Speaker 1: Need to get your football fixed 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 another edition of Yards and Stripes, your
home for Service Academy Football. He is my main man,
Stephen Carney, and I am Pryce Atkinson, and we are
here to serve you because we are all about Army, Navy,
and Air Force, the three service academies. That is what
we do here on Yards and Stripes. As we are
part of the Last Word on sports podcast Networks, Stephen
and his wife are waiting for a big old steam
and pizza to be delivered to their front door. So
if it's delivered while we're on the air, I hope
he's going to take a bite and tell me how
good it is, because let me thank.
Speaker 3: You God, thank God you said steaming. That's all. That's
all I'll say right now.
Speaker 2: I knew I couldn't end it right there, my friend.
I knew I had to keep going and getting to
the pizza. But that better be good because look.
Speaker 3: Well let's let's let's put let's let's let's throw all
the cards out on the table. I'm waiting on a pizza.
But we're recording on a Tuesday night for a very
specific reason, and that is because somebody on this show
I'm not going to say who, is going to be
on their way to Indianapolis, Indiana to go and meet
up with my girl tayte uh later on this week,
and so they had to record. We have to record tonight,
which is perfectly fine by me.
Speaker 2: Well we've we've got Halloween on Thursday, so that kind
of take Although you and I did record on a Halloween,
I don't remember. I don't think it was last year.
Speaker 3: Maybe be too, it was two years It was two
years ago, and it was funny because our friend Mike
love All, I swear to God, was still in his
Halloween custum.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's right, because Mike was Mike was still
with us, that's right, and he is still. Let me
just say that he is definitely still with us. He
has gotten gone nowhere, except he's not co hosting the podcast,
So I don't want to make light of that. Mike
is no longer with us, and you know what I
mean by that. But yes, it's so Halloween Thursday, We've
got stuff going tomorrow pre Halloween and then Friday. Yes,
we are jet setting on a long roadie up to
Indianapolis for the Eras Tour, taking my daughter who is
twelve birthday present. It was a surprise. We gave her
the tickets last month and so here we go. We're
going to see t Swift. I just never thought i'd
see the day go ahead and pinch me.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 2: No, I'm not a swiftye but yes, I'm gonna wear
the Swifty Dad t shirts already been picked out.
Speaker 3: Stephen, excellent, that and and that. That is probably the
best birthday present you can get a twelve year old,
you know, outside of a of an iPhone and all
this other stuff, you know, a new Tesla for but
no getting you know, it's probably cheaper to go that round.
Then again, Taylor's Swift tickets.
Speaker 2: You know, I thought about where my social distortion t
shirt one of those or something like that, but I
was like, you know what, I can't do that. I
can't rain on all these Swifties parades. I've got to
get with the program. So my wife now found a
shirt on etsme high. It's me, I'm the dad, It's
me so I've got my shirt.
Speaker 3: It's fantastic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm ready to roll, man, I am so ready
to roll.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you're gonna, you're gonna you're gonna
have a great time at this concert because she puts
on a hell of a show.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I can't wait. Honestly, I really can't wait. I'm
not like I will say once again, I'm not a
swiftye nor I've been, but I appreciate the shows that
she does. Never been to one, but having seen the
movie and heart so many people that have been, I'm
actually really looking forward to the show because I think
it's gonna be fantastic. I can't wait. It will it
will be so all right, let's get back to the football, Stephen,
because we got it that's to talk about, including a tear.
We'll pick on my behalf. Now, we both thought that
it was gonna be close. But let me look yours
truly got this one way wrong. I thought Navy was
poised for an upset. Yes, I know it was going
way out of bounds, out in left field. Now, I'm
not trying to channel my Inner World series right now,
but I thought that Navy, having played so crisp, clean, explosive,
you know, on both sides of the ball. I thought
that this was going to be one of those that
they were gonna knock it off, especially playing up in
New Jersey. But like coach Brian Newberry said after the game,
maybe the stage was too big for us. As Navy
falls from the ranks of the unbeaten Stephen as the
Irish absolutely trounce Navy fifty one to fourteen. Let's get
into it as number twelve, notre dame. I mean, look,
six turnovers. I'm just gonna say one word, and I'm
just gonna say it, turnover. And it wasn't just turnover,
it was turnovers. That's still one word. But after just
two turnover steven this season, none of them which were fumbles,
Navy commits six, five fumbles and an interception, giving the
ball away A minus six, you know on the turnover
margin in the game leads to twenty eight Irish points.
That was your ballgame.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I will use another word to mention for
this game uncharacteristic, because that is certainly not the way
that the Midshipmen have played football at all this season.
The fact that you mentioned that they had had two
turnovers all season in the first six games of the year,
two turnovers total, and then they turned the ball over
six times against the Fighting Irish, And maybe maybe the
stage was too big, but I will say that all
of those turnovers led to so many Notre Dame points,
and so if you clean that up, obviously you find
your off in maybe a better a better situation. Uh there.
But there's just you just can't have that many turnovers
and expect to have any sort of chance to even
make keep it close. The Notre Dame is too good
of a team, even though they they lost earlier this
year to to Northern Illinois, and I was not impressed
with some of the wins that they had had since
the loss to the Huskies. But they they looked like
the much cleaner, the much more polished, and the much
more prepared team than than Navy was in the Saturday's game.
Speaker 2: And honestly, the turnovers notwithstanding, I thought Notre Dame just
looked bigger, faster, stronger, all those kind of things that
you would think they were a team over an academy.
But let me throw this out because you're gonna this this.
This is a statistic that's gonna go straight to Steven M.
Carney heart right now, Okay, is somebody that's an official
score for Major League Baseball. Let me throw this one
out here for you. The six turnovers that were committed
in the game by Navy was the most by a
Navy team since two thousand and two versus Boston College.
That was the game, a game that I was an
official scorer for while I was still working at the
Naval Academy. I mean, I kid you not six turnovers.
The last time was two thousand and two, when I
was the official scorer for home Navy football games and
obviously neutral site games that we hosted. But I thought
the crazy thing in this game, though, Steven, maybe they
were spooped by the stage. Because again this is an excuses,
This is simply the facts of what happened. Most all
the turnovers that occurred, they weren't like they got drilled
ball pops out, you know, you know, helmet hits the ball.
These were like literally like you've got bricks for hands
or fingers, like dropping the ball like on a pit.
You know, there was a bad pitch that was a
little bit low to test. At one point from horbat
they said horbat, you know, had the bad thumb, all right, fine,
but most of the turnovers were balls where they just
were simply dropped put on the ground and the other
team got it. It wasn't that it was like a
quote unquote forced fumble. It was a drop the football.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you look at where they were, you know,
number two in the country and turnover margin, I believe
coming into the game. Uh, that's that is so uncharacteristic.
I'll use the word again, you know. I I thought that,
you know, and going back and watching the highlights, you know.
In the interest of full disclosure, I was at a
car dealership during the during the congratulations, so so I
was I was actually very happy that I wasn't able
to watch it live because I probably would have been
swearing up and down in the middle of knees on
of clear water. And I'm sure that my uh, the
my my friend David Maldonado, uh, who is the VP
of customer Acquisitions who helped me and my my lovely
wife pick out our new our new vehicle on Saturday. Uh,
he probably would have been like, dude, you need to
go because and I'm like, and I certainly would have
felt like yeah, you're right, I probably do need to go.
I I just thought that, you know what, and just
watching the low lights of it, you know, every single
ball that went on the ground, knowing that I that
that that that fumble was going to be lost, it
was just like, oh no, oh, you can't do that.
I found myself going, how how is this? How is
this possible? You know, for a team that is so
surehanded to be able to go out there and play
so poorly against the team that you needed to play
perfectly to have a chance again.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah you did. In the number twelve Iris, they
built a thirty one to seven lead at halftime and
they were obviously never threatened from there as Riley Leonard,
the Duke transfer quarterback for Notre Dame, threw for one
seventy eight two touchdowns. Jeremiah Love on the ground for
the for the Irish twelve carries one oh two average
eight and a half yards per carry. He carried it
for two scores. And you know, Blake Horbath wasn't awful.
He wasn't good, you know with the fumbles in putting
the ball on the ground, but he you know, threw
it for eighty eight yards, had to pick then had
a team high fourteen carries for one hundred and twenty
nine yards, rushing nine yards to carry in the score.
But it was just obviously, you know, too little. It
wasn't enough. The turnovers were of the story of the
football game. That simply is what you point to is
maybe now they'll be forced to just try and flush
this away after the six wins to start the season
and now six and one Notre Dame, now seven and one,
maybe just gonna have to try and flush this one away.
Get about it as they get ready to go to Houston,
UH and face the Rice Owls. And we got another
game to talk about to another big game which I
didn't mention from the outset, Steve, but we got its
Commander in Chief Trophy week here again because we got
the second leg. We're going to preview that game here
in a little bit along with the Navy game at Rice.
So we're going to talk about that a lot more
here coming up. We're going to give our picks. We
got our Travis Mending Foundation on a roll segment. But Steven,
game ball, we only had one game, which are you
going to go with your game ball?
Speaker 3: Well, you know I was looking at at what what
you can what you could do for a game ball,
and you had to look at the defense, uh for
for Navy. I I really thought that that's probably the
way that you needed to go. I had mentioned Riley
Richman in UH last week when we were looking at
you know, hey this he could be a guy that
could turn around a field and he didn't get that
many opportunities, but when he did, he really took advantage
of it. He had only two punts, you know, averaged
sixty yards a punt and one was sixty eight, so
the other one was fifty two. So I was gonna
go def on the defensive side. I'm gonna go with
Riley Riifman because he did what he did his job
and there weren't many time many guys on that team
that you could say did their job, but he certainly did.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Another guy that I thought did their job I'm
gonna get my game ball was Colin Ramos. You know,
the outstanding linebacker for the Naval Academy in the middle.
You know, fifteen tackles, five of which were solo, had
a game high on the stops and just putting together,
you know, an outstanding campaign that I don't know where
he if he's going to be mentioned on any All
American lists, but there's no question in my mind he should.
You know, the announcers were talking about, you know how
he's a little bit undersized, but you know, just he's
just that carries on just what his It's been a
really great, really really good run of Navy linebackers lately,
and Diego Figau is one that you know immediately comes
to mind in the immediate you know that just played.
I know we'll have you got him a note on
him here and just a little bit and some others
that have come through, especially played for Brian Newberry since
he took over his defensive coordinator. So I'll give Colin
Ramos my game balls. We only had that one game
last week. Boy, we got two coming up this week,
including the big one, the Commander in Chief Trophy second leg,
and we're going to talk about it when we come back, Steven,
But first tell everybody about the last word on Sports
podcast Network, because look, college football fans, you're obviously here
for a reason. If this is the end of the
line for you, don't let it be. Because at last
we're on Sports we got a whole lot more.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, The Last Word on Sports podcast Network has plenty
of podcasts, not just for college football, although that's why
you are here, and we've got plenty of other college
football podcasts. When you look at the SEC we've got,
it just means more football and coffee. This week, those
guys took a deep dive into LSU and the Highs
and Lows with the Bayou Bengals. We of course have
Get Off My Pylon, which is a West Coast oriented
college football podcast, so you get a really interesting perspective
from Mad Zemic here in the Sunshine State. We've got
Florida football insiders. Jason Powers always has great stuff when
it comes to that, The Big Twelve and SEC Breakdown
with Tyler Jones and Thomas Bridges as well, and of
course this week in the ACC. So we've got you
from stem to stern when it comes to college football
at last Word on Sports dot Com slash Podcasts.
Speaker 2: Boy, that was so well done, Steven, so well done.
So much Navy and you and we got a lot
more Navy, We got a lot more Army, we got
a lot more Air Force coming up here on Yards
and Stripes, your home for service g out of.
Speaker 3: Football Yards and Stripes is sponsored in part by ticket Smarter.
College football season is here. We know you're looking for
the best seats at the most competitive prices, and we
want to make sure you take advantage of ticket smarter
and their mobile app. We know more than ever that
buying college football tickets online requires trust, and ticket smarter
has partnered with more than one hundred universities and twenty
four conferences as their official ticket resale marketplace. They've also
partnered with ESPN Events as an official ticket resale partner
as well. Purchase your tickets quickly, securely, and at the
best prices on the secondary market with a ticket smarter
mobile app or at ticketsmarter dot com. We've got an
additional offer for those listening to all of our podcasts
on College Gridiron coast to coast. You can save ten
dollars off your purchase of one hundred dollars or more
with our promo code LWOS ten. And if you spend more,
you'll save more because you can get twenty dollars off
of any purchase of three hundred dollars or more with
the promo code LWOS twenty. And that's not a one
time offer. You can use our code all season long
and save for the best selection of seats to the
biggest games. Don't wait though, get the best selections in
pricing now with ticket Smarter remember our codes LWOS ten
and LWOS twenty. Thanks Smarter. Ticket Smarter.
Speaker 1: The latest with Navy, Army and Air Force on Yards
and Stripes Service Academy Football.
Speaker 2: As we continue along here on Yards and Strikes your
home from Service Academy Football, Stephen Carney on Price Ackinson
and Steven's Pizza has arrived, so we got a all
on so we can have some of that steaming hot
Pepperoni sausage pizza coming your way. All right, we got
steven two games to get into and we're gonna save
the big eat for last. So let's go ahead and
talk about the Naval Academy heading to Houston, as they
are going to be taken on the Rice OWL six
and one Navy four to ohero in the America taking
on two and six Rice one in three in the American.
This is going to be a four o'clock Eastern Standard
time kickoff on ESPN two right now. Navy installed as
a ten and a half point favorite the over under
in this one. Excuse me as fifty one and a
half in a game that both these programs are going
to be you know, I don't want to say facing adversity,
but maybe that's the best way to put it is. Obviously,
Navies coming off their first loss of the season, so
they're just trying to put that bad taste out of
their mouth after getting, you know, tasting a loss for
the very first time, while Rice just fired their head coach,
Mike Blumgren, the longtime head coach who spent seven seasons
with the Owls was forty two and fifty two a
long time Stanford assistant. They've gone to back to back
Bowl games steven and the last two years. Coming into
twenty twenty four, that was the first time they'd been
to back to back Bowl games since twenty thirteen and fourteen,
but just could never get it going the season after
they lost to Sam Houston State. And now I've lost
two in a row heading into Saturday's matchup with Navy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I look at what and you can you
can go and look at what Rice has done this year,
and it has not been pretty. I mean, they've lost
a couple of teams that I would say, you probably
should have had a better opportunity. They lose at home
to Charlotte. We saw what we saw what Navy did
to Charlotte early a couple of weeks ago, with that
fifty one seventeen victory. They lost at Connecticut last week
seventeen ten. I know that Yukon is better than they
have been, but not nearly as good as some of
the teams that you know that Navy has faced so
far this year. And I look at what happened between
Rice and Army near the beginning of the season. The
Black Knights hosted the Owls earlier the year and ran
all over them. It was a thirty seven to fourteen
decision win for Army, and I could see Navy doing
a lot of the same sort of things in this
game that Rice could not handle. And I think that
Navy does it as well as anybody, and that includes Army.
So I think that this is going to be a
very very difficult game for the Owls. I know that
some people say that you know, when you fire your
head coach, you get a bounce from your players because
now they want to prove that the firing was a
wrong decision. And they want to play well for the
interim coach, you know, whoever it might be. But I
think that this interim coach is not going to have
the same sort of bounce that he is expecting because
I think Navy's going to walk over him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so too. Actually, this is the first
meeting between the two programs is two thousand and nine,
and the series is time six games apiece. But Rice
starting quarterback EJ. Warner, Yes, that EJ. Warner that was
was at Temple before that. Yeah, and the son of
Kurt Warner, son of Kurt Warner. Yes, it was a
game time decision last Saturday against Yukon. Didn't end up
playing due to the injury, but he had a big
day against Navy last year, throwing for four h two
and four touchdowns as Temple defeated Navy thirty two to
eighteen in Philadelphia. They certainly are going to need to
get him back if they're going to have a chance
in this one, because outside of not having EJ. Warner,
this is going to just be a very very tall
order for a Rice team that struggling with any kind
of consistency whatsoever. At two and six and just one
win in the American this season.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and with with the Owls being where they are,
and I think that, you know, for a team in
the American Athletic Conference, if you were at the bottom
of the pile the way things are going going now
with nil, it can be difficult to get out out
from under the bottom of the pile because I think
that there are gonna be a lot of players that
are going to look to leave at the end of
the year and it will be very difficult to get
players back that will be able to fit, you know,
and and be upgrades, so to speak. So I think
that this shows that I think Rice might be in trouble,
not just for the rest of this year, but for
years to come again.
Speaker 2: Navy and Rice set to do battle on Saturday at
four pm Eastern Center Time again and ESPN to kickoff
there as Navy is a ten and a half point
favorite there at Rice. All right, let's get to the
big one, Stephen, because Commander in Chief Trophy. The second
leg it is here is Air Force heading to West
Point to take on number twenty one Army. Yes, Army
moves up two spots in both last week despite not playing,
or I should say this week to stop despite not
playing last week, but Air Force one and six at
number twenty one Army seven to oho this one at
Mikey Stadium, twelve noon Eastern Standard time, kickoff on CBS
Big CBS, that is not CBS Sports Network. Army at
twenty two and a half point favorite over under in
this one forty one and a half. As I mentioned,
the second leg of a CIC Trophy, Army is gonna
put the nation's longest win streak on the line in
the first meeting between these two teams at an academy
since the twenty twenty COVID season when they met at
West Point and Army scored a ten to seven squeaker.
But the Air Force Academy, they do lead the overall
series between Army thirty eight, nineteen and one, and they
are also fourteen and twelve and games played at Army.
The Falcons are also thirty five and seventeen and CIC
games against Army dating back to nineteen seventy two. However,
the Black Knights they have won five of the last seven.
I think anybody that is a betting man in this one,
Steven is putting their money on the Black Knights.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is definitely not your father's Air Force Academy,
that's for sure. This is a team that really is
going to be behind the proverbial eight ball, you know,
in more ways than one. Not only is Army the
much more talented team this year, but Air Force having
to come east, and so they're playing basically what would
be a ten am Mountain Time game. And I know
that for you know, for guys that are in a
service academy, ten am is late. You know, some of
these guys are are you know, most of these guys
are used to being up, you know, zero four hundred,
getting ready to go to class. But I still think
that the travel, the coming, the you know, and even
though you know these are these are military members, they
are still creatures of habit as football players. And I
think that those couple of hours will mean something, uh
for the for the Falcons. And I think that if
they have any chance, uh, they've got to be up
and they've got to be ready from from the opening kick.
And I think that it's going to take some significant
uh brain farts uh so to speak from from Army,
plus a lot of a lot of uh fortunate bounces
for Air Force to have any shot at this. I mean,
you think about it. The only win that they have
this year is to a one FCS team in Merrimack.
They've looked horrible in their entire Mountain West Conference UH
schedules so far. They got beat up by Navy badly,
and I think that Army is willing UH to want
to put up a similar, if not worst beating of
the Falcons. And you know that Jeff Punkin is really
looking forward to saying you see little sister or a
little stepsister, get back to Colorado Springs.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a couple things there. You mentioned that Navy did
beat Air Force thirty four to seven the first leg
and the Commander in Chief trophy. So if somehow Air
Force can find a way in this game, that would
mean that the worst Navy could do would be able
to share it. But if Army were to win this game,
that obviously sets up the Army Navy game for all
the marbles. And we're talking about the Army Navy regular
season game, the one that everybody we all know, because
I know there's been a lot of chatter, including my
friend Culpepper at Washington Post who wrote a column you
know about Army and Navy just the other day and
talking about could we could we please get this back
to back weekends, you know, with an American Athletic Conference
championship game on Friday and then the following Saturday they
play the regular season matchup. That would be awesome. But
let's just pump the brakes right there. But something that
we got the Bears repeating, and I'm not saying it's
gonna happen this year because what we've seen out of
air Force has been nothing short of barely having a
pulse on offense this year. I mean, we know that
they had to replace anybody that did have a pulse
that did anything last year, and they haven't done much
this year. I meant, for crying out loud right now.
Air Force didn't even average two hundred yards rushing per game.
All right, So what I'm about to say, take it
with a grain of salt. But you remember what happened
last year when air Force was flying high, undefeated, literally
flying high, undefeated, and they host Army at Mile High
in downtown Denver, and Army absolutely punks them twenty three
to three and knocks them off, and boy, air Force
was never the same the rest of the season. Could
the shoe be on the other foot here on Saturday.
I don't think so, because once again, we haven't seen
we haven't seen anything out of Army or out of
Air Force that makes you think they have a fighting
shot in this. But again, rivalries you throw the record
book all that out the window. These coaches know each
other so well, they recruit the same kids, They know
the tendencies, especially Monkin and Calhoun. They've been going at
this each other for so many years. They know what
each other is gonna try and do before they do it.
So that's why you always got to give the you know,
I guess say the underdog a puncher's chance in this rivalry.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you can. You can give them a
puncher's chance. The only problem is is that Army has
Van Drago under center. Bryceon daily is what is exactly
what this? What what this? You know? Has he Daniel?
I would use I would compare him to Zeke Daniels
with Air Force a couple of years ago. Uh you
know the uh the season veteran quarterback that knows exactly
how to make the machine run exactly how his head
coach wants it to. You know is he Daniels did
that for Troy Calhoun a couple of years ago, and
now Bryson Dally is doing that for Jeff Bunkin here
this year for Army, and I think that that's the
big difference here. And while you give him a puncher's chance,
unfortunately I see Army as Drago and I see Air
Force as Apollo Creed.
Speaker 2: Well, we'll give you our picks here in just a
little bit. But again, both teams coming off by weeks.
Army expected to get running back Tyroll Robinson back for
this one, so that'd be a you know, another playmaker
for the Black Knights. I know Troy Calhoun doesn't necessarily
want to see anymore. He would love to have Tyroll
Robbins on his team because he needs all the playmakers
he can get on offense to find what they can.
Real quick, before we get out of here and get
to our Travis Manon Foundation Honor Roll segment, we will
come back and pick our two games, and we got
some news and notes to pass al on. But did
you see, real quick, did you see the prank that
the Army Cadets played at the Air Force Academy just
this week? Because you know when it's you know, rivalry week.
You know the academies get together. Shenanigan's happen. You always
have exchange students who are cadets from all the different academies.
You know, they're at each other's institution. Did you see, Stephen,
what the Army cadets, presumably the Army cadets did the
Falcon Stadium.
Speaker 3: Oh, Army would never do that to the Falcon Stadium.
Please tell tell our listeners what what was reported to
have happened.
Speaker 2: So in the upper deck on the home side written
very big is Air Force. So presumably I'm going to
just say, presumably Army cadets sneak into Falcon Stadium and
they put a C H in front of the A.
So from I twenty five riding by on the interstate,
you can look to the right and look to the
home side and it clearly reads Share Force in the
upper deck.
Speaker 3: That's that's the that's the PRT in the Air Force. Right,
it's a It's not on a bike, at least at
least it was. When I was in the Navy. We
always we used to always joke about how how the
Air Force members all got to do their prt on
a bike instead of having to do push up setups
and running.
Speaker 2: Well they let's let's just say that I'm sure that
the Air Force cadets are going to try and find
a way to have their fun before Saturday up at
West Point. You know that they've got something cooked up.
You can't go, you can't let yourself get punked out
like that like Air Force did on the field last year.
But we got more to do here is we're going
to continue with our Travis Manion Foundation on a roll
segment next honoring a fallen hero. Then Steve and I
coming back to pick our games and pass along some
news and notes regarding our three academies, and we'll do
that here on Yards and Stripers coming up.
Speaker 4: In two thousand and seven, Green First Lieutenant Travis Mannon
was killed in Iraq after saving his wooted teammates. Travis
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: Continue on along here on Darky Strikes your home for
Service Academy Football. We've come to our Travis Manion Foundation
Honorall Segment where you honor remember a fallen hero one
that has given the ultimate sacrifice for our nation and
for our freedoms. And as we approach Veterans Day, it's
always a good time to honor remember our veterans. They're
here that have served and unfortunately those that haven't come home.
And this week on the Travismanian Foundation Honorall Segment, We're
going to honor remember a member of the United States
Marine Corps Lance Corporal Shan P. Hefner of Hicco, Texas,
who gave the ultimate sacrifice on November thirteenth, two thousand
and nine, when I improvised explosive device while supporting combat
operations in the hem Helmland Province of Afghanistan. Exploded Lance
Corporal Hefner graduated from Hicco High School in two thousand
and six. He finished Marine Corps boot camp on April
the eleventh, two thousand and eight, he was assigned to
the second Amphibious Assault Battalion, second Marine Division out of
Camp Lejiu, North Carolina. He has survived by his parents,
Patrick and Robin Hefner, as well as his siblings Brandon
and Jessica. Shawn servis and sacrifice has been honored by
his family and fellow marines through the travisman In Foundation's
Character Does Matter program and through multiple expeditions. And you
can find out ways that you can support the Travismanion
Foundation online at Travismanion dot org as you can get
involved in carrying on the legacy of commitment service of
loved one, somebody you knew, somebody that you were close to,
a family member, or just somebody that you don't know.
Because there's so many that are putting their lives in
harms way every single day, from one corner of the
globe to the next. We cannot say thank you enough
to our veterans who have come home, but also to
the families of those who haven't. So this week on
our Travis Meniing Foundation on a roll, we remember Marine
Lance Corporal Sean P.
Speaker 5: Hefner Travis Mallon Foundations nine to eleven Heroes Run five
K race series unites communities across the country and around
the world to honor the sacrifices of September eleventh and
the war since. Join your community this September and register
to run, walk or rock by visiting nine to eleven
heroesrun dot org.
Speaker 1: The latest with Navy, Army and Air Force on Yards
and Stripes Service Academy Football.
Speaker 2: Back here on Yards is stripe Is. Stephen and I
are sharing chair Force jokes here acaus we step away
and we're going to try and get Steven to his
pizza date here sooner than later, as we want to
wish everybody a happy early Halloween. You know that Halloween
weekend always has some spooky things that happen on the field,
So I'm curious to see if something spooky might happen
up and up at Mikey Stephen. I don't know, but
we'll pick those games here in just a second. So
let's get to a few news and notes real fast
before we do get to picking our two games, including
that CIC second leg. A couple of game times to
announce for Saturday, November the ninth, the Air Force game
at home against Fresno State is going to kick off
that Saturday night on November the ninth. That's going to
be a seven forty five Mountain standard time kick on
FOP Sports. One earlier in the day kickoff times, we're
announcing the American Athletic maybe going to be taken on
South Florida on the road there in Tampa right there,
a stone's throw from Stephen right now. That's going to
be a twelve noon kickoff on ESPN two. And then
following the Naval Academy in usf Army is going to
be kicking off at North Texas against the Mean Green
at three point thirty on ESPN two. So you got
back to back Academy doubleheaders on Saturday, November the ninth
with Army and Navy and then Air Force on Fox
Sports won that evening against Fresno State. Navy senior safety
Rayon Lane the third named a semi finalist for the
JYM Fourth Awards, so congratulations to him. And then Armies
Bryson Daily and Navy's Blake Corback named one of thirty
five candidates for the Davy O'Brien Award. Daily also was
added to the All State Sugar Bowl Manning Award watch
list and then finally going back to the Falcons, Steven
remember Ron Vanderlinden assistant former assistant coach there went on
to be the head coach at Maryland I believe the
Citadel maybe two, but he's going to receive the AFCA's
twenty twenty four Outstanding Achievement Awards. So congratulations to coach Vanders.
Also one note that you pulled that I hadn't seen yet,
but you and for me about just a little bit ago,
tell our listeners about a big retirement from football.
Speaker 3: Yeah, retirement for Diego Fagaux. We talked about him earlier
in the show when we were talking about the history
of strong inside linebacker play at the Naval Academy. Figo,
who of course played for Navy from twenty eighteen through
twenty twenty one and then went undrafted in the NFL
but signed with the Baltimore Ravens, also played for the
Houston Roughnecks of the XFL, was on the practice squad
of the New England Patriots, and then finally with the
Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL. He has decided to end
his football career, tweeted on Monday, officially retired forever indebted
to this game. I lived out my dreams and met
all my best friends along the way. At this time,
I will be commissioning back into the Service. Excited for
this next chapter of life. Hashtag for goat, hashtag mister
right now, hashtag mister pot Scraper, which I always which
I thought was very, very funny. But so congratulations to
Diego on making his dream of becoming a professional in
the world of football true though he did not play
in a game as a professional, and now going back
into the service to be commissioned and now fulfilling his
military obligations. We definitely say fair wins and following sees
as he gets ready to embark on his military career.
Speaker 2: I think everybody with an American flag on our chest,
on her back, on her shoulder, wherever, we say welcome
back Diego, because having that young man is an officer
in the United States military, that's a good thing for
everybody listening and then some right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, And I remember watching him play at Navy
and and how everybody just you know, rallied around him
like he was. He was the spark, he was the heart,
the soul, the battery, if you will, of that of
that defense uh at at inside linebacker. And you know
that a man who is able to do that for
a group of for a group of men are certainly
going to be able to get the best out of
uh the soldiers, the sailors, the Marines, uh, the airmen
UH that are going to be uh you know reporting
to him as an officer in the United States Military.
And I wish him all the best.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, we all do. Certainly congratulations to diego, talented young man.
But just damn, I'm glad he's on our side. That's
all all safe, damn right, all right, Steven, Let's get
you to your pizza date. Let's pick some games here.
Let's start. Let's start with right in Houston, because that's
what I actually has a little special place in my
heart because this is the site where I met one
of the three US presidents that I've ever met, and
it was the first one that actually ever met, is
when I met George W. But or George Bush, the
forty one. It's getting ready to come up the elevator
to do a interview with Pete Medhurst and the Navy
radio crew. As I went down at halftime just to
kind of walk around and take in the sights and
the sounds there at halftime when we were playing at Rice.
I believe that was two thousand and one or two
thousand and two. But nonetheless, Navy and the Rice Owls
Rice struggling mightily two and six. Obviously, Navy's coming off
that loss at six and one to Notre Dame. I
don't I still don't think Navy's gonna have any problems
in this one, Steven, But what do you think?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I certainly don't think there's gonna be any any
sort of problems when it comes to this game. And
this is the bounce back that the midshipman need. They
get a nice soft landing after the kill hauling they
took at the hands of Notre Dame. So yeah, I
think this is probably like thirty seven thirteen. I really
do think that. Oh my lord, Yeah, I think this
is another another beat the Owls suffer, another beat down
in the hands of a Service Academy.
Speaker 2: Great minds, think alike. Because I had thirty eight to
thirteen here on my prep sheet written down, and so
when you dropped to thirty seven thirteen, I'm like deck
gum a great minds think alike. Let's see if great
minds think alike on our second game, the big Game,
the game of the weekend. That's air Force at number
twenty one, Army one in six, air Force seven and
zero Army, putting the winning station's longest winning streak on
the line, trying to get that eight to o. Is
air Force gonna stand in the way, Stephen.
Speaker 3: In a word, No, And on top of that, Jeff
Bunkins had two weeks to prepare for this now, So
I think if they, if they had only had one week,
I would say, okay, I would give the punchers chance
a little more. No, there is no way that that
air Force has anything.
Speaker 2: I say, forty one to three Army forty one to three, Okay,
that's a little bit more than what I was gonna go.
I was gonna go. I was somewhere in that neighborhood,
tracking pretty close to you. I've got Army big, except
not quite as big. I do have Army covering you
had forty one to three. I was gonna go Army
thirty one to six, so not quite running rough shod
over the falcons. But nonetheless, you and I expect it
to be a bludgeoning no matter what at Mikey Stadium
come twelve noon, which will be a ten am Mountain
Standard time kickoff for the Falcons there locally. All right, Steven,
let's get out of here. Let's wish everybody a happy Halloween.
Hope every it has a great holiday later this week,
no veteran stay is also around the corners. I mentioned
the Travis Mana Foundation on a roll segment and how
and before we forget there, we're going to be upon
Thanksgiving cutting turkey, Stephen. Now, year's flying by. The season
is flying by. So let's enjoy all the games while
we got them. But go enjoy your pizza.
Speaker 3: I will.
Speaker 2: I can't wait to do it again next week. Here
on the Last Word on Sports podcast Network, we are
Yards and Stripes.
Speaker 1: Join us again next time for Yards and Strikes Service
Academy Football. To get more on all things Service Academy Football,
like Yards and Stripes on Facebook and follow them on
Twitter at Yards and Stripes and make sure that you're
subscribing to the College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast feed
on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google and wherever you get your podcasts.