Service Academy Glory

Do you remember the heat Notre Dame took a few years ago because they had all three service academies, Air Force, Army and Navy, on its schedule? Would any BCS power line up today for something similar? No. 1 ranked Oregon, who scheduled Tennessee but also Portland State and New Mexico? Auburn, who did play Clemson out-of-conference, but also Arkansas State, Louisiana Monroe and Chattanooga?

No way. As Ohio State, who edged Navy last year, and Oklahoma, who struggled with Air Force this year, learned, there is no benefit to playing these teams and much too much to lose. What the powers do get is the ability to teach their five and four star recruits some humility after film sessions that show them struggling with the likes of QB Ricky Dobbs of Navy (listed in Phil Steele's preseason guide as the 142nd QB of his high school class) or QB Trent Steelman of Army (no. 245 in his class) or QB Tim Jefferson of Air Force (no. 390 in his class! And that is just at QB.) The service academies are back and looking forward to bowl season.

How did it get this way? Well for one thing serving your country in the military is not looked down upon anymore as it was, in some parts of the country, back during Vietnam when the academies started to slip athletically. Second, there is a lot more support monetarily as no one looked at woeful records by programs representing our military as a positive example of our fighting spirit. Thirdly, coaching has saved the day as Air Force coach Troy Calhoun learned under Fisher DeBerry in the late 1980s and both Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo and Army coach Rich Ellerson fell from the Paul Johnson tree of coaching. And the fourth, and main, reason for the success of these teams is the option attack that they use which is difficult to execute--but a bit easier for students used to the regimen of their daily lives--and difficult to defend. All three academies now run some form of wishbone or option attack and dare defenses to stop them. A huge advantage is that no BCS team is going to spend enough time preparing for them at risk of losing to a bigger named opponent the following week who throws the ball all over the field. Oklahoma defenders were recruited to stop Colt McCoy and Garrett Gilbert of Texas, Taylor Potts of Texas Tech and Zac Robinson and Brandon Weeden of Oklahoma State, not Tim Jefferson of Air Force. I am sure many of his teammates agreed with Sooners LB Travis Lewis when he said this of trying to cope with the Falcon attack that had just scorched OU for 458y: "I never want to see this kid of offense again."

And you know what? They probably won't. Until more teams go back to running some form of option, the bigger teams will shy away from scheduling the academies. What was once considered an easy win is a lock no more. But, of course, there will always be bowl games where despite having multiple weeks to prepare, Missouri and Houston were routed by Navy and Air Force last year. Good luck to those teams chosen to face the three academies this postseason.