium. It's gonna be loud, it's gonna be raucous, and they're gonna
love life at the end of that game. All right, let's get to
the most interesting game of the weekend. That's Air Force one to oh traveling
to Texas. They're going to be taken on Sam Houston State OH and One
at NRG Stadium, home of the Houston Texans about an hour and a half
from the Sam Houston State Campus CBS Store Sports Network, kicking off at eight
pm. Air Force going for the seventh straight win dating back to last year,
and this is going to be their first road I guess technically road game,
neutral site game for sure of twenty twenty three in their first ever meeting
as these two are going to match up. You know, Sam Houston State
fourteen zero loser last week against BYU and their first ever FBS game. You
know, the defense held the Cougars only two touchdowns and two hundred fifty seven
toty yards, But their offense is gonna have to get going after they just
werelling able to muster up one eighty five. Certainly they did not find themselves,
say a way onto the scoreboard. I think this one's gonna be a
really low scoring Steve. You know, air Force is favored by just under
two touchdowns. I'm thinking this one's gonna be somewhere in the neighborhood of like
a twenty to thirteen, maybe a twenty four sixteen, something kind of like
that. In favor of the Falots. I agree with you completely. I
think this is going to be a defensive slug fat This is gonna be a
slog to put it, you know, as bluntly as I can. There's
gonna be a lot of folks coming down from Huntsville, Texas to Houston.
There's gonna be a lot of Air Force faithful that are definitely in that area
that are gonna want to go to NRG Stadium to watch this game. Sam
Houston, I thought equated themselves well against by U. I mean that game
was in provo, so it's not like it's not like they were at home
to start this. They went to BYU and held the Cougars to just two
touchdowns. It's too bad they couldn't get a score on the board and kind
of make things a little more tense, uh for BYU. But I think
this that you're absolutely right, this is going to be twenty to six,
twenty to ten, twenty three to ten. I I really do think that
if if I'm going to do anything with this game, and the line that
under thirty seven certainly looks pretty tempting to me, I could certainly see this
one going like I said, twenty to three, uh and or twenty to
six and and go that route and maybe they maybe Sam Houston State gets a
couple of field goals, but I think Air Force does enough to make sure
that they're two and oh. I don't know if they cover for sure,
but that I think that under thirty seven is pretty safe. Yeah, I
think the defense is going to be the store and that being the Air Force
defense. I think it's going to be too much. Bow teams certainly going
to try and run the football, but I think it's going to be Air
Force. It's going to be able to do it better, especially with the
defense being stronger. So we will see on Saturday as all three Service Academy
teams in action, we are certainly picking. As you just heard, we
are going with a sweep, a clean sweep, Stephen and going with Army,
Navy, and Air Force all to win on Saturday. But we will
do it again next week. Here on Yards and Stripes, your home for
Service Academy football, as we are part of the College Gridiron Coast to Coast
podcast Network, an array of different podcasts you can listen to all season long.
In addition to us at Yards and Stripes, we got Florida Football,
we got many different theme college football podcasts to keep you business. Absolutely let
me, let me, let me give a let me give a plug.
We got a brand new podcast that's going to start this week that's going to
feature Notre Dame called The Eyes on the Irish that gets started this week.
Our Big twelve Breakdown podcast is going again. We'll have Get Off My Pylon
here coming up, I believe before the weekend as well. So there's plenty
of college football going on right now. And of course ourselves, Florida Football
Insiders and Big Ten Paradigm should be getting started here here in the next day
or two as well. So plenty of college football. If you're a college
football fan, you want to keep it to the college gridiron Coast to Coast
podcast network, no doubt, Stephen, no doubt, well said my man.
All right, folks, until next week, enjoy the games. We
will see you early next week to talk about what transpires over this coming weekend
and gets you ready for another big weekend. But until then, enjoy the
games. We will see you next week. Join us again next time for
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