We leave for Philly for the 123rd happening between Army and Navy. These two football academies meet for the last official regular season of college football. Truly the greatest college football rivalry in our opinion. The game features two teams where no players, despite Donald Trump’s recent change in policy, have played for four years to go on to professional sports. These players move on to true American callings to be prepared to step up when our country needs military leadership.
Once again, the game will not be a pretty display of athletic prowess at its highest level. It will be a knock-down, drag-out, hard-hitting slugfest between two rosters from basically all 50 states playing just for pride to beat the other. Interest gets stirred among many who may not even follow football. Many Americans watch because someone among their family history served in the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps. What other rivalry draws in such a large following? It rates being the only college game to be played on Week Fifteen!
Expect this “tradition” to continue
Reportedly, these two teams have landed under the betting line for 16 consecutive years. This year’s baseline is 32.5. Their scores against academy rival and Commander-in-chief winner Air Force (9-3), already attest to this. All three programs rely on a triple option attack as top college QBs seek glory and gold elsewhere. In evidence more now especially with the very lucid transfer portal. Air Force defeated Navy (4-7), 13-10, and Army (5-6), 13-7. Neither team has a shot at a bowl bid. Even if Army wins, two wins came against FCS competitors. Only one such game counts toward a bowl.
Be aware that this game probably sets the record for TV time-outs. With minimal passing, the clock never stops. To fill three and a half hours of scheduled air time, fans at Lincoln Financial and fans on the couch at home will sit and wait for two and a half hours of commercials. We look forward to tailgating with many friends from USNA on Week Fifteen. It will be a great day. All we can say now is, “Go Navy! Beat Army!”
“Boo-hoo“, Bama!
Why did college football have to listen to blathering Nick Saban beg the pollsters to vote his 10-2 Crimson Tide into the CFP ahead of TCU or Ohio State? He harped on two close, last-minute losses to Tennessee and to LSU. Some pundits gladly pointed out that the UT loss dulled some luster as the Carolina Gamecocks pounded the Vols, 65-38. Why couldn’t Bama? We’ll also provide another angle.
Look at his wins, not losses. Good SEC wins over Ole Miss and Mississippi State, both 8-4. Arkansas ended up 6-6, ho-hum. Don’t tell us that Vanderbilt who finally won two SEC games, A&M, and struggling Auburn were good wins. Those teams didn’t finish among 80 other FBS schools going to bowl games. Bama won only three games against SEC bowl teams.
Glad to say that many people pointed out to their 20-19 win over Texas was heavily influenced by the loss of Longhorn QB Quinn Ewers early in that contest. Collegefootballfan.com attended their 55-0 Utah State thrashing. Like watching the Christians fed to the Lions. State lost the following week to FCS Weber State, 35-7. These Aggies didn’t right themselves until a few games later to finish 6-6. Alabama, like all of the SEC, plays one FCS team. They beat a mediocre program, Austin Peay, who visited for a hand-out late in the season. Who cares? The other win came over lowly 4-8 UL Monroe of the SunBelt.
Nick, Buckeye bashing?
Ohio State won every game in their conference until No. 2 Michigan. Five earned bowl games. Regretfully, to us, Penn State (10-2) fell in the game we attended, and everybody else did to OSU until Michigan beat up on them in their heated rivalry. Look at the Buckeyes’ non-conference schedule. A win over Notre Dame who struggled early under a first-time HC who came around with good wins to finish 8-4. At the mid major level, instead of Utah State, they beat up on Toledo who eventually won the Mid-American Conference title. Thirdly, they beat Arkansas State (3-9), like ULM, a member of the Sun Belt. Just so happens, Arkansas State defeated ULM, 45-28. Sorry Nick, cry to your fans, but don’t tell the rest of us your team’s performance on the field earned you a spot among the final four. You recruit the best. However, you don’t always play up to it. Not this year anyway.
Dream on Deion
So, Deion Sanders takes his prime-time show and his QB son, probably WR Travis Hunter, and a few other stalwarts he recruited for Jackson State to Colorado. There’s no place for the Buffalos to go but up after finishing 1-11 in 2022. First of all what gets us, in his TV interviews, Deion mentioned he nobly committed himself to improving the play and notoriety among the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Evidently, that was short-lived. He led Jackson State to a 12-0 record this year. One game left in the Cricket Celebration Bowl against NC Central (9-2). Last season with an 11-1 record, JSU lost that game to 7-5 South Carolina State, 31-10. See how they fare this year. Will their key players step up or out through the transfer portal by kickoff?
HBCUs go “0-for”
As for the improvements he brought to HBCU football “overall”, the two conferences, the Mid-Eastern Athletic (MEAC) and the Southwestern Athletic (SWAC), whose champs meet in the Cricket Celebration, did not defeat any FBS schools they played. As a matter of fact, they were all totally one-sided losses.
Deion’s team didn’t even play any such teams. Neither did North Carolina Central. Examples of scores these two conferences played against FBS competition went like this: Georgia Southern 59 Morgan State 7; Marshall 55 Norfolk State 3; UCF 56 South Carolina State 10; UCLA 45 Alabama State 7: UAB 59 Alabama A&M 0; Miami (F) 70 Bethune Cookman 13; LSU 65 Southern 17; Tulane 52 Alcorn State 0; Arkansas State 58 Grambling 3, and so on.
The 12-PAC ain’t no SWAC or MEAC
Well Deion and his shiny new Buffs will only have to face USC and UCLA among the PAC-12 for a few years. Also, does he think the other schools or others that may join the PAC-12 will take a backseat in recruiting like the HBCUs Jackson State left behind? Different world. Utah, Oregon, and Washington among others will probably become more competitive recruiting. Deion can’t recruit everybody. More level playing fields here. We’ll see if his recruiting gives him the talent to rise head and shoulders among these other programs. We can’t wait to see his coaching “prowess” in front of his new herd. Can’t wait to see how this develops over the next five years of his contract and if he lasts that long. News Flash! He just hired Alabama co-DC of many years, Charley Kelly. All that can be said is, “AFLAC!”
What’s in a name?
Tennessee WR Jalin Hyatt just landed a big NIL deal for his pass catching exploits for the Vols with none other than the World of Hyatt, the major hotel chain. Good for him. We now envision families coming up with brand names for their newborns to get first consideration to attract colleges to sign them for lucrative NIL deals. We can hear it now. “This is my son, ‘Big Mac’, and over there is his little brother, ‘Big Whopper’. Their sister ‘Allnet’ is outside shooting hoops.” All Net offers several commercial options including hair spray, software systems, and even basketball training aids. We can hear it now, the most common first name for boys born in 2023 will be… “All-State”!
FCS, D2, and D3 games in Week Fifteen
Our game last week won in OT by Samford over SE Louisiana turned out to be one of the most competitive. In Week Fifteen, the Samford Bulldogs meet always top North Dakota State. In another great game last week, SE Louisiana conference foe of the Southland, Incarnate Word, defeated Furman 41-38. Seventh-seed UIW (11-1) travels to Two-seed Sacramento State (12-0), 38-31 winner over Richmond.
In other FCS brackets in Week Fifteen, No. 1 seed South Dakota State (11-1) hosts undefeated Holy Cross (12-0), winner of the Patriot League. No. 4 Montana State (11-1), winner over Weber State ,36-31, hosts Colonial Athletic Conference champ William and Mary (11-1). Can’t wait until we see brackets like this for the FBS.
All Top seeds already eliminated in D2 quarterfinals
No. 2 Shepherd (WV) of the PSAC (12-1) will visit Colorado School of Mines (11-2). Last week, both squads extracted revenge from No. 1 seeds they lost to in the regular season. Shepherd slammed No. 1 IUP, 48-13. The CSM Orediggers avenged their loss to Angelo State, the No. 1 seed, with a 42-24 victory. The CSM’s other loss this season came at GVSU who Ferris eliminated.
No. 2 Ferris State (11-1) got revenge last week over No. 1 Grand Valley State for their only loss of the season, 24-21. They will host No. 3 West Florida who belted unseeded Wingate, 45-14. The championship game between the two winners head to McKinney, Texas the following Saturday.
In D3, “Knights of Nie” crash party among the old schools
In the D3 semis, three of the four teams have taken home the title over the last four years. Mount Union’s Purple Raiders won in 2017, the North Central Cardinals in 2019, and Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders in 2018 and 2021. The 2020 season was canceled. In 2022, enter the Wartburg Knights (12-0) from Waverly, Iowa, a school of 1,461 students. They won the American Rivers Conference. The Knights have the task in Week Fifteen to knock off 13-time champ Mount Union. By the way, “nie” in German means “never”. These Knights have never made it to D3’s final four.
Defense shines for these Knights with five shut-outs this season allowing only 8.08 ppg. No slouches on offense either averaging 41.3 ppg. To their credit, in the playoffs they defeated perennial WIAC co- champ, Wisconsin-Whitewater in the first round, 14-6. MH-B (11-1) travels to North Central. Last season, the Crusaders defeated the Cardinals in the Stagg Bowl to win it all, 57-24. The winners of Week Fifteen will meet in the Stagg Bowl the following Friday night at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland.
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Ed. by Steve Koreivo, Author of Tales from the Tailgate: From the Fan who’s seen ‘em all! If you like our stories, read all our tales when we saw all 120 FBS teams (at the time of publication) play for the first time. Or, start thinking Christmas gifts for your favorite college football fans! We also encourage you and whoever you buy for to submit a review for us. Please click on the title or copy of the cover on our right sidebar to go to our Amazon page to buy and review. Thanks!
