Speaker 1: 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, Pryce Atkinson and
Steve Carney.
Speaker 2: Welcome back into Yards and Stripes. You're a weekly home
for service Academy football, Army, Navy, and Air Force. That's
what we do. And he is also Stephen Karney and
I am Price Atkinson. We are back with you as
we were part of the College Granar and Coast to
Coast podcast network, also available on Last Word on Sports,
Episode eight of Yards and Stripes. As we barrel on
to about the halfway point in the season, Steven fantastic
weekend of games last weekend, two really really close ones,
a couple of thrillers, and then one obviously non thriller.
We'll get to those. We got our Travis Medium Foundation
Honorall segment. We got picks to make in our two
games this week, but we are recording back in primetime tonight.
Is that it's a Wednesday night. Last week, I know
we cramped there by style by trying to get it
in on Friday morning, but we are a little bit
earlier in the week this week, so that's a win.
But as we are in primetime, you know, we got
to get a Papa's Pizza report from young Stephen Carney
to see what toppings he's got and how he's gonna
make us all hungry, regardless of the time of the
day where you were listening. Right now, Steven, you're up
what we got on it tonight?
Speaker 3: Absolutely now. Luckily for me, I was able to have
my papayns on on Tuesday at Benjmark International Arena as
I was working the Tampa Bay Lightning road game against
the Washington Capitals. He didn't turn out so great. The
pizza was fantastic, and then you know, you know, the
only thing better than than pizza is free pizza. That's
what That's what I got on Tuesday. I was very
very happy. But about that and the guys that I
was that I was getting the pizza with, they are
like me of the mindset that if I wanted vegetables,
I would order a sal Welly full meats.
Speaker 2: That's what I was about to say is usually when
you get free pie, usually it's in the form of
one of two cheese or pep Rarely is it, you know,
especially when it's mass pie. You know, you've got eight
to ten, that's feeding a big group of people. Clearly,
you guys did not have that situation. Clearly you were
able to go customize with the meat lovers, which is
always a way to any young man's heart.
Speaker 3: Thankfully, it was not a group of eight to ten,
because then we'd all get like, you know, one or
two slices a piece. There was only four of us,
so that worked out certainly better. And the fact that
the four of us are all of that same mindset
that just throw as many meats on there as a
can made it a very very welcome sort of night
for us at Benchmark International Arena.
Speaker 2: Well, that sounds delicious, Steven, and I did for get
that it is usually on Tuesday night we get a
poppy On's Pizza report because most of the time we
are recording on Tuesday. But it is a Wednesday. But
as I mentioned, it is also a little bit later
or earlier in the week than it was when we
recorded last week. All right, Stephen, without further ado, let's
hop into the three games, because let's get to Army
and Charlotte first, because that was our non excitement of
the week, and that's but It was sure excitement if
you were at Mikey Stadium because that was Army's first
win at Mikey this season and it was their second
straight coming close to darn near shutout effort against the
forty nine ers as Army gets a twenty four to
seven win. Army now even steven at three and three overall,
two and two in the American Charlotte one and five,
zero and three in the American. You know, it was
the defense, Army defense all day long. Kate Hellms had
another great day. We'll touch on that in a second,
but Army's defense holding the forty nine ers is just
sixty eight yards rushing one hundred and seventy eight total
yards of offense. As they did not give up a
point until the final seconds. It was a less than
twenty seconds from a shutout as Army defense just puts
up another great effort. Granted, you got to keep in
mind the opponent Charlotte, not the offensive juggernaut, but nonetheless
Army back in that win column getting to even after
a rough start, really really good to see Jeff Munkin's
team after they had the ball for over thirty seven
minutes in the football game, the Army offensive line and
offense doing the job and getting out early and not
relinquishing that big league.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you mentioned the time of possession that Army
had thirty seven minutes and fifty four seconds time of possession.
They were able to use it to grind down the
forty nine ers defense. We said last week that we
knew that Charlotte had problems stopping the run. I believe
I made it so simple as to say, Charlotte, no
stop e the running, and they certainly did not do
it again. I saw it two weeks ago against USF
where they gave up four hundred and seven yards of
rushing to the Bulls. They gave up three hundred and
four yards to the Black Knight. So that's seven hundred
and eleven yards in rushing in the last two games.
And those are probably going to be some of the
bigger numbers that you will see when it comes to
At least if you're a Charlotte fan, you now don't
have to worry about having to face those beasts anymore night.
You just have to wait for Navy. But that which
is another thing completely. But you know, I look at
Charlotte as being the type of game that can really
turn around the season. Because remember it wasn't that long ago,
you know, we were wondering would Army be able to
do enough to be Bowl eligible here this year, And
now they've gotten their self back going in the right direction.
There are three and three. You need three more wins
the rest of the way just to get to Bowl
eligibility and then you're in. And then you're in good
shape if you're Jeff mounkining crew, and you're going to
find yourself with an opportunity to play after the end
of the American Conference season and after the Army Navy game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if Kate Hellms keeps playing like this, he's clearly
locked down the starting quarterback job. Dwayne Coleman, you know,
getting more of the you know, kind of fill in,
mop up substitute duty here and there, change of pace.
But Kate Hellums just another great day. Twenty one carries
one hundred and forty three yards, two touchdowns, averaged almost
seven yards of carry, and completed to a four for
fifty yards. So a great day for the Army offense,
you know, rolling up over three hundred yards of rushing
three h four to be exact, and route to only
one penalty, the least penalized team in FBS football. They
only had one penalty that have They've only had nineteen
all season, and they had the ball for almost thirty
eight minutes. An outstanding effort, as you mentioned, you know,
turning the season around in a way. You know, got
a couple of tough games here because we'll talk about
tu Lane this weekend. Then you obviously got the Service
Academy at matchup against Air Force, you know. But but
right now, Bowl eligibility is the name of the game,
and especially having you know, some confidence right now going
into Tulane, that's gonna be a big thing for Jeff
Mounkin's team, especially getting healthy. But you know, right now,
you look at the rest of the schedule, Bowl eligibility
should certainly be well within those cross heres for the
Black Knights.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely, And and you mentioned with with Tulane coming
up here, you know, that's a that's a very that's
a very tough ask. You know, Tulane obviously one of
the best teams in the conference this year that there's
only uh I believe three teams left in the American
that are undefeated, uh now or no, I'm sorry, there
are four now, uh with Memphis, with us F with
Tulane and uh uh you know I look at I
look at those, you know, those teams and go all right,
now now it comes the time, you know, this is
this is one that that our Army can really you know,
look to try and put a statement on things if
they can, if they can make and and I know
we'll talk about this, uh this game coming up here
in uh in a little bit, but this is a
game that I think can really make this make a
statement in the uh in you know, in in the
conference here. So uh they if they're able to to
you know, make some make some waves here. Not not
to put the pun on the Green Wave, but but
this this is a this is a big week for
Army and hopefully, uh what they did with with Charlotte
last week is something that they can you know Bilbon
going forward. Yes, absolutely, Army twenty four to seven, now
three and three in the American As they get the
win over Charlotte, let's move out west, let's go to
Las Vegas where it was U N l V and
Air Force.
Speaker 2: And I don't think any of us had this on
our bingo card nine nine combined points in this one
steven exactly twelve hundred yards of total offense between the
two teams combined. But wow, what a fourth quarter and
what a finish in the last few minutes. Is the
teams combined for forty two total points in the last
quarter alone, and the game featured six lead changes as
air Force scored the go ahead touchdown with one thirteen left,
Liam Sarkas scoring from nine yards out on a touchdown
run to put air Force up forty eight to forty four,
but the Falcons leaving just way too much time on
the clock as UNLB quarterback Anthony Klandra, who threw for
three sixty one, also ran seven times for sixty two yards.
He ran nineteen yards to the end zone with thirty
six seconds remaining for the go ahead score that would
stand up Army missing a game tying field goal or
excuse me, air Force missing the game tying field goal
at the end. But a game that just was back
and forth a fourth quarter. As I mentioned, forty two
combined points in the last quarter alone. Who you know,
when we talked to we thought it'd be high scoring.
We didn't think it'd be nine to nine points, but boy,
This was Mountain West football at its finest.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it was fun to watch for sure. And
and the fact of the matter is is that Troy
Calhoun and Liam Sarka were able to get that team
into field goal position. And you know, a forty yard
field goal is something that most college kickers can can make.
And you know, you miss it, you miss that field goal,
and you know, you make that field goal, and all
of a sudden, we're talking about overtime and all bets
are off. You know, un l V may not be
uh in the ranks of the unbeaten if if they
make that field goal, because who knows what happens in overtime?
Do we do we play two overtimes? Do we play
eight overtimes with you know, five or six different two
point conversions?
Speaker 2: Uh?
Speaker 3: You know, I I really think you know, this was
this was a game that even though you lose this game,
and I and knowing Troy Calhoun, he'll say, you know,
there's no such thing as a moral victory for Air Force,
but this is a game that if you're Liam Sarka,
and if you're the air Force offense, you certainly feel
good about, you know, being able to put up those
sorts of numbers, because if you put up those sorts
of numbers against a team like UNLV, you should be
able to put those numbers up against anybody. Now the defense,
on the other hand, you've got to be able to
play better. You know. I always think of you know,
there was Bill Russell, the great Celtics Center, put out
a book in the eighties and it was it was
a business book of sorts, you know, because he was
talking about leadership and you know, being able to run things.
And he used to say that Red Auerbach would tell guys,
you know, it's you know, you can put up you know,
you know, you can give up one hundred and thirty points,
but you got to score one hundred and thirty one
points Towler to win. And so that that's what I
think of when when I see a game like this
out of Air Force. The Air Force often should feelreat themselves.
The Air Force defense unfortunately should not, because they did
not do enough to get that victory and they needed
that victory bad.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they really did. And you know, you talk about
good quarterback play, Kate Helems. We've talked about Blake Corbath
all year. Liam Sarkas, Samana himself. I mean the sophomore
or six foot sophomore out of Aurora, Colorado. I mean,
he's certainly the quarterback moving forward, you know for air Force.
I think if you're probably air Force right now, you're like, well,
let's hope as a sophomore and he's gonna come back
for a junior and senior year. I don't know his
you know, situation, but now in the day and age
of college football, you get a guy playing the way
he's playing, you you kind of have to hold your
breath sometimes. Uh. But Sarka was really really good on Saturday,
as you mentioned, you know, the Falcons four hundred and
twenty eight yards on the ground, a season high obviously,
and they actually outgained UNLB six oh three to five
ninety seven. But Sarca he threw for one seventy five
and a touchdown. He had also added one hundred and
thirty six yards rushing on twenty seven carries with two touchdowns.
So Sarcas, you know, Josh Johnson was you know, kind
of the guy early and then Liam Sarkas taking that
spot and it's ripped it away. But you know they're
moving the ball is not the problem. It's stopping people,
as you just alluded to, because they've given up over
forty points in every single game except the season opening
win over Bucknell and the win or in the loss
to Navy where they gave up thirty four. So right now,
it's an issue of being able to get off the
field on third down and get stops. And that's just
simply what they did not do yet again on Saturday. Yeah,
and look at look at what happened at the start
of the first half. You know, they fumbled, you know,
Kate Harris fumbles and they lose that funnel in the
first play of the second half, you know, deep in
their own territory. UNLV immediately turns that into a touchdown.
Then they go three and out, and on the very
next play it's an eighty six yard touchdown pass from
Calandria to Dejon Reynolds, I really think and at that
and at that point you go from being up twenty
one third team to being down twenty six twenty one.
Speaker 3: That's that right there. Well, we'll tell you all you
need to know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, then you're playing uphill from there. But nay, or
excuse me, air Force, they fall forty eight to fifty
one at UNLV UNLV now six and oh two and
oh in the Mountain West under Dan mullin, first year
at the Helm Air Force dropping to one and five,
zero to four in the Mountain West, needing, just trying
to stop this slide as they'll be back on the
field this coming weekend. We'll talk about that in a
little bit. But our last game of the weekend last weekend,
another thriller in the City of Brotherly Love. Not waiting
for the Army Navy game. This one Navy and Temple
doing battle and Navy having to battle back. They found
themselves down seventeen to seven midway through the third quarter,
but they outscored Temple eighteen to seven the rest of
the way as Blake Horbath came to the rescue. With
time winding down less than a minute ago. Horbat takes
the keeper right up the middle, Jets fifty one yards
straight ahead, go ahead, touched now late in the fourth
and you know they don't decide Navy, you know, instead
of kicking the point after for the tie and you know,
hopping to play this in overtime, they opted to go
for it. Horbeth finds of Alex Tesca, uh just before
going out the side of the end zone completes it.
Hor Tesca hauls it in and it's a catch. It's
a two point conversion, and Navy thirty two to thirty
one to stay unbeaten, six and oh overall, four to
zero in the American Temple now three and three, one
in one in the American His Navy is now Bowl
eligible and six and oh for the first time since
twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what a great finish, uh.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: And I was watching this game, uh, you know, off
on this on the side while I was waiting for
my game to get going between USF and North Texas,
and I was sitting there and I'm like, Okay, here
we go. It's fourth down in one. You know, there's
you know, coming up on thirty seconds left in this game.
You know, what are they gonna do? You know, you
obviously you have to get the first down, uh in
order to uh to do anything. And all of a sudden,
it was like Moses parting the Red.
Speaker 4: Sea with with red uniforms just doing like this, and
you know, you know, you know, to the side, and
you know, Blake corvav had a had a hole right
down the middle of the field.
Speaker 3: You could have driven a truck through.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 3: And you know it was like okay, and like it's
not like anybody had a chance to try and trip
them up.
Speaker 4: UH.
Speaker 3: You know, there was no temple defenders around there. You know.
I I keep laughing about what I what I saw
with that because it reminded me. And I wonder if
you remember this uh display in the NFL price back
in the nineties, there was a Kansas City Chiefs quarterback
named Steve Bono that had that had a touchdown run
against I think it was the Arizona Cardinals, and it
was like on a fake bootleg and everybody went to
the left and he rolled out to the right, and
there wasn't a single person in the entire television shot
as he ran seventy I think it was like seventy
one yards for a touchdown and everybody went the other way.
All I keep thinking of is that's that's kind of
what Blake Corvath looked like. For about the last twenty
five or thirty yards down the field. There wasn't a
single temple defender in sight, and all of a sudden,
he's finding himself in the end zone with a chance
for the win.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a great trap block right up the
middle and you know keeper find his daylight. It's just
hard to believe that after Temple played that well pretty
much most of the game, because you know, they outgained
Navy five eighteen to three eighty four. They had twenty
seven first downs to fifteen. It did turn it over
one time, they had the ball for ten more minutes.
You're kind of scratching your head out in the world
had Navy pull us out? Well, it was because of
Blake Corbath at the very end and just making plays
simply is what he did a lot like Bryson Daily
did last year when the Army Black Knights needed it
most in crunch time, Blake or you know, Bryson Daily delivered.
And that's what Blake Corbath is doing for this Navy
team right now, especially on a day where you guys
like Alex Tesca and Eli Hyde Wright didn't have the
big offensive days. You know, so Navy's defense, you know,
which has been tested at times, did just enough and
we the Blake Corbath show rears its head again. It's
Navy now thirty or six and oh but thirty two
to thirty one over Temple in our picks last week,
I had this one thirty one thirty. I was all
by a point, so I was fairly close. I'm gonna
get We're good. One of us is going to get
one of these. Is exactly right. But I thought it
would come down to the end. I just didn't think
it would be a Blake Corbath fifty yard keeper up
the middle with less than a minute to go that
would decide this one.
Speaker 3: But boy, it was take it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, absolutely all right, Stephen, game balls this week.
I'll let you fire first, because we certainly have a
host of options this week.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I was looking at Blake Horvath, I mean two
hundred and ninety six yards of combined offense, both through
the air and on the ground. But now I gotta
go with Armies offensive line, you know, three hundred and
four yards of rushing offense for the Black Nights, and
then of course thirty seven minutes and fifty four seconds
time of possession. Yes it's Charlotte, Yes they are, you know,
the proverbial doormat of the American Conference down there with
Tulsa and the now fighting fire. Trent Delfers of UAB.
But you know, you know what they're on your schedule.
You gotta play him. You might as well grind him
into submission, and they certainly did that. So my game
ball goes to Army's offensive line. Well, I'm like you,
we could go with Blake, Krvath and Degum.
Speaker 2: You know you got we do it every week, though
you could. It's like Bryce and daily. Eventually you just
got to kind of pivot and you gotta look elsewhere.
It's as good as Horvath was, and he was phenomenal there,
especially at the end. But like you, I'm gonna go
offensive line. I'm gonna go with Air Forces because Air
Force has not had many moments this year. But you
know they paved the way for four hundred and twenty
eight yards on Saturday, six hundred and three yards of offense.
That should be good enough to win you a football game.
I know that they're playing in them out less, but
this was also against an undefeated UNLV team, a pretty
darn good well coached UNLV team under Dan mullin in
that was leading them out less in a lot of
the key defensive categories. And you know, to put up
six hundred and three yards and forty nine or you know,
forty eight points that usually does the job, but obviously
just didn't do it this week. Is you know, Liam
Sarka is trying to get that breakthrough, trying to stop
that losing streak. But I got to tip my hat
to the to the Air Force offensive line. They just
got to have some help defensively one of these days.
All right, Steven, let's get out of here, because we
got a couple of games, we got a preview, we
got our Travis Meding Foundation Honor Roll segment, We've got
a few news and notes to pass. We got some
picks to make. But first tell everybody what they can
find here on the College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast network.
Speaker 3: Oh absolutely, there is plenty this week so far on
College Gridiron Coast to Coast, as I will tell you that,
we always start every week with a look at both
the ACC and the Big Ten. Of course, with the
ACC Miami being undefeated, how about Georgia Tech also being
undefeated so far this year, and they are certainly looking
like they could be setting themselves up for a showdown
against the Hurricanes late in the season. And then of
course Big Ten Paradigm talking a lot about James Franklin,
who of course was fired this week at Penn State
after losing two. As I like to say, a bunch
of nerds at Northwestern get off my pylon looking at
the West coast of things and how things are starting
to take shape out west with you know USC and Washington.
Washington's got a big game this week coming up against
Michigan at ann Arbor. That's going to be a huge game.
Pigskin and burnt ends of course looking at football in
Texas' what's the deal with arch manning A and m
of course in Texas Tech are just fantastic as always.
Later on this week we will have Florida Football Insiders
with Jason Powers and the big twelve sec breakdown with
Tyler Jones and Thomas Bridges. That's all still to come.
Speaker 2: This week, Tons tons for you right there on the
College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast network, including Yards and Stripes.
But we got more of exactly that Army Navy in
Air Force. When we come back, Stephen Carney and Price Atkinson.
We will talk to you in just a second with more.
Speaker 3: This episode of Yards and Stripes is sponsored in part
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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, as we continue on here on Yards and Stripes, Army,
Navy and Air Force. That's what we do, Service Academy Football.
Stephen Carney and Bryce Ackinson. So we got a couple
of games to preview here and let's get right into it.
Because our first one on Saturday, it's a rematch last
year's American Conference Championship game. Army at two Lane in
the Big Easy Army three and three, two and two
in the American against the Fight, John Summers and the
Green Wave from two Lane five and one, two and
zero in the American Saturday twelve noon on ESPN U
two Lane is a nine and a half point favorite
over Under forty six and a half. As the winners
of the last two American Conference titles, they're going to
do battle. They're at Tulane is Army now trying to
build on its two game win streak in a series
that tu Lane leads actually all time against Army thirteen
ten and one, with the team's first meeting in nineteen
nineteen fifty three playing a zero zero tie actually in
New Orleans. Imagine that in today's day and age of
college football. Don't think we'd see that happen in a
million years. But as we sit here right now, this
should be a darn good football game because this Tulane
is flying high right now. Army scot the mojo back
and Kate Hellms, who ranks first in the American Conference
and tied for fifth nationally with eight rushing touchdowns. He's
playing with a lot of confidence right now.
Speaker 3: Steven, Yeah, but really this game is going to be
all about Tulane and their quarterback of course, Jake retz
Laugh who was at BYU last year and transferred after
a little bit of controversy in Provo and has really
landed on his feet in New Orleans with the Green Wave.
He's got almost twelve hundred yards passing and oh, by
the way, he's got seven rushing touchdowns, so he's right
on Cale Hellum's uh tail when it comes to to
rushing touchdowns in college football. You know, this is going
to go as Red's laugh goes, if they can get
pressure on him and if he if he's able to
stand there and and able to stay keep his uniform clean,
so to speak. I think that this is going to
this is going to be a tough matchup. Uh here
for Army. And and you know, this is not the
same Army team that that John John summerl and the
Green Waves saw you know less than you know twelve
months ago. This is a this is a much different team. Uh,
it's built out different. Uh. Obviously they do a lot
of the same things, but you know, the personnel is
not quite where it was, say twelve months ago when
these two teams clashed the last time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the Green Wave also you clearly come into
this with a lot of confidence five and one, but
they won their last two games, and they're both conference
games against Tulsa and East Carolina. With their win, you know,
Tulane is now one nineteen of the team's last twenty
regular season conference games. Is there obviously two to o
this year? There were seven and one in twenty and
twenty four, and then eight o in twenty twenty three,
and then including the last two Conference games in two
thousand and two. So well under John Sumral this is
and certainly Willie Fritz, who was the head coach before
John Sumrall, it's a program that hadn't missed a beat.
I think we can safely say that John Someumral's not
going to be the head coach next year, but the
here and now is exactly what it is. He is
still there, and this is gonna be one of those
teams that probably out of three maybe four that's going
to be playing that you know, one of these three
or four teams is going to be playing certainly in
the American Conference Championship game.
Speaker 3: Yet again, yeah, absolutely, And you look at what they
what they've been able to do so far this year.
I mean, they've got to win over Duke, and Duke
is obviously, uh, you know, one of the better teams
in the ACC this year.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: Their lone loss was on the road to Old Miss
uh in Oxford. So and you know, I look at
that game kind of like I look at South Florida's
loss to Miami again on the road. It was you know,
a a much higher step up in competition, and you know,
you saw the difference between what uh you know, an
upper echelon SEC team or an upper echelon ACC team
is this year compared to uh what the American Conference brings.
And they were able to use that, uh you know,
the learning element of playing at Old Miss, and then
they beat up Tulsa and East Carolina. Tulsa obviously not
a very good team this year. You know, East Carolina
is a is better that than Tulsa. But that's a
team that obviously, uh, you know, beat Army pretty convincingly
just a couple of weeks ago at home.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Again, this is going to be a twelve noon
Eastern Standard time kickoff there from the Big Easy on
ESPN U TU Lane giving nine and a half points
over under forty six and a half in this one.
All right, let's move out west to the Mount West.
Commerce we go and Wyoming going to be heading to
Colorado Springs to take on Air Force. Wyoming is three
and three, one to one in the Mount West. Air
Force is certainly looking to stop the five game slide,
is there one in five overall zero to four in
the Mount West. This is a three thirty Eastern Standard
time kickoff there from the Air Force Academy on the
CBS Sports Network. Air Force kind of a surprise given
three and a half points at home in this one.
Fifty eight and a half is the over under NS
series that air Force leads all time thirty one, twenty
eight and three, and they also are nineteen twelve and
one at home. So air Force coming off a win
over Wyoming and twenty three the last time they met
at Falcon Stadium thirty four to twenty seven. But last
year Wyoming did knock off air Force there and layer
me thirty one to nineteen. So we'll see what happens
in this one. Is air Force has won three straight
at home in the series going back to twenty and seventeen.
We'll make picks in the next segment. But I got
a sneaking suspicion that I might be taking Air Force
to stop a losing skid. We will find out which
way you'll go. But I like the air Force is
playing at home. They just got to find a defense
that can get off the field.
Speaker 3: Stephen, Yeah, absolutely, and maybe it's against the Cowboys. You know,
I was looking at some of their you know, common
opponents so far this year. Obviously, both teams have played
UNLV air Force in Las Vegas loses by three points
last week. Two weeks ago, Wyoming welcomed the Rebels to
town and got beaten by two touchdowns. So that that
that you know, you know, I know that, you know
you look at common opponents, and you know it means
you know, a hill of beans when it comes to
the game that's being played this week. But that should
tell you that the sort of caliber of team that
Wyoming is. And even though they are three and three
and air Force is one in five, I think that
these two teams are much closer in competition than their
records indicate.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you're dead spot on with that. You know,
it's hard to compare scores against common opponents, but when
you look at, you know, their body of work to
this point, and at six and six or you know,
basically six gamesxcuse me, you can get a pretty good
sense of who a team is, and I think we
have a pretty good sense of that with Wyoming. It's
this is not a top tier mount Less team. Well,
certainly air Force is not either, But I think they're
pretty too evenly matched teams, and I probably would even
give air Force maybe a little bit of an edge,
especially playing at home, which is probably why they're three
and a half point favored in this one, you know,
but especially since, especially since the Falcons have scored at
least thirty points in each of their last five games,
and Wyoming has scored thirty points once so and that
was in their game against Coach Kenny and the Spartans
this past week. Yep, So you know, I it's hard
not to like Air Force to meet in this one,
you know, but history says playing at home and the
home team has won this one, you know. I think
what's six in a row. Air Force has won three
in a row at home in this one too, So
history is on the side for the Air Force Academy
as they're trying to fight get out of you know,
the seller. Is there one of three teams New Mexico,
Nevada and air Force, three teams that have not won
them out West Commerce game. I think that's gonna change
this week, but we'll find out again. Air Force is
a three and a half point favorite a three point
thirty Eastern Standard time kickoff on CBS Sports Network against Wyoming.
They're from Colorado Springs. All right, we got more to do,
Steven on our Travis Manion Foundation Honorale segment. We got
a few news and notes. We got some picks. Man
picks are the most fun. We'll do that when we
come back here on Yards to Stripes.
Speaker 5: In two thousand and seven, Mareen 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 Manion Foundation and through TMF
these words can live in you too. Show the world
what you're made of, because character is invisible until it's not.
Find out how you can strengthen the character of your
community alongside empowered veterans, families of the fallen, and inspired
civilians at Travismanion dot Org.
Speaker 2: As we continue here on ords and stripes, your home
for Service Academy Football. Now time for our Travis Mannion
Foundation Honor Roles segment. Morning honor and remember the fallen
hero one that has given the ultimate sacrifice. In the
words of Travis himself that he said before de playing
for that final time. If not me, then who and
TMF is carrying on the legacy of commitment service of
loved ones across the country, and you can get involved
at Travismannian dot org right now. They're all inclusive TMF
Tailgate except for December thirteenth, a Head of the Army
Navy Game. Tickets are limited. Go ahead and get your
spot right now. You can find other ways, many many
other ways that you can support the Travismanion Foundation online,
in a community near you. And this week on the
TMF Honorall segment, We're gonna honor remember a fallen hero in,
Lieutenant Thomas Mullen Adams, Remember the United States Navy. Lieutenant
Mullen Adams. Thomas Mullen Adams gave the ultimate sacrifice on
March to twenty second, two thousand and three, when two
Royal Navy C King helicopters collided in the air above
the Persian Gulf. Lieutenant Adams had been assigned as an
exchange officer with the Royal Navy's eight four nine Squadron
from October two thousand and two until his death. He
was just twenty seven years old. A native of of
La Mesa, California, Adams graduated from Grossmont High School in
nineteen ninety three, where he was a National Merit Scholar
as well as valedictorian. He went on to graduate with
honors from the United States Naval Academy with the class
in nineteen ninety seven. He had a long standing passion
for both the Navy and soccer. Quote from his uncle
said quote A look in his room with the models
and posters was only part of the story. Even when
he was in elementary school, he could describe in remarkable
detail the performance and history of each when end quote
when describing his love for all things Navy. The Travis
Manen Foundation honored Lieutenant Thomas Adams through their Character Does
Matter Program presented during the USNA Summer Seminar and their
STEM Program camp for rising eleventh graders. So we take
this time every single week to remember fallen heroes like
Lieutenant Adams from the States Navy and so many others
that have given that ultimate sacrifice, because, as we all know,
our freedom is not free. The games are fun to
talk about, but ultimately it's our heroes like Lieutenant Mullen
at Thomas Mullen, Adams and so many others that gave
that ultimate sacrifice for US.
Speaker 6: Travis Mallon Foundations nine to eleven Heroes run five K
race series units communities across the country and around the
world to honor the sacrifices of September eleventh and the
war since. Join your community this September and register to run,
walk or rock by visiting nine to eleven Heroes run
dot org.
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 Stripe Steve
Carney Price Atkinson as we've got some picks to make,
but first a couple of news and notes pass along
as the Lombardi midseason watch list is out. We've got
players from all three of our teams. Landon Robinson defensive
tackle from Navy, Palo Generelli offensive guard and offensive center,
Brady Small from Army, and then Peyton Drosick from the
Air Force Academy. They all make the midseason watch list.
Blake quarterback named Surprise Sprise one of Davey O'Brien's great
eight for the week, also named the American Offensive Player
of the Week for the second straight week, and Navy
was the with the late touchdown two point conversion. Was
the name the cheese at Crunch Time Team of the Week.
Then finally Kate Hellum's name honorable mention for the Earl
Campbell Tyler Rose Award last week for his twenty one carry,
one hundred and forty three yard and two touchdown effort
in the win over Charlotte. And I won't go through
and read them all, but the opponents for all the
teams in the American in twenty twenty six that was
announced this week, So I won't run through the opponents
for Army and Navy. I'll let you guys go check
those out. Not too totally different, but don't want to
be a show killer here, as we got some picks
to make.
Speaker 3: Well, is that before we get to the picks, you
have to congratulate Brian Newberry as well because he is
officially one of the coaches to watch on the twenty
twenty five American Heart Association Paul Bear Bryant Awards for
Coach of the Year. There are is it twenty eight
coaches that are that are on that list, and so
Brian Newberry and this who leading the six and zero
Navy midshipman is on that list. He is one of one, two, three,
four American Conference coaches on this watch list. Obviously, Alex
Golesh of South Florida, Ryan Silverfield of Memphis and John
Summerl of Tulane are also on that list.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and of funny how to change those lists they
add they take people off mid season. I mean, you've
probably been a voter on a lot of these things too,
and you just see these the different the way they
maneuvers like chess piece, you know, adding guys taking guys off,
it's you know, it's par for the course. So but
congratulations to Brian Newberry to being on that list. So
steven two games? How crazy we're going to get this week?
Let's see last week we both had Army, we both
had un LV, and we certainly both had Navy. We
were pretty similar in Army score UNLV we thought would
be a runaway winner that wasn't. Then we uh, you know,
my Army Navy pick was close, but we we both
had Navy. We don't we don't stray very often. But
are we going to strade this week? We'll find out.
Let's talk about it. Tulane and Army rematch of the
American Conference Championship game last year when Army spank Tulane.
There at Mikey Stadium. Will they do it again or
will the spanking be done the other way? We'll find out,
But it is in the big easy. It's not at
Mikey Stadium this year on a very very cold night
like it was in December last year. So I got
to think the advantage is going to be with John
Someroll and the Green Wave. Is there a nine and
a half point favorite steem?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Absolutely. You know the spanking came from Army last
year because of their quarterback. I think the spanking comes
this year from Tulane thanks to Jake Rehetz laugh. This
is going to be the Jake Reetz laugh Show. If
you ask me, he's gonna throw the ball a lot.
I think. I think you're gonna find a lot of
wide open receivers if if your rets laugh and you're
getting you down to the close to the goal line
and then he can just run it in himself. I
have Tulane winning this game thirty four to fourteen.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, Wow, we're close. I had too long. I've got
Tulane thirty one to thirteen. So we're very close. So
we don't just usually we don't.
Speaker 4: Ever.
Speaker 2: Sometimes we might chat about who he thinks in a win,
we never, you know, give our scores in advance, So
pretty darn close on this one. Let's I'll take this
next one first because air Force uh in Wyomings is
I did elude. I thought air Force, certainly being a
three and a half point favorite, was probably right, as
they have won three straight at home in this series,
and I think that they are going to get a
win in this one against the fighting Cowboys from Laramie.
I'm going with air Force in to the tune of
thirty one to twenty seven because I think their offense
is just much better and I think for the first
time in a while that they're going to get a
few needed stops they need, which will be the difference.
Air Force thirty one to twenty seven Steam.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're very close. Again. I think you're absolutely right
that air Force has shown that they can put thirty
points on the board at a consistent basis. Wyoming can't.
And that's why I think air Force gets the stop
they need. I think they win thirty to twenty four.
That's how I have it. So I think that they
do get a stop late, and whether it's a fumble
or an interception, or something get that causes a turnover
at the end of the game and they finally get
their first conference win of the season.
Speaker 2: What I know is we've been doing this a while, Steven.
So because we've been doing this a while. Two smart
dudes think alike here, and we're usually pretty close on
the way we feel about these games, and this week
is no different. But I can't wait to see how
things go down as we move into really the meat
of college football, as we are in the middle of October,
and this is when they start sorting things out, man,
This is mid October is when we start getting a
little bit clear of you and figuring out which way
these things are going to go as far as college
football playoff conference races, et cetera. So maybe obviously right
now is in the thick one Armies trying to scrap
and claws fight their way in there. As we know
Air Force, they're just trying to get a win in
the mountain less. So Stephen, great work. This week. Has
always always loved the Poppy Ons Pizza Report as we
get things started.
Speaker 3: But can't wait me agree again.
Speaker 2: Well, we're gonna have to go raid the fridge because
it's almost ten o'clock at night, So we need to
go find what we got for a midnight snack. You
need to get Emily fed, you need to give her
a midnight snack tonight. I need to go find something
after my swim practice tonight. So just everybody check out
the College GRODW and Coast to Coast podcast network where
we are where there's so much more if you're a
college football fan. We will be back again next week.
Until then, Steven can't wait to do it, brother, absolutely,
I'll look forward to it. Enjoy the two games this week.
Speaker 1: Join us again next time for Yards and Strikes Service
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