Speaker 1: Need to get your football fix on all things Army,
Navy and Air Force. This is Yarns and Stripes Service
Academy Football. Now here are your hosts, Pryce Atkinson and
Steve Carney.
Speaker 2: Welcome back into the yards and Stripes. You're home for
Service Academy Football, Episode eight. It is all about Army,
Navy and Air Force. And I am all about my man,
Stephen Carney. I am Bryce Atkinson, but I'm all about
Stephen because, folks, he survived Hurricane Milton, got danged a
little bit, got hit with maybe a standing eight count,
if you will.
Speaker 3: But our guy.
Speaker 4: Keeps on ticking.
Speaker 2: He punched back, and he punched Milton right out of
the Greater Tampa area. Bye bye, see you later. He
dropped that sucka. So we're appreciating.
Speaker 4: You for joining us this evening, this morning.
Speaker 2: This afternoon, wherever it is, you are to talk about Army,
Navy and Air Force as we are part of the
Last Word on Sports podcast Network. But Steven, before we
go any further, because we've got a couple of teams
that are both ranked in the top twenty five, it
is damn good to see you. You survive Milton, and
you are with us after what we thought it might
be a Price Atkinson solo job, like it was a
Steve Carney solo job a couple of weeks ago when
I got knocked out from Helene.
Speaker 4: But damn, good to see you, brother.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's so good to be back.
Speaker 5: It's good to see that we're finally back into somewhat
of a sense of normalcy here as we you know,
we dealt with the power outage on your end during Helene.
The internet that was going on between the two of us,
I don't know, I'll peel the curtain back a little bit.
Speaker 3: On last week.
Speaker 5: Price Is still was still dealing with internet issues stemming
from Helene all the way through up until basically this afternoon,
and so you know, we were having to use hotspots
and making sure that it was let's just say, it
was a pain in the buttocks to get to get
everything up and together for last week's show. Was glad
to have it because we certainly needed it. And then
especially after what happened last week and and coming up
here for this week. We'll definitely talk about that here
in just a moment. But I'm back in my house.
No damage to the house. You're back in your place,
You've got your internet back, and we can get into
what we love the most, which is service academy football.
Speaker 2: It seems like the stars or you know, have just
kind of lined back up. Forget the comment that just
passed over earlier or early this week.
Speaker 4: That was really cool to see.
Speaker 2: But it feels like the stars have the hurricane stars
have moved out, and we've got everything kind of back settled, like, Okay,
let's continue on where we were. I mean, does it
not kind of feel like that. I mean, it just
feels like we've had like a disruption for like everyone
for the past at least month.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it seems like the last month has been very,
very difficult. And then after that, uh, you know, four
weeks or so, the last four weeks or so, now
that we can finally look out and see the see
the sky, see the moon, see the blue skies overhead,
you know, and the weather has gotten nice. It's nice
and chilly here in Tampa. It's uh, we woke up
this morning it was in the upper fifties for crying
out loud. I was like, this is I'm like, open
the open the windows, let everything air out, turn off
the air conditioning.
Speaker 3: Let's have some fun here.
Speaker 5: This this is finally football weather here in Tampa Bay,
finally for the first time.
Speaker 2: And god knows how long I took my kids to
school this morning was in the upper thirties, and I
was loving life, dude, loving life, And that.
Speaker 3: Happen you bust out, bust out the parka kid?
Speaker 4: Do you even own gloves and a tube? Down there?
Speaker 5: I I you know, uh, for those of you that
are listening, I'm about to go grab the only tuke
I have.
Speaker 3: I do have a too. I have a long coat.
Speaker 5: I have a heavy coat that I use when when
I go to my MLB training in Houston in February
and it can be a little chilly.
Speaker 3: But I do have I do have a tuke. And
by the way, it is a Navy tuke.
Speaker 4: Oh okay, he's showing us.
Speaker 2: He's showing his true colors, folks, exactly, He's showing his
true colors. Well, let's get onto the game, Stephen, because
you and I could keep we could have some We
could keep going by just killing time. And it's not
killing time, it's you and I having fun. But we
had some fun last weekend because my goodness, here I.
Speaker 4: Mean, what do we have here?
Speaker 2: Both Army and Navy are still undefeated, and both are
ranked in this week's new Top twenty five. Army comes
in and number twenty three in the AP Pole, number
twenty four and the coaches. Navy is sitting at number
twenty five and the AP Pole. It's the first time
since nineteen sixty that both are ranked in the same
AP Pole. It's the first national ranking for the Black
Night since twenty twenty and the fourth time ranked in
the last thirty years. Well, Navy checks into the national
rankings for the first time since two thousand and nine,
when they finished number twenty in the country after beating
eleven or after beating going eleven and two in beating
k State in the Liberty Bowl. So quite the developments
you know coming out of last weekend is both teams
got to win, and we will tell you exactly how
and what happened. Let's start with Army, Stephen, because Army
hosting UAB and this crazy to think that, you know,
Army's in a conference for the first time. They're six
and zero. But that's not the crazy part. I think
the crazy part is out of their six games, they've
already played five conference games, and of course they're undefeated
those as they beat UAB at Mikey forty four to ten.
The Black Knights now off to their best starts. It's
nineteen ninety six when they started nine to oh and
they now have the nation's longest winning street at ten
after obviously Missouri was throttled by A and M just recently.
So this ten game win streak match is the longest
win streak in the Jeff Munkin era of eleven years
at the Helm. But my goodness, the Black Knights. They
keep on rolling and they're doing it both offensively and defensively.
Speaker 3: Steven, Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 5: I mean we can talk all day about Bryce and
Daily if we need to, and we'll we'll get to
daily here in just a couple of moments.
Speaker 3: But you look at it.
Speaker 5: They had one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight nine.
Ten different guys touched the football on the ground, which
is I love seeing that. You know, it says a
that your offensive line is as strong as any out
there and can protect the guys that are getting the
football and be able to keep them moving forward in
a positive direction. Number Two, it shows that the coaching
staff has a ton of trust in so many different
guys that they can put out there, and they all
have different looks. You know, Kanye Udo is gonna look
different than Noahs Short, no as Short. It's gonna look
different than Dwayne Coleman. Dwayne Coleman's gonna look different than
Lloyd Benson.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 5: You know, I I really think that uh, you know,
each of these different backs touching the touching the football,
whether it's on an end around, on a jet sweep,
whether it's in the option uh that they that they're
known for using. You know, you're able to give a
different look to what is thought to be a very
simple offense. And I love that they're able to do
that and provide the strength to keep the keep the
football for as long as they can and be able
to win the time of possession. They did so, you
know significantly this past week, over thirty five minutes was
the time of possession for the Black Knights, so they
had ten more minutes than UAB with the football. And
I really do think that all of that is you know,
the prototypical Army victory. Yeah, you don't you don't fumble
the ball, you don't turn there's no turnovers at all Whereas,
so you win the turnover battle, you win the time
of possession, and you win you win the battles with
the line of scrimmage. That's gonna lead to a lot
of wins for Army, and it has so far this
year and will continue to do so.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let me let we'll go micro and macro. Let
me go Macro first, because Army's now won five straight
at home, but they have not trailed in a single
for a They haven't trailed for a single second this
entire season, Stephen. But big thing is obviously the Black Knights.
They clinch Bowl eligibility is the earliest in the calendar
year that they have ever clinched Bowl eligibilit qualifying for
a Bowl game for the first time or for a
postseason games. It's twenty twenty one, when they defeated Missouri
twenty four to twenty two. It's also the first time
Army has scored at least forty points in three straight
games since the nineteen eighty five campaign when they went
they went nine and three. You know a lot of
first year. Let me hit you with one more. First
time Army has limited its opponents to fourteen points or
less than six straight games in a single season. They
held all nine opponents on their schedule. Yes, there were
only nine opponents on their schedule in nineteen fifty eight
when they finished eight ho to one and finished third
in the nation that year. They did it that same year.
Obviously that was a different year in time. But you know,
just taking it back here to I mean last weekend,
this one could have been far worse for the Blazers.
I mean, Jeff Maunkin was pulling, you know, most all
his starters early, you know, midway through the third quarter,
and you know he's emptying this bench, like you mentioned,
so many guys, you know, getting to carry two quarterbacks.
You know, we get a lot of playing time for backups.
But thoroughly just total domination. I mean the fact that
they only had seven third downs in the game, Stephen,
I mean they only faced seven third downs the entire game.
That tells you the efficiency of which that offense was operate.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and not only that they had scored twenty seven
points and led by twenty four before they even attempted
their first pass of the game.
Speaker 3: That should tell you something.
Speaker 5: They played army football and were able to just bludgeon UAB,
and that should have been expected. I mean, we saw
Navy play UAB a couple of weeks ago. That one
was forty one to eighteen. I think that we both
believed that this game was going to be not competitive
and it was going to get ugly because you know,
the Blazers are just not a good football team this year.
The fighting Trent Dilvers are not doing a whole lot
of fighting. Uh and so it was it was great
to see. And and you mentioned that the amount of
time that Army has trailed this year in a game,
zero minutes and zero seconds, that that's there's I think
one other team that I saw that is not trailed
in a game so far this year. Uh So that
that's a that's a good that's a good stat to know.
Speaker 2: Army forty four to ten over UAB. The Black Knights
again now six and O five and oh in the
American Athletic Conference. And I mentioned Navy Navy was off.
I didn't mean to mislead anybody there, Stephen right out
of the gate, where you know mentioned you know, coming
off wins. I mean, obviously Navy is on the winning streak.
They've got a heater going themselves, but they were off
last weekend. So let's skip ahead to the Air Force
Academy where they were on the road and Albuquerque taking
on New Mexico and the Lobos fifty two to thirty seven.
Air Force still looking for that first Mount West Conference victory.
They don't get it. As New Mexico they roll fifty
two to thirty seven of pretty even game statistically, obviously
the scoreboard is the only stat that matters. But Quentin
Hayes getting the start for Air Force at quarterback, and
I think it was really late in the second quarter
and then the third quarter that was the difference.
Speaker 4: Devon Dampier.
Speaker 2: You know, a touchdown run eleven seconds right before the
half gave the Lobos a twenty eight to seventeen lead,
and then two long touchdown runs plus a short field
goal put New Mexico up, you know, forty five to
seventeen after three quarters, and you know, a big holding call,
a massive holding call wiped out a seventy yard touch
seventy five yard touchdown pass to begin the second half
for Air Force, and then the Falcons were stopped on
fourth and two in their own territory, and you know,
couple with that, you know, that massive holding call a legit,
I think a fair call, coupled with obviously New Mexico
coming back with you know, some big plays.
Speaker 4: That was all she wrote. You know, it's you're just.
Speaker 2: Teetering on the edge and you just can't afford, you
just can't afford, you know, to make those kind of mistakes,
especially with Air Force, the amount of mistakes they've made
this year. But Troy Calhoun's team, he's still looking for answers,
but he does not have one.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and you mentioned that that huge penalty on the
first play of the second of the second half. You know,
the the Lobos go down, they score at the end
of the of the second quarter, so now they go
into the half. Air Force is supposed to get the
ball to start the second half. You have that huge
penalty and then you fail on fourth and one deep
in your own territory. So now New Mexico's got a
short field on top of that, and so it's almost
like they won the.
Speaker 3: Kickoff.
Speaker 5: They won the toss as well and got the ball
to start the second half, because that came with just
a you know, ninety seconds gone in the third quarter
that they got the ball back and it only only
needed two plays to put it into the end zone.
Speaker 3: So two big.
Speaker 5: Runs that I think the big question for for Troy
Calhoun isn't you know, what are you gonna do on offense?
Speaker 3: How do you stop anybody? Right now? Yeah? You know,
it's it's.
Speaker 5: Real hard to win games when you can't stop anybody
on defense, because, uh, you have to you have to
play the perfect game to even have an opportunity. They're
certainly not playing the perfect game on offense to have
that opportunity. They've got to get stops and they I'm
just looking at the drive summaries in this game right now.
The Lobos had exactly two drives that did not end
in uh, with them in the with them kicking the
ball either through the uprights or ending in the end zone.
First drive they went three and out, and their last
drive before air Force's last touchdown, they they turned the
ball over on down. The rest of them touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown,
field goal, touchdown, touchdown.
Speaker 2: And the one thing you did not say that I
was gonna mention, you did not hear a drive ending
in a turnover. There. It's another game where air Force
does not force a turnover and that just cannot happen,
especially when you're limited offensively. Your defense has got to
they've got to get the stops and get off the field.
But more importantly, you got to come over come up
with some takeaways at some point. You know, an interesting
stat in this game. You know, New Mexico was the
last team in America that had not given up a sack,
but they give up one with two minutes left in
the first half. I thought that was interesting. But Quinin
Hayes does get the start at quarterback. He rushes for
one to oh three to leave the team one touchdown,
also through for seventy nine yards. But Josh Johnson, he
came in relief and played a little bit.
Speaker 4: But they just could not find anything.
Speaker 2: As just I mean, it's just incredible, kind of tale
of two seasons. You look at what Army and Navy
are doing Renaissance affair, you know, on the positive side,
and then of course we know the success Air Force
has had, you know, the last several seasons, they're going
the opposite way. So really interesting way things have unfolded
and Service Academy football here halfway through the season as
Air Force falls fifty two to thirty seven on the
road in Albuquerque. Steve, let's give out some game balls.
I'll go first this week because we obviously had only
two games to pick from. We got three this coming weekend.
But I'm a fire first because I'll let you go second.
I'm gonna go with Army junior defensive back Casey Larkin.
He came speaking of takeaways and turnovers. You know, the
Army defense is playing is good. They're just not getting
the kind of ink like the offense of Rice and
Daly are. But Casey Larkin have about two interceptions this game.
In this game, the defensive back had from New Jersey
equaling the number of total tackles he had Steven, He's
only got eight total tackles this season, but he comes
up with two picks in the game. I'd say that
sufficient getting it done. Casey Larkin, you're getting my game
ball for me.
Speaker 3: Brother.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, deserved game ball for Casey and for me.
Obviously we can talk about we could always talk about
the quarterback every single week, because I think that Bryson
Daley definitely deserves a game ball every single week, and
he's gonna get mine this week because he had just
an incredible day again on the ground and through the air.
He you know, he only he was only three for seven,
but he had a big fifty yard touchdown. You know,
there was a big fifty yard touchdown catch there in
that game. And he had three I believe three touchdown
and see that he accounted for again, and you know,
he's probably the best quarterback that nobody is talking about
right now in college football. So he's gonna get my
game ball. Bryceon Daily.
Speaker 2: I like it, And that's gonna be a great jumping
off point because I want to ask you when we
come back, as we're gonna take a break, should Bryson Daily,
should maybe Blake Horvath, should these two quarterbacks from Army
Navy should they be getting more Heisman buzz. We're only
halfway through a season right now, but I'm seeing a
lot of a lot of Bryson Daily and Blake Horvath
popping up on some top ten Heisman list as being
in contention. That's a lot different than getting to New York.
We obviously know it's pretty difficult because you know, Keenan Reynolds,
you know several years ago it's very, very difficult just
to even get there. But right now, both these two
quarterbacks with undefeated teams, they put themselves at least in
position with putting up some really gaudy numbers. I'm gonna
ask Steven about that when we come back here on
Yards and Stripes, you're home for service Academy Football is
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Speaker 1: The latest with Navy, Army and Air Force on Yards
and Stripes, Service Academy Football.
Speaker 2: Welcome back into Yards and Stripes. He is Stephen Carney,
I'm Pryce Atkinson, and we are your home for Service.
Speaker 4: Academy Football, Army, Navy and Air Force. That is what
we do.
Speaker 2: As we told you, we're part of the Last Word
on Sports Podcast Network, an array of podcasts there that
you can get. Florida sec what Notre Dame. I mean,
we got something for everybody, Steven. There is literally something
for every college football fan at the last Word on
Sports Podcast Network as you are the producer extraordinary, but
most importantly you're the co host of this show.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and we do.
Speaker 5: We've got so many different podcasts that we are doing, uh,
not just for college football, college gridiron, uh, coast to
coast feed where we are when we're found. But uh,
you know there's m m A, there's hockey, Yeah, there's basketball, Uh,
there's uh, there's plenty going on on the last Word
on Sports podcast uh network page. And so you can
find a podcast to suit whatever uh you desire, and
we just are glad that you have found ours. If you,
if this is your first time listening to Yards and Stripes,
where the hell have you been? But but if you,
if you are hearing us for the first time, thank
you so much for giving us your attention and your
your time on your phone or on your on your
Apple car play.
Speaker 3: So we we really appreciate it.
Speaker 2: I could not have said that any better. Steven is
the investment of our listeners while we do this every
single week. So we do appreciate everybody that's tuned in
this has been with us either since the beginning or
this might be you might be new to us, So
we do appreciate you for taking the time every single week.
As I mentioned Stephen though before we went to break
the Heisman Trophy, I know we're halfway. I mean, I
guess I think we're at the halfway point right when
you consider, you know, pretty much mid October this is halfway.
I think we're officially in the halfway point at college football.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you think about it, you think about it.
Speaker 5: The Heisman Trophy is going to be announced coming up
here on December the fourteenth, so we're less than two
months away from from the Heisman actually being announced. This
is week eight, so that's week sixteen. So yeah, I
would say we're almost exactly halfway to the end of
the college football season.
Speaker 2: Well, we we got another half to go, and there's
a lot that can happen. We know that both teams
are going to play Notre Dame, You've got a conference championship,
and you've got a head to head meeting, and plus
you've got another CIC game that's going to happen before
that with Army and Air Force playing. But the question
is should Bryson Daily be in the Heisman discussion. Not
only should he be in the discussion, is he a
legit candidate to win the Heisman Trophy because the hashtag
now is trending, hashtag he thirteen man for number thirteen,
Rice and Daily. He's got multiple rushing touchdowns in the
last four games. I mean, he's got fourteen rushing touchdowns
already the season, which is six in Army single season history.
You know, four touchdowns away from setting the Academy single
season record with at least seven games to play, including
a Bowl game. And you know, right now, when it
comes to FBS quarterbacks, number one in the country in
rushing yards seven thirty eight, number one in rushing touchdowns
at fourteen, He's seventh in the nation in rushing overall
and third in touchdowns overall. I think right now the
Heisman t is fairly wide open Stephen, at least maybe
compared to some of the past seasons. I think you know,
the names you probably hear the most is Boise State
running back Ashton Genty. You hear Travis Hunter at Colorado,
Jaylen Milrose another one that you know you're here frequently.
But I think right now, should Bryson Daily be in
the Heisman discussion? I think, without a doubt, the question
is yes, along with maybe Blake corbath from Navy as well. Yeah.
Speaker 5: I think that both Daily and Horvath are certainly worthy
of consideration. And I love the fact that, you know,
the pundits, the Phil Steeles and and the like that
basically had Army and Navy finishing tenth and eleventh respectively
in the American Athletic Conference, and now seeing eight weeks in,
seeing a number next to not just one, but both
of those teams. It's great to see them having to
eat their words. And I really do think that that
Bryson Daily deserves that that consideration. I think Blake Corvac
deserves the consideration. Are they gonna get it from the
major college football pundits and writers?
Speaker 3: Probably not?
Speaker 5: Why because they're not pretty they you know, they're always
looking for the new, pretty thing, and Army and Navy
are neither new nor pretty. So I think that it's
really gonna be difficult for either one of those guys
to get consideration unless and I say, and and this
is the caveat if they beat Notre Dame, you will
start seeing the consideration coming their way. But that's still
a couple of weeks down the road, you know, that's
not gonna happen this week, you know, so I don't
think they have to worry about you know, are they
going to start getting consideration on Monday? If Army is
able to beat East Carolina or Navy is able to
upend Charlotte, you know, there's not gonna be any talk
about Blake Horvath or bryceon daily Get pat beat Notre Dame,
your name's gonna get matches.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent agree with you. I think that
will be a big difference. You beat Notre Dame, then
you're gonna be really taken seriously. And then obviously, if
you continue to barrel down a possible playoff ed you know,
group of five spot and you know New Year's Day
playoff game, you know, you go double digit wins. I
think that's the calculus. But one hundred percent agree with you.
You beat the Irish, because that's one you know, I'm
not gonna call them America's team, but you know, as
many people as I do that turn in tune into
Notre Dame.
Speaker 4: You get a win, and that and.
Speaker 2: That kind of situation on national television. That's turning heads
and that's validating a stamp like these guys are legit
all right, Steven, we got three games coming up. We're
also got to Travis Manning Foundation on a roll segment,
will pick some games.
Speaker 4: We got that coming up.
Speaker 2: Let's go ahead and just touch on these three games
real quick this weekend. And and you have got a
triple header on Saturday. And let's start in West Point
as the number twenty three Black Knight's going to welcome
East Carolina three and three one in one in the
American Obviously, Army is undefeated. This is a twelve noon
kickoff on ESPN two with Army right now giving sixteen points.
The over under at fifty one and a half that
I've seen. Stephen Eacus was steamrolled last weekend at Charlotte.
Now I've lost three of their last four after starting
two and oh they're only two wins are against Norfolk State,
O tou right now, this I'm looking at it. This
should be another big, big win for the Black Knights
at home.
Speaker 5: Yeah, what's amazing is the fact that Army has never
beaten East Carolina. This series is eight and oh in
favor of the Pirates, which is an absolutely amazing statistic
out there. And really, you look at what Army has
left after this. You know, they you could say that
they are in the driver's seat if with a with
a victory, because they only have two conference games left
after this week. They are North Texas on November ninth
and UTSA on the on November thirtieth.
Speaker 3: That's it. You know, you've got to You've got a shot.
Speaker 5: You with a victory this this Saturday. The worst that
Army can be in its first season in the American
Athletic Conferences six and two, and nobody thought that at
the beginning. And the other thing that I like to
see is, uh, you want to see them start out fast. Obviously,
Army is the only team this year that has scored
a touchdown on its opening drive in every game this season.
So I expect, I wholly expect that streak to continue
here on Saturday at home. And I think that really
it comes from the fact that Bryson Daily is going
to be able to get under center, be able to
scope out the defense, make you know, they'll they'll have
the right plays called and they'll be able to make
make the right plays. You get out in front early,
you force East Carolina to have to try and throw
the football, which they don't like to do. They want
to they want to be able to run the ball
with their with their fifth year senior Roger Harris, and
I think that if you can make East Carolina have
to try and throw the football, you can.
Speaker 3: You saw what Charlotte did to them last week.
Speaker 5: You know, you get out in front early, you force
them to throw the football, they make mistakes, you get
out even further.
Speaker 2: If Pirates rank eighty ninth nationally in total defense, giving
up three hundred and eighty two yards a game, and
are seventy third in total offense at three eighty five,
so the Pirates definitely steven. They have their work cut
out for him in a big way. On Saturday at
Mikey again a twelve noon kickoff on ESPN two Army
as sixteen point favorite against East Carolina Naval Academy. It's
homecoming in Annapolis. This was a three point thirty kickoff
on the CBS Sports Network. Welcoming Charlotte three and three,
just like East Carolina and the American except they're two
and Oh they are coming awful win over East Carolina
last weekend. But the number twenty five Navy midshipman going
to play at home as a ranked team for the
first time since October twenty second, two thy sixteen when
they beat Memphis. They will also be looking to get
Bowl eligible join and join Army by getting a win
and getting to six and oh, which will be the
first time. If they were able to get a win
over the forty nine ers, it'd be the first time
they would be at six and oh to start a
season since nineteen seventy nine. But the forty nine ers steven.
They've won two straight in this series. Or they won
two straight games and three of their last four. Head
coach Bill Pogi's returning to his native Baltimore area this week,
and you know he'd like to get a win. But
Navy also, just like Army, they're a sixteen point favorite
at home over under in this one. Fifty six and
a half.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and you think about what they what Charlotte's been
able to do. They've had their their senior quarterback backs
Brown missed the last four games with a thumb injury,
and they've had a freshman, Deshaun Purty take up the
mantle and he's done pretty well, turned for seven hundred
and seventeen yards and four touchdowns. When when Brown who's
as a red shirt sophomore, was injured with that thumb injury.
So he's been he's been good through the air. He
has been able to take care of the football. But
the forty nine ers are going to want to run
the football. That's the one thing that they were able
to do against East Carolina. They ran the ball for
three hundred and eleven yards and even Brian Newberry said,
you know they're used to, you know, going after physical
teams wanting to plete to play physical. The forty nine
ers can play physical, but they can also throw the
football on that's going to make them a little bit
more of a challenge.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, you know that they're going to try and grind
it out. And you know, Bill Pogy's really in a
lot of ways flip this, you know, kind of you know,
which you can do in football, not like in basketball
where he can do it year to year, but just
simply on the transfer portal alone, you know, when he
took over. I mean, they've taken a ton of transfers
and it really has paid off as they have gotten
very competitive, very quick in the Americans.
Speaker 4: They are three and three, two to zero in the conference.
Speaker 2: This one, again is a three point thirty kickoff on
the CBS Sports Network. Navy a sixteen point favorite at home,
playing it is a ranked ranked team for the first
time at home since twenty sixteen. This one, I think
could be a very fun football game. But we'll talk
about it in our picks here in a little bit.
Our last game of the weekend, Steven, This one is
going to come after the Navy game. It's going to
be Colorado State and Air Force Ram Valcon Trophy on
the line, an eight pm Eastern Standard Time kickoff on
CBS Sports Network. The Rams are giving a touchdown right now,
at least the last I saw it was a touchdown
over under forty six and a half. You know, not
to say that Air Force has had any consistency at
all this year except consistency and really underperforming since the
win over Merrimack. The Rams have had some trouble with
consistency this season, as they're coming off a thirty one
to twenty four win at home versus Coach Kenna Montalolo
and San Jose State, but really up and down win lose, win, lose.
They have been unable to find it this season.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and you look at the the two games that
they've lost. Most recently, they lose at home to Deon
Sanders in Colorado. They lose in double overtime in core
Vallis against Oregon State.
Speaker 3: I really do think that, you.
Speaker 5: Know, this team is definitely looking for that that consistent
and see their their quarterback is a sophomore named Brandon
Fowler Nickelosi.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 5: He's uh, he has certainly had his problems with consistency
this year. You know, his completion percentages just fine, but
he's only thrown five touchdowns and he's thrown five interceptions
to go along with it. I I think that, you know,
if if the Falcons have that have a chance at
this game, and you know obviously they were they're coming off,
they're they they're the holders of the ram Falcon Trophy
after winning last year's game. Uh, they've got to find
a way to hold on to the football more often,
uh and and longer than they have so far.
Speaker 3: Uh this year. I don't I don't know how they're
gonna be able to do it.
Speaker 5: But the longer they can hold onto the football means
the fewer opportunities that Colorado State's going to have to
try and score, because that's the one the one issue
and we've talked. We talked about it early on with
with Troy Calhoun's bunch here this year.
Speaker 3: Can't stop anybody.
Speaker 5: If you can't stop anybody, Uh, there're it's really hard
to be able to go rocky on on folks. And
by that, I mean you're standing in the middle of
the ring with your arms down by your side and
just letting Apollo Creed swing at your chin.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 5: You know you get knocked down really quickly normally when
that happens.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Uh, the Colorado State Rams three and three right now,
one and oh in the Mountain West. But you know
you mentioned taking care of the football, and they they
took a hit this week, Stephen because star wide receiver
Terry Horton, a two time first team All Mountain West selection,
He will miss the rest of the season for the
for the Rams haven't disclosed the injury. He did suffer
a knee injury in the last game, so we'll I
don't want to speculate, but I think we can put
two and two the other and say it's probably somewhat
knee related. But Horton was a two time team captain,
six foot three, one hundred and eighty five pound wide
receiver that's led Colorado State and receiving with ninety six
receptions for eleven hundred and thirty six yards and eight
scores last year. The year before, seventy one receptions eleven
hundred thirty one yards and eight scores the year before,
you know, finishing his Colorado State career just thirty five
yards of the shy of the school record for receiving yards.
So you know, a big hit for coach j Norbel's
team is they're going to be coming into coming into
the springs trying to recapture that ram Falcon Trophy.
Speaker 4: And eight pm kickoff, Steven on.
Speaker 2: The CBS Sports Network is Colorado State is seven point favorite?
Speaker 4: All right?
Speaker 2: We got a Travis Manning Foundation on a roll segment
coming up, Stephen. We got our picks we're gonna make
here coming up on Yards and Stripes and a few
news and notes we'll pass along to you here as
we roll along on Yards and Stripes, your home for
Service Academy Football, as we are part of the Last
Word on Sports podcast Network.
Speaker 6: In two thousand and seven, Marine First Lieutenant Travis Manion
was killed in Iraq after saving his wooted teammates. Travis's
legacy lives on through the words he spoke before his
final deployment. If not me, then who? Words that today
fuel the spirit of Travis Mannion Foundation and through TMF
these words can live in you too. Show the world
what you're made of, because character is invisible until it's not.
Find out how you can strengthen the character of your
community alongside empowered veterans, families of the fallen, and inspired
civilians at Travismanion dot org.
Speaker 2: Right as we continue on in this episode of Arts
and Stripes your home for Service Academy Football, enough time
for a Travismanian Foundation on a roll segment, wrehanna remember
a fallen hero that has given the ultimate sacrifice? Sin
you know, the Travismanon Foundation is continuing the legacy of
servicing commitment in communities across the country on behalf of
loved one said have given that ultimate sacrifice. And this
week we're gonna hot to remember Captain Scott Craven. United
States Air Force Captain Scott Craven passed away unexpectedly on
February the twenty seventh, two thousand and six, while a
passenger in an automobile accident in Valdosta, Georgia. He was
in Valdosta where he was an instructor pilot at Moody
Air Force Base. Captain Craven was a graduate of the
United States Air Force Academy. Attended junior college before going
on to the academy, where he attended pilot training and
earned his wings. In December two thousand and three, he
received the Flight Commander's Award for Leadership and was stationed
there at Moody Air Force Base, studying for his master's
degree in at Embury Riddle Aeronautical University. Scott had so
many character strengths, including his intense love of learning. While
at the Air Force Academy, he took on many difficult
challenges as many cadets too, and one of his difficult
courses was working on a master's degree, you know afterwards
in engineering from Imbury Riddle.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: But he said he wasn't the biggest guy, I wasn't
the fastest guy on the quarter of the field, but
then never stopped. Scott captain of his high school football team.
He led from the front, motivating his teammates by example.
It was as a result he was named of the
Bucks County Pennsylvania All Star Team and awarded honorable mention
to the Pennsylvania All Catholic Team. His true love athletically
was basketball. Scott's perseverance paid off and he earned a
walk on position at Valley Forg's Military Academy on the
basketball team, and he later walked on to the Air
Force Academy rugby team, where he played all four years,
having never previously played the game. Scott was serving again
as an instructor pilot Moody Air Force Base, and he
was visiting elementary school kids at Sallas Mahone Elementary School,
spending time with children of deployed military personnel, and at
no time the children and Scott became fast friends. His
words spread among his colleagues regarding his service. More pilots
began spending time encouraging the children of their brothers and
sisters in arms to become mature and responsible adult. Scott
gave the ultimate sacrifice while serving our country while it
was at home. Certainly, Captain Craven is not missed as
he was a native of Bensalem in Salem, Pennsylvania, born
on May the twentieth, nineteen seventy nine, but Captain Scott
Craven gave that ultimate sacrifice on Ify the twenty seven,
two thousand and six, and we again, the Travis Manon
Foundation is carrying on that legacy of servicing commitment on
behalf of Scott and so many others that have given
that ultimate sacrifice.
Speaker 7: Travis Mallon Foundations Nine to eleven Heroes Run five Cave
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Speaker 1: The latest with Navy, Army and Air Force on Yards
and Stripes Service Academy Football.
Speaker 2: All right, final segment here on Yards and Stripes, Army,
Navy and Air Force. That is what we do and
those are the games that we're gonna pick. But once
again want to thank the Travis Mannion Foundation for letting
us highlight their outstanding work and fallen heroes. As families
of those fallen heroes are carrying on that legacy a
commitment service in communities across the country. And you want
to find out more check them out online at Travismanion
dot org. Steven, and you know, before we get to
our picks, because you and I always have fun picking
some games.
Speaker 4: You know, a few nos and notes.
Speaker 2: Jeff Munkin, the Army head coach, and Brian Newberry, the
Navy head coach, both named to the Bobby Dodd Coach
of the Year mid season WATS lists this week. So
obviously undefeated starts that's going to get you notice, and
they certainly have been noticed by the Bobby Dodd Coach
of the Year folks. Based out of Atlanta, Georgia, navyes
game against East Carolina on Black that will be against Black.
Speaker 4: Let me try that again.
Speaker 2: Navy's game at ECU will be played on Black Friday.
That will be a twelve noon kickoff, mister Stephen Carney
on ESPN, ESPN. Next Saturday's game against Notre Dame, that's
gonna be a twelve new kickoff from MetLife Stadium up
in New York. But that's either gonna be on ABC
or ESPN. We don't know yet, but that kickoff will
be announced on Sunday as far as the network that
that will be broadcast on. And then Armies Bryson Daily
named to name the American Offensive Player of the Week
for the second straight week. Surprise surprise, also to the
Navy O'Brien Great eight for Week seven, and also honored
by the Maxwell Award once again. So those honors continue
to pour in for Armies bryceon Daily. But Steven, we
got three games to pick, and let me just let
me just I'm gonna put you on the spot here
because I was thinking about it the other day and
I didn't tell you this was coming right now. Before
we get to our picks, go power rankings. How would
you power rank our three teams right now at this
point in the season.
Speaker 5: Well, the easy one is is that air Force is three. Yeah, yeah,
uh yeah, I think that that is without without a doubt,
you know. And it's sad to see, uh you know
what the how far the Falcons have fallen off from
last year. Uh you know, but that that's what happens
when you lose so many starters and so many stars, uh.
Speaker 3: That that team had.
Speaker 5: Uh you know, when you had a bunch of a
bunch of seniors who were uh, the the folks that
were the straws that proverbially stirred the drink, uh and
you and they all go away because they're starting their
military career. Uh. You know, you've you've got to find
those folks, and they don't have them this year.
Speaker 3: So uh So air Force for me is three.
Speaker 5: Uh for me, Navy is two mostly because you know,
when you look at how the service academies normally play,
I think that Army plays a stronger version of service
academy football. Navy is certainly a lot more creative. They
have had to improvise, adapt and overcome in certain cases.
You know, I don't think that they wanted Blake Corvath
thrown for almost three hundred yards in a game, but
that's what had to happen for them in order to win.
Speaker 4: Yeh.
Speaker 5: But I think that that's the reason why I have
Navy two and I have Army one. I was on
the radio in Fort Myers here this morning as we're
taping this on on Thursday evening, I was on Thursday
morning with Miller and Moulton on ESPN Southwest, I think
they call it now and the Florida Sports Radio Network.
But they asked me who I thought had the better
shot of beating Notre Dame because both Army and Navy
have Notre Dame on their schedule coming up here in
the next couple of weeks. And I said that I
thought Army had the better shot because I thought they
had the better offensive line. But I said, just looking
at what happened with Northern Illinois tells you that they
both have a shot.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I hear you. I certainly would go without
you know, any shock here. I mean certainly Air Force
would be three. I was looking at it the other day,
and not in the context of power rankings, but looking
at the AP rankings, just because I was kind of
curious and looking at the opponents so far, I would
probably go Army two at this point in Navy one.
And the only reason why I would do that would
be really one statistic.
Speaker 4: More than anything.
Speaker 2: You know, their opponents Navy's opponents have, or the record
of Navy's opponents that they and so far, obviously they've
only played five games Armies played six. Armies or Navy's
opponents are a combined eleven in nineteen Army's opponents to
this point, with their six wins at this point are
a combined eleven and twenty four, so virtually the same
except five more losses.
Speaker 4: I think the.
Speaker 2: Three road wins conference road wins is big for Army.
I think the difference, though, is the win over Memphis.
I think that's the best win amongst the eleven total
wins that the two teams have. I just think that
Memphis win Memphis obviously is five and one right now.
To me, that's the one that Navy can hang their
hat on. If it were Army and this was the
exact situation and Army had the win over Memphis, I
put Army number one. I just think that win over
Memphis is a big one. They were the preseason favorite
to win the league.
Speaker 5: I get I get that, but then I also look
at you know, both teams have played Temple, and both
teams have played ua B, and Army came out with
the better with the better.
Speaker 3: Scores on both of those games.
Speaker 5: So yeah, that's that's another reason why I do have Army.
I mean, it's really close, and you're right, you know,
Memphis is obviously the best win for either team so
far this year. But you look at it, both teams
played Temple, both teams played UAB, both teams won those games.
Army had the better result, usually better offensive numbers, better
defensive numbers.
Speaker 2: Yep, I can totally see why you go that way
in that rationale. All right, let's let's get to the
pick so we can get out of here. Let's talk
Army and East Carolina first, Steven, I think this one
number twenty three Army, you know, air Force or East
Carolina has struggled. They haven't played well since their wins
over Norfolk State and ODU obviously two you know, bottom
feed or programs. They're nothing like what they're what you
know Army's going to bring to the table this weekend.
I'm thinking it's going to be a big Army win.
I'm like an army maybe you know, to the tune
of forty nine to thirteen, something very very big.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm along those lines as well. I think I
think I had it at forty to seventeen. But really,
this should not be a problem for the Black Knights.
You're at home. You've got a team that just gave up,
as I mentioned, three hundred and eleven yards of rushing
to Charlotte and and the Black Knights are a much
better rushing team than the forty nine ers are, so
they should be able to run the ball down the
pirate's throat. You know, you end up with you know,
thirty seven, thirty eight, thirty nine, maybe even forty minutes
in time of possession, and you got another opportunity to
let some of your uh, some of your backups, you know,
your second third string guys again some significant playing timing.
Get them ready because you know, once the seniors leave
this year, they're the ones that are gonna have to
take up the mantle in twenty twenty five. Get them
ready and get them in situations to succeed.
Speaker 3: And I think they get another chance.
Speaker 2: All right, Navy and Charlotte on Saturday at three thirty,
the homecoming in Annapolis. Both teams really like to run
the football and do it well or the forty nine
ers had six rushing touchdowns last weekend. I think this
is gonna be a little bit more lower scoring. I
think it's gonna be close, Steven. I think this one
could come down to who makes the stops on third
downs or maybe get set late turnover, maybe a fumble recovery.
But I think Navy's gonna pull out a close one.
But I think it's gonna be close, maybe to the
tune of I'll say twenty seven to twenty four by
a field goal.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I don't think it's gonna be that close. I think,
you know, this line is sixteen. I don't think it's
gonna be sixteen. I think it's gonna be under two touchdowns.
But I think I think it's probably gonna be you know,
thirty four to twenty one.
Speaker 3: Uh you know.
Speaker 5: I I think I think it's going to be close
to two touchdowns but not quite there. But this I
don't think is going to be quite as close to
a game as you do. I think, but I think
they end up with a with a with a with
a uh not not a not as easy of a
win as Army gets.
Speaker 4: I got you, all right.
Speaker 2: In the last game of the day, eight o'clock Eastern
Standard time kickoff, the ram Falcon Trophy on the line
in the Springs, Colorado State and Air Force. Air Force
obviously still looking for a win. They've lost what five
straight after getting the win over Merrimack to start the season.
I like Colorado State, Stephen. I think maybe the Rams
will go twenty seven seventeen. I don't think it's super
high scoring, but I think it's gonna be a I
won't I don't think ten points is quite comfortable, but
I think it'll be enough for the ram to go
in there and get the win and get the ram
Falcon Trophy back.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel the same way.
Speaker 5: I think it's probably going to be about that same
I think I think I have it at twenty four fourteen,
you know, but I think that you know, somewhere in
that ten to thirteen point range is where this this
ends up being. You know, unless you know, if air
Force can put up thirty seven points this week, they
get a victory. The problem is that they're not playing
New Mexico, so you know, the rest of the rest
of the time. If you look at the other four
games that they played and taking the Merrimac game out
of it, you know, they scored less than you know,
ten points in three of them and failed to get
to twenty points in all four of them. So I
can't see them getting three touchdowns in this game against
Colorado State, which makes me think it's going to be
twenty seven.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, twenty four to fourteen.
Speaker 4: It's Stephen.
Speaker 2: I'm liking these games. I'm liking having some internet back for.
Speaker 4: Our upload speech Mabe.
Speaker 2: For each segment, I don't want to share it too
much for our listeners, but if they only knew. But
all I know is that you've got power, you've got internet.
I have the same, and we're all safe, we're all happy,
and everybody's okay surviving the storm season.
Speaker 4: So it's just damn good to be back with.
Speaker 2: You without looking over our right shoulder, our left shoulder
to see what you know, what the rain's doing outside,
what the win's doing. So just you know, been looking
forward to this all week hoping we could do it,
and we obviously got to.
Speaker 4: But we will do it again next week.
Speaker 2: Steven, as we were part of the Last Word on
Sports Podcasts Network, Appreciate the Travis Mannon Foundation. Appreciate all
our listeners. We get a new episode every single week.
It's all about Army, Navy and Air Force here and brother,
I can't wait to see again.
Speaker 5: Can't wait look forward to next week. Next week we
get to sock Notre Dame.
Speaker 2: Enjoy the games, everybody.
Speaker 1: And next time for Yards and Stripes Service Academy Football.
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