December 23rd, 2018 at 9:39 AM ^
It was mentioned in the game day thread, multiple times.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:47 AM ^
December 22nd, 2018 at 6:02 PM ^
It's about to be 56-7 Army. So Army is almost inevitably a 11-2 team, though yeah, schedule.
However... Between Offense, Defense, and Special Teams, they lose 2 starters next year (Center, and Fullback). TWO STARTERS....
Many others also mentioned this as well.
December 23rd, 2018 at 3:42 PM ^
Their schedule is weak but do any of their players have any stars? A team full of zero star recruits shouldn't be destroying any team from Texas.
December 23rd, 2018 at 3:58 PM ^
The service academies do get a handful of low 3* players. Except stars do not matter.
Army (and the other service academies) get players who fit their schemes and their cultures. They out-scheme their opponents to help mitigate any talent disadvantages they have.
Just because a player doesn’t have stars doesn’t mean they aren’t good at football and aren’t a perfect fit for the school and scheme they’re going to play in. Some very solid programs have made a living on this type of recruiting. Forget the stars, trust your coaches to evaluate talent on their own (which every staff does) and find the guys who best fit the team. Profit.
December 23rd, 2018 at 11:59 PM ^
So you would swap classes with Iowa right now? Their system isn't that much different than ours.
December 23rd, 2018 at 4:12 PM ^
They took Oklahoma to OT, I think held them to 21 in regulation
December 23rd, 2018 at 9:40 AM ^
I bet they had it on at West Point.
December 23rd, 2018 at 9:41 AM ^
Scary, also almost be OK this year
December 23rd, 2018 at 9:42 AM ^
Eh it will be hard, but we will still probably win. Either way, the Osu game will be the true indictment on next years team so the Army game is kind of just like a fart in the wind in the grand scheme of things. Sad, but true.
December 23rd, 2018 at 9:47 AM ^
All we are is fart in the wind.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:18 AM ^
In some instances, people are farts in Big Boutros' ass
December 23rd, 2018 at 1:23 PM ^
I'm like that St. Elsewhere kid, except instead of my mind it's all in my ass
December 23rd, 2018 at 12:02 PM ^
Just a drop of feces in an endless poo...
December 23rd, 2018 at 11:41 AM ^
So, if we lose to Army, but beat OSU we’re good to go? Somehow I think we’ll be in major meltdown if we lose to Army.
December 23rd, 2018 at 5:05 PM ^
Actually, I'm way good with that.
December 23rd, 2018 at 5:47 PM ^
I’ll take that every year.
December 23rd, 2018 at 5:54 PM ^
You mean unless they LOSE, then it'll be more than a "fart In the wind" -
MORE like you'll lose your shit!
And to call the osu gm an indictment of the team 48 weeks before its played is fairly accusatory, No?
December 23rd, 2018 at 9:47 AM ^
Houston is also not a very good team. But that's a tough non-conference opponent to deal with.
December 23rd, 2018 at 9:48 AM ^
Yes, they treated Houston like the Taliban. It was violent and scary.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:03 AM ^
Shock & awe I tell you!
December 23rd, 2018 at 1:52 PM ^
So Houston is gonna hang around and take control of the stadium after army blows a trillion dollars and leaves?
December 23rd, 2018 at 3:29 PM ^
Now that Army has left town the Cougars are putting a stop to rampant heroin production again.
December 23rd, 2018 at 9:48 AM ^
I don't understand, for the life of me, why a school like Rutgers doesn't try to hire Army's coach. When you're at a talent disadvantage, you need something to goose things. Monken clearly has system that works against big boys.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:11 AM ^
Because they don't see it.
Navy does not have much problem with it. Georgia Tech does not win the ACC . . . those teams are used to it.
But yeah, when you only have 1 week to prepare for it in between other games, it's a mess.
I hope we work on it at least a little bit in the off season.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:14 AM ^
Refer to Paul Johnson at Georgia Tech. Kept them respectable but never very good. With all the talent in Georgia, you would think GT could be a threat in the ACC.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:39 AM ^
Given your avatar I would have thought you'd know PJ's record at GT better than that. He won or shared 4 division titles and notched 3 second-place finishes. Had a losing conference mark just once. Given GT's natural place in the pecking order they did quite well.
December 23rd, 2018 at 12:05 PM ^
I think you underestimate GTech's natural place in the pecking order.
Paul Johnson went 82-59----58%
Chan Gailey went 44-32----58%
George O'Leary went 52-33----61%
That is 25 years of records with those 3 coaches and is pretty damn consistent across different coaches and schemes. Paul Johnson did a nice job at Georgia Tech, but he did not elevate the program from its "natural pecking order."
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:44 AM ^
I think he won the ACC at least once and he did beat Miss St in the Orange Bowl a few years ago. They’re like Iowa. 4-5 years of horrible teams to meh teams, 1 year where they overachieve and win something big, and then another 4-5 years of meh.
Paul Johnson ran a very unconventional offense that will not in any way prepare you for the NFL, so top recruits (especially offensive recruits) don’t want to play there. Also when you tag on the strict academic requirements GaTech has, and the fact that GaTech is not like Michigan or ND where it has really strong football tradition to fall back on when all else fails. So it’s really hard to recruit there, despite being in a talent hotbed.
Maybe now that they’re going to run a more conventional offense, it’ll be easier to recruit.
December 23rd, 2018 at 11:39 AM ^
I'm sure GT has pretty high academic standards, so that could be a bit of a filter.
December 23rd, 2018 at 12:40 PM ^
GT is like Michigan in that they do enforce academic standards on their athletes and do not bend the rules to take players like Clemson, Miami, UGA. So they have a recruiting disadvantage right away. It will be interesting to see what happens with their new coach. Presumably, he will have a more conventional offense and that will change the type of player they are looking for. I've always thought we should schedule home and home with GT. Two great academic schools with long traditions.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:33 AM ^
Monken would not leave for Rutgers. Not a chance.
December 23rd, 2018 at 9:48 AM ^
Never schedule a service academy. But Houston quit on Applewhite pretty transparently and that defense was atrocious (I think 124th?) all year despite having Ed Oliver for most of it. I would take much more from their game in Norman.
They're a good team that runs the triple option really well. Going to have to have sound LB play.
December 23rd, 2018 at 11:16 AM ^
I wouldn't take much from thier game in Norman. Oklahoma finished the season with the 108th ranked defense behind powerhouses such as Western Michigan, Central Michigan, Rice, and pretty much everyone else. It will be a tough game, as service academies always are, but OU couldn't stop anyone this year ( and still made it to the playoffs).
December 23rd, 2018 at 9:50 AM ^
Don't schedule any of the service academies. That is all. There is no upside. Some will never learn.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:13 AM ^
I respect the service academies, and they need games. The NCAA should rotate them around and make everybody take a turn hosting them periodically. They shouldn't be shutout completely.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:43 AM ^
That is far too logical. The NCAA doesn't do logic.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:46 AM ^
I respect the service academies too. Doesn’t mean I want to play them.
Lose-lose situation with scheduling them.
December 23rd, 2018 at 11:07 AM ^
Army should follow suit with Navy and join the AAC.
December 23rd, 2018 at 1:09 PM ^
Why?
Being independent allows Army to schedule in a very particular way. They try to get one big-time team each year (OSU, OU, Michigan); they have the other service academy games, and then they load up on cupcakes to assure the requisite 6 wins for a bowl game. This year they played teams like Fordham, Liberty, San Jose St., Lafayette, and Colgate. They don't need conference scheduling restraints-- granted, the AAC would provide plenty of cupcake conference games, but Army prefers the latitude of being independent.
December 23rd, 2018 at 9:52 AM ^
Off topic, but does anyone know if we have a decent shot at that bru mccoy recruit from cali? I watched his film yesterday and um he's good..
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:04 AM ^
Whelp (right there should cue you that the following is not what you really want to hear) the 247 guy, Greg Biggins, crystal balled him to USC and he has a 0.952 guessing average, lifetime. He's 113 of 119 for the year, which puts him at 0.949 for the year. So, I'm thinking 'No'.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:13 AM ^
Well I guess that answers my question...
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:48 AM ^
"From Cali" is usually all it takes for me to all but write off a recruit. Yes, we do get some very good kids from Cali (Long and Charbonnet recently) but in general the odds are stacked against us.
December 23rd, 2018 at 9:54 AM ^
The Michigan football program has been terrible at scheduling non conference opponents for a decade
December 23rd, 2018 at 3:37 PM ^
Dave Brandon has scheduled games as far out as 2027 so it's not anyone that's currently here's fault.
December 23rd, 2018 at 9:59 AM ^
I didn't watch it, but I trust that our coaches will.
That Air Force game in 2017 was nightmarish, and I would have to think it still haunts our staff and team enough to motivate them this coming fall.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:02 AM ^
Please tell me nobody really is scared of Army? Jesus, don't talk about OSU if you are worried about Army.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:16 AM ^
Oklahoma is in the CFP and Army took them to OT.
Yes, I'm scared of Army as our second game of the season.
December 23rd, 2018 at 12:46 PM ^
Some people think we should spend some of each weeks practice on The Game. I'm thinking we should go ahead and not do that the week of the Army game.