Speaker 1: Need to get your football fixed 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: All right, we're back with another episode of Yards and Stripes.
You're home for Service Academy Football. He is Steven Carney.
I'm Price Atkinson. Boy. We got a lot to talk about, Steven.
I mean, we got a lot to cover tonight. Some
unexpected some curveballs throwing us this weekend, among many other things. Yeah,
I was throwing a few t Swift curveballs in Indianapolis.
What a show, What a time? We got games to
get into a Commander and show c I C Commander
Chief Trophy leg to talk about. We got our Travis
Meaning Foundation Honor Roll segment. We got we got a
ton to do here, Steven, How the hell are you?
Speaker 3: I'm great. My voice sounds a hell of a lot
better than yours. But as you had mentioned, you went
and saw Taylor Swift in Indianapolis. Her American leg of
the Era's tour is now over, so you got to
see one of the last shows that she's going to
do so for at least a while here in the
United States. So if anybody wants to go see Taylor Swift,
you got to go overseas to see her now.
Speaker 2: But uh, not overseas, you got to go north of
the border to Canada.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you gotta go. You gotta go elsewhere. You got
to get a passport out. You got to get your
passport out to go see t Swizzle. Uh from from
here on out. But as as a non Taylor Swift aficionado, uh,
you know, obviously your daughter a huge swiftye. But you
you know, obviously the dad of the swifty. Uh. I'm
curious to hear from you what what the concert was like.
I'm obviously you enjoyed yourself. You probably screaming your ass off.
Speaker 2: It was. It was. I'll just say this, I'll tell
you a lot of things, and then we'll get to
the football, because I know that's what our listeners really
want to hear as football. But I that the vibe
before we even got there was awesome. Everybody there having
a great time. I mean the whole bracelet trading. Yes,
I had my arm full of bracelets. I was an
icebreaker for my daughter going up to random people trading
with cops on the street and firemen. I mean, it
was just it was like a festive party. But then
when you get inside and you know, that show cranks up.
Like you said, i am not a you know, a
swifty you know, I'm not a a wasn't a fan
I am now because when you can get up on
that stage and go for three and a half hours
and I'm talking NonStop three and a half hours, it
is incredible to watch. And it's not just an easy
three hours. It is going strong. I mean you're going
like fifteen eighteen years of music. So she earned a
new fan in me. And just the the show, you know,
forget the music, just the show that was put on
was just incredible with the lights and it's just something
to behold. So, I mean, my daughter, obviously it was
a dream come true for her to see her smile
and see her tear up as she came on set. Mean,
it was awesome. It was a great weekend. It was
worth it to drive, you know, basically nine hours up
on Friday and then nine back one Sunday, and it
was really really incredible. It was all about her daughter,
and so I'm certainly glad we did it, but I'm
glad I saw it because I had she earned. I
got a mad amount of respect for that woman, a
mad amount absolutely.
Speaker 3: One one more follow up question before we get into
what we're actually here for. Did you see Travis Kelsey
because he was in attendance.
Speaker 2: We did, so my daughters thought she spotted him down
there with Mama Swift, and we're like, I don't know,
because you saw a bunch of people going crazy down there,
but you couldn't see what they were who they were
going crazy for, because there were a bunch of selebrities,
you know, that were down there, and you just you know,
we weren't nosebleeds. We were in club levels, so we
weren't that high up. But my daughter, you know, said
she could spot him and she thought she saw him,
and then sure enough we saw, you know, on Twitter
video surfacing when we got back to the hotel the
next morning that he he was in the house. So,
you know, we knew if he was going to be there,
it was probably going to be Saturday night, the night
we went having Monday night football against your Tampa Bay Bucks.
But yeah, he was. He was definitely in the house
because you know that he is there when in the
last and see, I learned a whole lot of swift,
useless information this weekend. Steven Soda when she sings that
Karma song and that's the last song that she sings,
and when she says, if she says Karma, what is it?
Karma is on the Chiefs there as a player on
the Chiefs. When she says that, she only says it
if he's in attendance. Otherwise she goes with the regular lyrics.
And somewhere earlier in the show, I think they said
us like the nineteen ninety eighty nine album, if she's
wearing a red tinted outfit, that means he's in attendance,
And she did that earlier in the show. So interesting, Yeah,
useless things that you didn't need to know. I did
not know that I learned through the course of a weekend.
So I got a lot more where that came from.
If anybody wants more of it, you can hit me
up on Twitter at Bryce Atkinson.
Speaker 3: All right, now, with that, with that out of the way, yes,
let's let's talk about the other curveball that that came
our way that we found out after we taped last
last Wednesday. Yep, because we were we were ready for
Army or for Navy and Rice and we were talking
about you know what we call was gonna happen with
the Midshipman against the Owls and then life through everybody
in the Navy family occur. When we found out that
the voice of Navy football and Navy athletics in general,
Pete Medhurst, had been diagnosed with a brain tumor and
was going to undergo surgery. We found that out, I
believe Thursday morning was when we was when we found out,
and it started to leak out sometime Thursday afternoon, things
started to become public knowledge that that Pete had been
diagnosed with this tumor, and you know, I was, I
was thinking about it, and I was like, you know,
I'm going to go back and I want to listen
to some of our old episodes and you can do
that on College Gridiron, Coast to Coast and The Last
Word on sports dot Com Slash Podcast. You can go
back in our archives. We've had Pete on a number
of times here on the show, and you know, you
know Pete a lot better than I do. I've met
him a few times and I was looking forward to
seeing him this week and obviously that's not going to happen.
But when when when you when you let me know,
because obviously you found out, you found out first, and
let me know in the morning that that this had happened.
I was devastated for Brendan the family. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I got a call from one of my colleagues
that I worked with in the Navy Sports Information Office station.
Sean picked up the phone and called me because she
knew that we were MED and I were we were friends,
and she had called to tell me because she wanted
me to know about it and that it had you know,
really the family had just was starting to make it public,
and she had said that he had been having a
little bit of trouble. Had looked good, but he was
having problems with like one of his legs. But it
was it was I think it was Monday or Tuesday evening,
maybe Monday evening. I think she mentioned where they had
to call ambulance where he was having trouble walking. And
then it kind of led to something that was completely
unexpected that nobody, nobody could fathom, and so Pete did
go undergo, you know, surgery to remove the brain tumor
on Friday, late Friday morning. All accounts from his wife
that she's posted everything I've heard. It was a success.
He's now undergoing rehabilitation. They're going to start, you know,
the radiation. Where it goes from here, we don't know.
All we know is that we're pulling for d. Like
you said, devastated was you know, I can't think of
a you know, more apropos word, you know, from when
I got it, just because me. Med has always been
such a great friend to me, and I know you
as well. Anytime, anytime I've ever texted him about coming
on the show, let me know what time, and he
always makes it work.
Speaker 3: So yeah, one of one of the really great class
acts in college football because and And does more than
just you know, Navy athletics. I mean, he is known
for Navy athletics. But you know it was does Baltimore
Ravens uh stuff We did stuff with the with the
Washington Commanders and on uh uh on one O six
seven the fan uh in Washington, d C. So obviously, uh,
you know they've they know him very well in Washington.
You know his boss, uh, you know, Chuck's appienza, the man,
the myth, the legend at UH in Baltimore. UH used
to work in Washington. I know Chuck UH pretty well.
So I'm sure that you know the entire Navy athletics family,
you know, and and I I would consider us to
be a part of that because you know, obviously we
love the service academies. UH and UH, I know I'm
pulling for Med. Uh. I can't wait until the next
time Navy comes down here uh in a couple of years,
because I want to see his ass in that chair.
Uh and and be able to come come over and
say hello and into their booth and give him a
hard time, probably because he's still going to be better
looking than I am. Even after the surgery. He's still
better looking than I am. Takes a lot. Med well yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: Now, just gonna say, if you're the religious, spiritual type,
if ye prayers are your thing, whatever is your thing,
just think positive, you know, for a good friend of
our somebody that, like you said, has given us in
our listeners so much time over the years here on
Yards and Stripes since we began, and somehow I'm known
for now almost twenty I guess twenty four years now.
So we're mad. We're all pulling for you clearly, indeed
that's an understatement. We can't wait to have you back on.
And if there's a guy that can kick this thing's ass,
we know it's Pete Medhurst because he said, you know,
seeing his wife's Facebook post, that he was already up
moving and he's ready to kick this thing's rear in.
So that's That's basically all we know at this point
and all will say about it just for the time being,
is that Pete, we are pulling like hell for you.
You're a friend and we know you'll do it.
Speaker 3: Absolutely hashtag Pete strong on that. Sorry. So that's right.
With with all of that, with all that going on
in navs uh in Navy's world, then they got to
play a football game, and I know what, well, there's
there's the other game that I'm I'm sure everybody wants
to hear about with our with our main air force.
But let's let's stick with Let's stick with Navy this
time around here, because they you know, as if losing
your broadcaster isn't bad enough, then you have to go
to Houston, Texas and then you have to deal with
what is you know, just an ungodly uh weather situation
down there. It was supposed to be a four o'clock game.
They ended up not kicking off until I think it
was after eight before they they actually got things kicked off.
They only played a couple of minutes and then they
had to go back back into the locker rooms because
the weather acted up again, and finally they were able
to get things done. But five hours of weather in Houston,
Texas will do anything, you know, to a road team.
I mean, obviously it's gonna cause havoc on a road
even especially you know, the midshipman. I was laughing because
and you know, we'll we should say that that Navy
did suffer its first conference loss in the American this year,
losing to the Owls twenty four to ten. But you know,
I was I was laughing because I was watching people
on social media. They're like, why don't they just delay
this until tomorrow? And I kind of was like, you
obviously don't understand the Service Academy. They can't do that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's not like, yeah, you can't no pun intended,
you can't pun it till the next day. But after
what was it, five plus hours you know of total delays. Yeah,
Nabe gets out of there with their second straight loss
twenty four to ten. They fall to the Rice owls
Now six and two four to one in the American
second straight loss again after the loss of Notre Dame.
And you know, while we haven't seen it, people are
going to say, well, what about Army Price. I have
seen this movie and you've probably heard me mention it
on this podcast several times over the years. You know,
I've seen this movie play out time and time again,
and obviously I think the rain delay probably had some
effect on this. But watching academy teams, whether it's football, basketball,
water polo, gymnastics, soccer, I've seen it happened in every
sport having worked in an academy, and I think the
demands on the student athletes, the midshipman, it's basically what happens.
But there's usually at least one time, depending on how
long the season is, two times where it might be
a it's usually a very good academy team, but for
some reason, they just played down to the level of competition.
And I think it's, you know, the demands on everything
that they have going on, you know, trying to juggle
because especially then trying to get up for football games
on Saturday. It's difficult, but nonetheless, Rice is a team
that they should have gone down there and hammered. And
then when you're now stuck in rain delays here and there,
weather delays, and I know that they did not get
back I think to the academy until sometime around five
point thirty in the morning, because I saw Scott Strasmeyer
mol boss mentioned that he did not get back to
the office still about five forty five, and then he
went right into the He literally, you know, pulled his
stuff up and went right to his office start working
for ten hours on game notes to get ready for
this week in South Florida. So it was a long
night to say the least. But nonetheless EJ. Water was
the star I guess for Rice. You know, twenty eight
to forty two thirty nine for touchdown interception while you
know they're running back. Excuse me, Dean Connors went for
one oh five as Rice beats Navy for the first time.
It's two thousand and two. Another fun fact here, I
was at that game the last time that that Rice
beat Navy. That was in a Navy Marine Corps Memorial stadium.
So I was there for that one.
Speaker 3: That's that's unreal. And yeah, I mean you look at it.
You know, there wasn't going to be a whole lot
of offense on either side. I think I think Rice
had three hundred and forty four yards of total offense.
Navy only had two hundred and sixty yards of total offense.
And I just really thought that with the way that
the weather was playing havoc on things, and then of
course the late start and then having to you know,
stop and start and re you know, you know, you start,
you stop, you restart again, I think that's just too
much for a clubs on the road. And you know,
I off Blake Horvath you know, making uh, making mistakes
that you don't normally see. Uh, you know Horbath made
I I you know, you saw you know what happened
with Notre Dame the week prior. But that was that's
a team that was a much stronger team than Navy.
I would not say that Bryce is a stronger team
than Navy, but there were just a lot of mistakes
that were made. Uh, and Horvath made two big guns,
you know, two drives ended in interceptions.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it started with everything that was that
had gone on with the weather delays and everything, and
nonetheless being Halloween weekend too. It got spooky right from
the start because on the very first offensive play, Horbath
is picked off, you know, at the you know, you know,
with a pass. Obviously they weren't trying to run the ball.
They were folded on first down, first offensive play of
the game, and he's picked off. So, I mean it
started right there, and it just continued down that path.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you look at the their first half, you
know plays, you know, their drive schedule. You know, you've
mentioned the pick on the very first offensive play. Then
they go four and out and three and out in
their next two next two series, and by that point,
Rice is up seventeen to nothing. You know, right at
that point, NYBE is in scramble mode because they have
not been able to do anything defensively to hold the
Owls and they haven't been able to do anything offensively
because they've only had eight plays total from scrimmage for
the entire game at that point. And at that point
you're already into the second quarter. I mean it's you know,
twelve and a half minutes to go in the first half,
they've had eight plays and they're down seventeen to nothing.
Speaker 2: Well, once again, Rice at twenty four to ten winner
over Navy. I don't think we can not a whole
lot more to say about this one. Is this just
one that is you talk about the Notre Dame loss,
This is one that they really want to flush as
they get right now to come your way, Stephen and
Tampa to take on South Florida this Saturday. All right,
let's get to the biggest game of the weekend, Stephen,
because leg two of the Commander in Chief Trophy Army
and Air Force. The Falcons heading into Mikey Stadium for
the first time. It's what twenty and twenty this game
being played on campus and number twenty one Army hosting
Air Force, and they get a twenty to three win
over Air Force as Army is now eight to no
for the first time since nineteen fifty. But as we mentioned,
it got spooky in Houston for Navy. It was spooky
before kickoff for Army because something we didn't know, if
anybody else knew. I mean, they're more smarter than or
in the know than we are, because Bryce and Daily outstanding,
you know, obviously do it all quarterback for the Black Knights.
He missed practice all week and he was deemed out
of action. He did not play. They said it was
an injury illness. Jeff Munkin and the academy did not
elaborate any further. I guess they were working to get
junior Dwayne Coleman ready all week. He got his first
career start, and he led the Black Knights to a
big win in that second CiCe matchup and their twelfth
straight win for the Black Knights, which leads the nation.
But this now sets up the win for Army twenty
to three over Air Force, now setting up a winner
take all Army Navy showdown on December the fourteenth for
the CIC Trophy. But Army's won four the last five
against Air Force. Now, and you got to give Dwayne
Coleman big props. But I think it caught everybody by
surprise that Bryson Daily was unavailable for this one.
Speaker 3: Steven, Yeah, it certainly caught me by surprise because I
think that if we had known that Bryson Daily wasn't
going to play when we made our predictions last week,
I don't think either of us would have had such
a wide margin of victory, and we both thought that
Army was going to win handling, and honestly they did.
I mean, a seventeen point win in a Commander in
Chief Trophy leg is impressive. You know, that doesn't normally happen,
you know, even against a team as bad as the
Falcons are this year. But I think that we both
would have taken a second look at things if we
had known that it was going to be Dwayne Coleman
and not Bryson Daily that was going to be under center.
We both found out very very late in the week.
I mean I find out Saturday morning when they said,
oh yeah, Daily undisclosed injury illness, will not play for Army.
I went, uh oh. And then the first thing I
thought was, well, there goes the streak, because Army was
the last team in Division one FBS college football to
score a touchdown on the first drive of every game
so far this year. They came close, They got in
the red zone in their first drive, but it dies out,
uh just inside the fifteen. They have to settle for
a field goal. But they have now they keep the
streak of scoring on their first drive going. It just
was not a touchdown. They would end up getting two
second half touchdowns from Kanye Udo in this game, which
was a huge plus. But uh, you know, this was
six nothing at the half. If this, if Bryson Daily
is understander, this is not even closed to six nothing
at the half. And we might have seen Dwayne Coleman
in the second half anyway. But but now given an
extra week to try and get healthy, we hope that dailyn't.
I have not seen whether Jeff Bunkin has said yet
that Daily will uh you know, what his status is
for this week's game. We'll get to that in just
the in just the little bit. But I would think
that if you're the Army coaching staff, not having Bryson
Daily for Air Force is one thing. Not having Bryson
Daily for North Texas is something completely different.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we will talk about Jeff Munkin has updated
the status for Bryson Daily for this weekend. We'll talk
about that yet just a little bit. But coach Munkin.
Speaking of Coach Munkin, he said he thought it was
really the first time that his team has faced real
adversity this season. And you probably have to agree with him,
because they haven't traded, they still have not trailed in
a game all season long, so you know, adversity or not.
I think this the injury in his absence certainly galvanized
his team or his teammates, because you know, I read
where Kanye Youdo had told him in the uh the
team hotel the night before that look, we got you
because last year I think it was Udo had to
miss maybe that I think it was the Air Force game,
this exact game, and so Bryson Daly had told him
the same thing, and so it really seemed like it
was a spirited you know, Army for to rally around
Rice and Dally, who obviously didn't play. But I thought Coleman,
you know, did a really admirable job playing turnover free football,
despite the fact that Army had a season low in
points with twenty in total yards of offense at two
fifty five. He ran the team. He did what he
was supposed to. He didn't turn it over. And obviously
when you got guys like Kanye Udo and some others
to help on the ground attack, I mean, you know
how to had one fifty eight and two touchdowns seven
and seven point two yards per carry and then throw
in the defense because Army's defense just just continues to
be underrated. You know. They they had Quin Hayes, the
Air Force starting quarterback Josh Johnson came in and played,
but whenever the Air Force was forced to throw or
opted to throw, they were under duress all night. I
mean Hayes was picked off, you know twice in the game.
You know, could just Army only giving up three points.
They only gave up three plays inside the red zone
in this entire football game. So just another outstanding job,
not just by Coleman filling in, but especially that Army
deef that's standing tall once again, Stevid.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, and you look at it. They had, you know,
six sacks of of Air Forces quarterbacks, ten total tackles
for lost in this game. You know, I I really
think that, you know, it makes a lot of sense
that you get that that feeling, that feeling of adversity,
because you're right, Army had not seen a lot of
that this year, not having trailed in a game so
far this year. You know, the combined winning percentage of
Armies opponents is really not very good. I think it's
like three forty is what the combined winning percentage is.
You know, that's gonna go up this week. But but
I I really do think that, you know, you get
that feeling like, Okay, I've been punched in the mouth now,
I know, you know, because I always used the old
Mike Tyson line, everybody's got a plan until you get
punched in the face. Yeah, And so this is this
was a punch punching the gut for Army not having
their main weapon on offense. What are you going to
do about it? Well, they went out, they played mistake
free football and they win by seventeen points.
Speaker 2: Now bel once again twenty to three. Army now eight
and zero on the season. Air Force one in seven
is the Black Knights, now eight to o for the
first time since nineteen fifty and this win sets up
again the all winner, take all Army Navy game on
December of the fourteenth with the Commander in Chief Trophy.
All Right, Steven, let's give out some game balls brother
before we look ahead to this coming week. We got
a Travis Madian foundation on a roll segment. We got
more to do. Who are you get in your game ball?
Speaker 3: Well, obviously the guy who carried the load for Army
in this game was Kanye Udo. He had the two
second half touchdowns for the Black Knights, finished with one
hundred and fifty eight yards on the ground. He's going
to get my game ball, though, I do want to
mention the defensive secondary for the Black Knights that had
three interceptions, including a seventy one yard return from Max Dominico,
So I definitely want to mention those guys as well.
But Udo gets the game ball for getting the getting
the football into the end zone twice in the second half.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll folle in a linebacker there and Caleb Portner
who had seven tackles in the game, including two and
a half tackles for a loss. So another another standout
effort on defense. But I'm gonna get my game ball.
Stephen to Dwayne Coleman because while they reported on the broadcast,
you know he had all week to get ready. Still,
you know, the junior from Selma, Texas, he gets thrown
into the mix his first ever start. It's an Academy game.
Sure it helped being at home, but you know, it's
still a difficult Academy games. As Jeff Munkin said, we
all know academy games are the biggest games for all
three of these programs to come in and make your
first career start when you know your Heisman Trophy candidate,
you know, teammate is out, it's just a little bit
different and you know you're going to shoulder that much
more of the load and the pressure. But I thought
the way he did it, you know, was effective. You
know at times, you know, he only had forty two
yards on the ground. They completed five to eight passes.
But the biggest thing is he played turnover free football.
Army could once again played a clean game. They didn't
put the ball on the ground, they didn't throw it
to the other team. You know, taking care of the
ball and these type of offenses predicated on ball possession
is what it's all about. And he continued to do
that from the first quarter to the end. And so
I thought Dwayne Coleman being thrust into that role, that's
he's going to get my game ball this week. Stephen,
all right, let's get out of here because we got
a lot more to do. As we're part of the
Last Word on Sports podcast Network. Real quick, Stephen, tell
everybody what they can get to tickle their college football fancy.
Speaker 3: Oh, there is definitely a lot this week on the
on College Gridiron Coast to Coast, part of the Last
Word on Sports podcast network. Of course, whatever you may
be in, whatever conference you might be a fan of
when it comes to college football, we've got you covered
this week in the ACC which comes out on Mondays.
Those guys talked with Ethan More of Louisville Cardinals live.
Of course, Louisville got a big win over Clemson this week,
so big breakdown on the Cards there this week in
the ACC and the SEC, We've got it just means
more football and coffee.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: Those guys actually put out two shows this week with
looking at you know, with LSU and Alabama coming up.
They definitely give a good breakdown of that. But they
also gave a reaction of the college football playoff rankings.
Those came out on Tuesday, and so they did a
live reaction with Tony Siracusu's the managing editor of Last
Word on College Football, So definitely check those out. Get
off the pylon. Matt Zemmick is making the case this
week for Boise State to be in the college Football
Playoff as the Group of Five invite t and how
they might get a how they might get a by
how they could get a bye if teams like BYU
and Miami start to slip. We all know that that's
not going to happen. It's going to be a Service
Academy that makes the college football Playoff this year and
out Boise State. So so, but you definitely want to
check that out. We've got Florida Football Insiders and the
Big twelve sec breakdown. Those come out later on this week.
Speaker 2: We can tell you really quickly on our way out
the door, speaking of college football Playoff rankings, Army and
the first set of rankings that came out, Army checked
in at number twenty five. So let's hope the Black
Knights just keep on climbing from there. All right, We're
going to climb even higher and get you ready for
this weekend's three games. All three of our teams are
in action Army, Navy, and we'll tell you all about
it coming up next here on Yards and Stripes, your
home for Service Academy Football.
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Speaker 1: The latest with Navy, Army and Air Force on Yards
and Stripes, Service Academy Football.
Speaker 2: Right continuing on here on the Yards and Stripes, you're
HEP for Service Academy and Football, Army, Navy and Air Force.
He is Stephen Carneirom Price Actinson. Appreciate you tuning in
this week. We got a big slate of action this weekend,
all three teams. Steven. It feels like forever since we've
had all three teams in action on the same weekend.
But that is exactly what we've got. And let's talk
about because Navy's going to start us off. They're traveling
right there into the city that Steven M. Carney built,
that would be Tampa. Floor Florida. Has Navy taken on
the South Florida Bulls a twelve noon kickoff ESPN two
gonna have this one for six and two, Navy four
to one in the American for South Florida four and
four overall, two and two in the AAC. Navy a
two and a half point favorite on the road over
under in this one is fifty seven and a half
as the South Florida Bulls Stephen looking for their third
straight win. Getting this thing kind of turned around now
as they are going to be playing on Homecoming Saturday,
and this was actually supposed to be Homecoming Saturday a
few weeks ago, but Hurricane Milton chains those plans. But
it will be Hurricane or it will be Homecoming Saturday
for South Florida there at Raymond T. James Stadium.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's definitely an interesting matchup. You mentioned the Bulls
have won two straight. They beat the Fighting Trent Dilfers
of UAB at home thirty five twenty five, and then
had a very contentious game against FAU last week in
Boca Ratone. I don't know, for for anybody that did
not see the postgame handshake between South Florida's head coach
Alex Golesh and fau's head coach Tom Herman, those two
guys are not going to be exchanging Christmas cards. Let's
just put it that way. No, they are goleish Is.
I'm still upset that last year with FAU, they were leading,
I want to say it was like fifty six twenty
one late in the fourth quarter, and the Owls decided
they wanted an on side kick, which did not sit
very well with Golesh. So they kind of ran the
score up this week, and then when Tom Herman came
over to say something about it, Golesh kind of just
gave him the low five and then kind of dismissed him.
And so those two guys, like I said, there will
not be exchanging of Christmas cards between I mean Tampa
and Boca Ratone, at least not this year. Byron Brown,
who was, you know, the USF quarterback the last couple
of years, and you know, had a huge year last year,
helping the Bulls make it to their first bowl game
in what seems like forever. I think it's twenty eighteen
was the last time they had gone to a bowl
game before last year. And then they beat Syracuse forty
five nothing in Boca Ratone. By the way, he has
not played the last couple of weeks, and so Bryce Archie,
their backup, has has played the last couple of weeks
and has looked pretty good. Yeah, and so I think
this is going to be a very interesting He's a
he's a different type of quarterback than Brown. Brown is
known more, I would say, for for scrambling. Archie is
more of a of a pocket type of passer than
than Brown. Brown kind of likes that that moving pocket.
But you don't see that a whole a lot uh
when it comes to you know, Bryce Archie, so you
you you will see a lot more of basically the
the standard type of UH of offense. But they've got
some really good receivers, their their defense is strong, and
they've got great special teams players, including UH, their kicker
who happens to be the son of Martin Grammatica, who
kicked of course at Raymond James Stadium. His son is
now the kicker at USFU. They have a long history,
do the the Grammatica family with the University of South Florida,
and it goes back to Jim Levitt, the original head
head coach at USF. He played it, he was the UH.
He was an assistant at Kansas State when Martin and
Bill Grammatica both were there, and then their their younger
brother Santiago Grammatica, kicked for Levitt at USF and now UH,
Martin Martin's son is now the kicker as well.
Speaker 2: And speaking you mentioned Bryce Archie, you know it arguably
put up probably his best performance of the season last
weekend in Boca, with two hundred and six yards passing
and two touchdowns without a pick. So, you know, it
kind of feels like he's coming into his own. But
I think another thing to maybe watching this game Steven
is obviously the Bulls trying to run the football. Because
taking a look at some of the statistics for USP
this year, in their four wins, they've averaged two hundred
and sixty eight yards per game on the ground. In
their losses, they've gained only seventy nine and a half yards.
I think that might be something to take keep an
eye on to see how well and effectively they can
run the ball on Navy.
Speaker 3: Well, a lot of that came because they fell behind
early in some of these games. I mean, you know,
against Miami they ran a lot early, but then the
Hurricanes were able to pull away in that game, and
so they ended up being forced to run to pass
a lot more than they certainly wanted to in that game.
Same thing can be said for Tulane. They got behind
real early in New Orleans. They end up losing that
game forty five tenths. There's a lot of throwing and
not a lot of running in that game. Memphis does
a lot of the same, even though the score was
a lot closer, it was still twenty one to three,
and they spent a lot of the second half throwing
the football.
Speaker 2: Well, it is the month of November. We're turning for
home now, so starting to look ahead at the end
game and USF with four wins, they're trying to get
Bowl eligible, so they need two more wins, while maybe
they're trying to stay in the hunt to play for
an American Athletic Conference championship, where Army has the inside track.
Right now, again, this is a twelve noon kickoff between
Navy and South Florida there in Tampa, maybe at two
and a half point road favorite on ESPN two. All right,
let's speaking of Army. Let's move to the Black Knights next,
because number eighteen, yes, number eighteen, They are up to
number eighteen and number nine nineteen in the respective polls.
This week. Stephen the number eighteen Black Knights, still undefeated
at eight No, six to zero in the American Hit
heading to Denton, Texas to take on the Mean Green
from North Texas, who's five and three, two and two
in the American This is a three point thirty kickoff
on ESPN two. Army is a five and a half
point road favorite over under sixty three and a half
is Army is going to have a chance to really
take command of the AAC and arguably punch a ticket
to the title game if they can get a win
on Saturday. But look, this is likely going to be
maybe the toughest game and team that Jeff Mounkin has
faced this season in the Mean Green, especially having to
go on the road. We can tell you that coach
Munkin said this week that he's hopeful bryceon Daily will
be able to practice, which then would allow him to
play on Saturday. But right now, as of I believe today,
earlier today, Bryson Daily is listed somewhere between questionable probable
according to coach Jeff Bunkin, And that's.
Speaker 3: A huge plus. I said in the last segment that
you know, missing Bryson Daily for Air Force is one thing.
Missing Bryson Daily for North Texas is a whole different
can of worms, especially because you know, you look at
at Armies schedule, you know this is pretty much it.
You know, when it comes to the American Athletic Conference,
you know, I look at you know the rest of
the rest of their schedule. You know, they've got North
Texas this week, They've got Notre Dame the week after that,
and then they've got one more conference game in Utsa.
So basically, you win this game, you have clinched a
spot in the American Athletic Conference Championship, no matter what
happens the rest of the way, because you would be
seven to zero and the worst you could is seven
and one. You know, Tulane could be uh, could be
eight or seven and oh or seven and one.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: But everybody else has at least a loss. So and
you know Navy they're not going to play you know,
Navy until after the conferences. Uh, you know, season is over. Uh.
And everybody else they they would have the type pretty
much have the tie breaks over. So I look at
you know, you this is a huge one for the
Black Knights. You've got an opportunity here to do what
what all the experts didn't think could happen, and that
is get into the conference championship in year one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent. And I think so much of
this is going to ride on Bryce and Daily clearly,
But you know, the last time. The last time these
two teams played, it was back in November of twenty
seventeen when Army won or excuse me, North Texas won
a shootout fifty two to forty nine. They're in Denton.
The over under in this one is sixty three and
a half. I don't think we're going to be pushing
one hundred total points in this one, Steven, But I
do think this one is going to be an up
and down the field kind of game. And let me
tell you, if they don't have bryceon daily, I don't
know if the Army offense can go and score in
a shootout all afternoon with the Mean Green led by
quarterback Chandler Morris, who that name sounds familiar. It should
because he started at Oklahoma, then he went to TCU
before settling in You at North Texas. And you know,
in addition to Morris, they've got three very capable running backs,
obviously some receivers. This is a full this is a
very very good offensive.
Speaker 3: Team, Steve. Yeah. Absolutely. You look at Morris has almost
three thousand yards passing, yeah so far this year and
last I checked. You know, they're not playing sixteen games
in college football at least not yet. You know, they've
played eight and he's got he's got close to three
yards and twenty six touchdowns through the air. So they
this is a team that certainly knows how to score
points through the air. And I really do think that,
you know, this is going to be a huge test
for for the Black Dates and there's there's no doubt
about it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent. There. They've lost two straight, but
those two losses have basically been by a touchdown. The
two of the better teams excuse me in the league
in Memphis in two lane. But again, this is a
three thirty kickoff on ESPN two from Ditton between number
eighteen Army and North Texas Army, a five and a
half point favorite.
Speaker 3: Yeah, before before we get into the third game, it's
important to note those two losses to Memphis and to
two Lane. What are those two teams have in common?
Army isn't playing them this year? Yeah, so it's you
you can go and look at at some of the uh,
you know, the common opponentonents that these two teams have.
You know, you look at Tulsa, North Texas one fifty
to twenty, Army one forty nine to seven. They both
played FAU North Texas barely pulled out a win over
the Owls in Boca Ratone. Army had a much easier
time against against the h against the Owls. You know, Temple,
they both played, they both played. You know, they've they've
they've played a lot of these say these same teams,
you know, they've had a lot of the same success.
The big difference is no Memphis, no Tulsa, no Tulane
on Army side of the schedule. So this is going
to certainly be the the measuring test right now for
the Black Knights, with a much bigger measuring day coming
next week.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, what very well said. Certainly Army avoiding the
you know proverbial you know, top teams in this league
in year one in the AC. All right, our last
game of the day, this one is gonna be in
Colorado Springs as Air Force hosting Fresno State five and four,
Fresno overall three and two in the Mount West. Clearly
air Force, we know, still looking for that first win
in conference play zero to four in the Mount West
one and seven. That lone win was against Merrimack in
the opener. And this is going to be a nine
to forty five pm Eastern Standard time kickoff on Fox.
Why this game is on Fox is beyond me. And
I'm not saying Fox one or Fox two. This is
evidently this one is on the main Fox channel. But
you can watch Fresno State and Air Force at nine
forty five on Saturday night Eastern Standard time right now.
Fresno giving ten and a half in this one over
under forty and a half points is the Bulldogs. They
are trying to get Bowl eligible after a narrow twenty
one to twenty loss to Hawaii last week when they
gave up the game winning touchdown pass with just fifteen
seconds remaining.
Speaker 3: Stephen, Yeah, and this is a Fresno State team that
is not known for being one of the best when
it comes offensively. You know, Mikey Kean, their quarterback, is
a good quarterback. He's a serviceable quarterback. He has thrown
a lot of interceptions so far this year, He's got
twelve touchdowns and ten picks, so you know, he throws
for he throws a lot. He completes about, you know,
just under seventy percent of his passes. But he's he
definitely is what powers the Bulldogs. But He also what
causes Fresno State to short out sometimes the interceptions. He's
been sacked nineteen times as well, which is definitely not
what you want to see. And when when that happens,
it takes things away from whatever sort of rushing attack
you can try and get. If you're the Bulldogs, their
rushing attack has not been very good. They've averaged just
over three yards to carry. Their leading rusher, Elijah Gilliam,
only has four hundred and forty yards on the ground,
is that and is averaging less than four yards carry,
But he gets a lot of the goal line touches.
He's got seven touchdowns on the season. You know, this
is this is about the Bulldogs getting down the field
and trying to score from in close. They don't do
a whole lot that that is you know, you know,
long bombs for the most part. You know, King does
have a couple this year. But I think that you know,
this is going to be a pick part type of
game if if you're Fresno State, that's what you're gonna
want to do. You want to pick apart defenses. And
they've got another They've got an opportunity this week against
a very, very be leaguered defense in air Force.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and mikey Kan doesn't average, you know, it's not
like looking down the field for big plays. No, he's
only averaging seven and a half yards per completion, Steaven.
I mean that is not very much, especially when you've
thrown for all just shy at two thousand and two
hundred yards on the season, twelve touchdowns. But he's also
got ten picks. You're not looking to wing it all
the way down the field. This is really more, like
you said, kind of a dink and dunk pick apart,
you know, kind of passing offense. And if they can
get any kind of running game going against Air Force,
air Force is going to be in for a long
evening at home there in Falcon Stadium.
Speaker 3: Steve, Yeah, absolutely, and they and they basically go to
the same four guys, so they are really going to focus.
They've got three wide receivers that they take a look at.
Raylan Sharp is leading the way in receptions. He has
forty two. Macdalena has forty catches and is kind of
a further down down the field threat. He's averaging almost
eighteen yards a reception. That's pretty good. And he's the
guy that's got the seventy five yard touchdown from Mikey Kean.
But other than Dealena Sharp, Jalen Moss and Gilliam, they're
running back. They don't throw a lot to It's not
like they're going to throw four or five wides out
there very often. You know, they've got a few guys
that they go to. But it's it's going to be
like once or twice a game that you're going to
see that you're going to see a lot of three,
a lot of three wide with a tight end and
Gilliam in the backfield, and that's pretty.
Speaker 2: Much it again. Air Force and Fresno State said to
kick it off at nine forty five pm on Fox
Presno at ten and a half point. Favorite is air
Force desperately trying to get back into the win. Colin
Steven all right, when we come back, we got our
Travis Manion foundation on a roll segment. We had some
picks to make. We're gonna do that on the other
side when we come back here on Yards and Stripes.
Speaker 4: In two thousand and seven, Mareene 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 U two. 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: All right, we've come to that time in the show,
and it's time for our Travis Manion Foundation Honorable segment
where we honor remember a fallen hero one that he has
given the ultimate sacrifice for our nation and for our country,
for our freedoms. And this week we're going to honor
remember Paul Severson. Major Paul R. Severson, the third from
the United States Army. He was thirty two years old
when he gave the ultimate sacrifice. On June sixteenth, two
thousand and four, when he was assigned as the assistant
operations officer for the fifth Special Forces Group, Airborne Division
out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He was killed in our
rat during a rocket attack on logistical support area in
a Conda in Ballade, Iraq. The rocket landed near a
group of soldiers outside of the post exchange. Severson was
a native of Arlington Heights, Illinois. He entered the Army
in nineteen ninety three following graduation from the Virginia Military Institute,
where he earned a bachelor's degree at International Relations. He
was first assignment was with the third Battalion out of
Fort Stewart, Georgia. In nineteen ninety eight, he graduated from
the Special Forces Qualification Course it was assigned to the SFG.
While assigned to the fifth SFG, he served in a
variety of positions including operational detachment, a commander, battalion staff officer,
and group Assistants Operation Officer. Military education and schools include
the Field Artillery Office, Basic Course, and many many others.
He won many many awards, including the Bronze Star, Purple Heart,
Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, and so many others
for his service. Captain excuse me, Major Paul R. Severson
the third survived by his wife Jackie, his son Paul,
and his daughter Amy Elizabeth. He was honored during the
two thousand and two New Orleans expedition that the Travismanian
Foundation hosted in New Orleans. His character strengths are described
as leadership, humility, and kindness, and once again we want
to thank the Travismanian Foundation for helping us highlight the
incredible work on the part of the fallen heroes and
ones that have given the ultimate sacrifice for our nation
and for our freedoms. You can find out a lot
more online at Travismanian dot org. In ways that you
can support TMF and help carry on the commitment of
legacy and service in local communities across the country.
Speaker 5: Travis Mallon Foundations Nine to eleven Heroes Run five k
ra 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 Navy, Army and Air Force on Yards and
Stripes Service Academy Football All.
Speaker 2: Right, final segment here on the Yards to strike your
home for service Academy Football. Appreciate Travis Manon Foundation Honor
Roll for working with us again this season he is
Stephen Carney, Iron Price Ackinson, and I would like to
know what Steven had on his poppy on tonight, because
last week, if you remember, he was just downing piping
hot pepperoni and sausage pizza. What's on the dish tonight.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the dish tonight. There is a chain here in
Florida called Miller's Alehouse that is right down the street
from the crib. They do wing Wednesdays, and my lovely
better half was in the mood for some chicken wings,
so I went and got her some chicken wings, and
I got myself what they call the Zinger Mountain Melt,
which is chicken bonus wings and fries with bacon and
cheese on them. You know, obviously it's something that any
growing boy, and for me, I'm growing out and not
so much up anymore, would certainly love to have. So
finished just finish it up here during the break and
was quite delicious.
Speaker 2: Well, we always love a good Steven dinner report. Now
after his uh yeah, started with his poppy yawns last week,
now it's down to some boneless wings and frusture.
Speaker 3: I'm sure my mother is gonna love hearing this. A salad.
Speaker 2: Boy, Hey, I I ate the salad for both of
us yesterday, which I had a Zaxby salad, not a salad,
but I said, this one was one of the worst
they've ever made. And I had really one of those
times where I've been craving one of those Buffalo Blue
salads and it could not have been worse. It's a
bummer when you're craving something and you just get a dud.
You know, all right, I'm not gonna go further with
any kind of more food talk because it's making me
hungry here late at night, Stephen. Let's get to our
three games before we do, just real fast, Just one
quick note to pass along. Navy's home game on Saturday,
November the sixteenth, that's a big one against Tulane. That
one has been announced as a twelve noon kickoff now
on ESPN two. So Navy and Twulane next Saturday at
twelve noon on ESPN two steven. Three games to get to.
We will obviously start with Navy because we went and
chronological order as far as when kickoffs are during the day.
Navy's up first at South Florida, a two and a
half point favor over under fifty seven and a half.
Which way you play in this one?
Speaker 3: You know, I you know, this is the toughest game
of the year for me. You know, whenever Navy and
South Florida play. You know, I'm I'm a Navy veteran,
I'm a South Florida lum. So this is this is
gonna be a very, very tough one for me. I
am gonna have to sit on my hands in the
press box here on Saturday and try and not say
a word because I'm sure like any word that comes
out of my mouth is going to be bad for
everybody concerned. That being said, I would love to see
Blake Horvath bounce back from what has been two rough
games in a row. This team is better than Rice, obviously,
you know USF is better than Rice. So I think
it is going to be quite the challenge for the midshipman.
That being said, I do think it's probably a field goal.
I'm going to say, I'm gonna go with twenty eight twenty.
I'll go twenty eight to twenty four. That Navy wins
to get to seven and two in five and one
in the American and keep their hopes alive for a
Berth in the conference championship game.
Speaker 2: We're really pretty close on our predictions. I was off
about a field goal of what you went with. I
went with Navy just a little bit bigger of margin.
I've got Navy winning thirty one to twenty one, and
I think this is going to be, you know, a
fairly tight game most of the way. But I think
Navy's got enough. I think they're going to turn it around.
I think Blake Corbeth is going to play turnover free football.
And I've just got a sneaking suspicion that Navy is
going to get this thing turned around and they're going
to go get the road win that they need this weekend.
All right, next big game of the weekend, and this
is a biggie for Army number eighteen. Army heading to
North Texas in Dientton three point thirty kickoff. Army a
five and a half point favorite over under sixty three
and a half. What sayee on this one?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I know that this is not going to be
one hundred point game. I mean, now, the last time
these two teams played, they went for one hundred and
one points. It was the first time that Army had
played the game that had a total of triple digits
in almost twenty years. You got to you had to
go all the way back in nineteen ninety nine against
Louisville to find the last time that Army had played
in a game where the total eclipse to one hundred points.
It's not gonna happen this time. But that being said,
I definitely think that there are going to be quite
a few points scored in this game. I don't think
that it's gonna be I think it would be tough
for Army. Now, I'll just say I think it's gonna
be tough for Army to cover in this game. I'm
gonna go thirty five thirty one Black Knights as they
stay unbeaten.
Speaker 2: All right, I'm also going Army. I'm going fairly close
to what you did. I had Army forty to thirty three.
I think it's gonna be a little bit higher scoring.
I do think it's gonna hit the over, but I
think it's gonna be a of course, predicting Bryce and
daily plays therefore, that's why I'm going with the Army
forty to thirty three prediction. Because if I did not
think he was playing, I would be taking North Texas
in this game. But I do think Bryson Daly is
going to be back in the dice and goal with
the Black Knights, that he is healthy enough to get
Army the win and get to nine to no overall.
All right, Our third and final game, Stephen of the Day, Saturday,
Air Force in Fresno, State, nine forty five at home.
They're in the Springs, Fresno at ten and a half
point favor over under forty and a half. Which way
are you leaning on this one?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Obviously they're playing this game at nine forty five
because Saturday Night Live must be in a rerun this week.
No Chapel Roan or Sabrina Carpenter to speak of playing
for SNL this week. You know, I really do think that, unfortunately,
this is going to highlight the struggles that Air Force
has had in its secondary. I think that they're gonna
You're gonna see a lot of passing in this game
from Mikey Keane. Don't be surprised if he throws the ball,
you know, somewhere in the vicinity of forty to forty
five times and struggles to get over three hundred yards.
I really do think that this is going to be
a game that is going to be very I'm not
going to say it's going to be low scoring, but
I definitely think that you're it's going to be the
I guess you could say the early to mid two
thousand's New England Patriots style of game where they used
the short passing game when they didn't have a running game.
I think that that's going to end up being a
big piece for this for this game. But I'm gonna
go with Fresno State thirty one to ten over air
Force as the Falcons just can't get off the schneid
in conference.
Speaker 2: All right, You you like Fresno bigger than I do.
I like Fresno to keep air Force unfortunately winless in
the mount Less Stephen. I think that air Force still
just has no identity on offense. Coach truck Courte Troy
Calhoun has tried three quarterbacks. He cannot find any consistency
with either Josh Shanzon, Quintin Hayes, or John Bouchet. And
I think that's going to continue as air Force desperately
trying to get back on the board. But I think
it's going to be a lower scoring game. I think
somewhere Fresno is gonna be in the neighborhood of a
twenty four to nine victory. Steve, all right, let's go
ahead and get out of here, because we have been
at it for a while. Once again, want to thank
all our listeners for tuning in and investing their time
with us. This week. I want to thank Steven M. Carney,
the best producer co host in the entire podcast lands.
So thank you to Steven, and certainly from Steve and
I both and I and we want to shout out
Pete Madehurst again and our good friend who fighting as
we'd mentioned earlier as we started the show, had a
brain tumor removed maybe play by play an outs or
a good friend of us. Both we serted out send
out all our best wishes and prayers to Pete that
we can get him back on his speed and get
him back on here on the podcast with us, because
I would love nothing more than to get talk with
Pete again, especially about some Navy and Service Academy football.
Speaker 3: Stead Absolutely, I'm all for that.
Speaker 2: All right, enjoy the games this weekend. We will be
back next week and until then, have a great weekend.
Speaker 1: Everybody, join us again next time for Yards and Stripes
Service Academy Football. To get more on all things Service
Academy Football, like Yards and Stripes on Facebook and follow
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