Did anyone watch Army yesterday?

Submitted by UM Indy on December 23rd, 2018 at 9:38 AM

Surprised this hasn’t been mentioned. They’re on our schedule next season, they return 19 starters, they won 11 games and they absolutely destroyed Houston. They don’t throw crossing routes though so maybe we’ll be OK. 

JonnyHintz

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. 

Eli

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.

DonBrownIsAStr…

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.

DoubleB

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."

Perkis-Size Me

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.

25dodgebros

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.  

enlightenedbum

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.

Um1994

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). 

Junior18

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. 

Wolverine91

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..

victors2000

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'.

rob f

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.

Sparty Doesn't Know

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.