A couple of guys were arguing about this on my Twitter timeline, and it got maddeningly acrimonious. Typical Twitter slap-fight maybe, but it’s still one of those things were both guys were mashing the PUSH TO TALK button without actually receiving anything. Obviously, both sides have a particular point of view, so that approach accomplished nothing.
I gotta be honest. These photography posts haven't been as popular as I might've hoped.
Granted, I probably need to take a class or read a book or something and maybe learn a little more about the craft. But no. I read a few articles off the Internet, bought a camera, and leaned into my new hobby with a ridiculous, adolescent enthusiasm. From writing, I know to at least shoot pictures intentionally; just as you don't want random ideas in your writing, so too you don't shoot pictures without having a specific idea or intent. But that's kind of a basic concept, and it's really the only one that I have.
Honestly, I'm not sure I even know enough even to be dangerous at this point.
I don't know if you watched it, but Air Force beat the Holy Hell out of Navy yesterday out in Colorado Springs. As Coach Jeff Monken would say, "It wasn't even sporting." The Zoomies dropped a stone-cold beat-down.
Really, the game went about as we expected given Wednesday's preview, but even more so. Much more.
The game's first quarter was some of the worst football I've ever seen. As they were for most of the game, Navy was trapped in a nightmare version of the Malcolm Perry Show, with the Zoomies keying on Perry and hitting him repeatedly behind the line of scrimmage. Perry either couldn't or wouldn't get the ball out to the rest of his playmakers, and that let Air Force attack him personally and thereby shut down the Squids' offense in its entirety.
Some fool is reading this and shaking his head. It's true, though. The problem really was Malcolm Perry. He finished with 19 carries for 54 yards (2.8 yards/carry), including a ton of negative yardage plays. FB Anthony Gargiulo finished with all of 4 (!) carries for 13 yards (3.3 yards/carry), while TEs Tre Walker and Nelson Smith, running mostly in the FB role, I think, finished with 6 carries collectively for 37 yards (6.1 yards/carry). FBs Mike Martin and Nelson Smith struggled mightily, but even so, those guys collectively finished with 18 carries for 3.6 yards/carry. That's not great, but it would've moved the chains consistently without the negative plays at quarterback.
Navy ran out of the shotgun a lot yesterday, but their O-Line wasn't getting any push, and for the most part, with the way they run the Dive, it wasn't hitting the hole fast enough. The Zoomies were into the backfield a lot before the play had a chance to develop. They got some decent pitches outside, but Perry cannot pass the ball, so really, they just did not have an answer for the Zoomies' D-Line. They got behind the chains a lot, and that's why they lost.
On the other side, the Squids' defense did a decent job keeping the Zoomies in check for most of the first half. The first quarter was literally just a long series of 3-and-outs for both squads, with the Mids slowly winning the field position battle. That eventually gave Navy their only points, but they lost their starting middle linebacker to a targeting call late in the quarter, and their defense never recovered. Once LB Taylor Heflin went out, we started seeing busts in Navy's pass coverage and mistakes in triple-option defense, and from there, the rout was on.
Air Force's new quarterback, Donald Hammond III, went 6/10 for 142 yards and a touchdown. Nearly half of that came on a single busted-coverage play to WR Ronald Cleveland, who went 61 yards for the score. Beyond that, Hammond did enough to keep the chains moving. He carried 19 times for just 60 yards (3.2 yards/carry), but he did an excellent job distributing the football, and the Mids let RB Joseph Saucier get loose several times for long gainers off the option-pitch. Saucier's long went 48 yards for a touchdown. He finished with 3 carries for 62 yards (20.7 yards/carry).
So this is how you lose: you let your quarterback get smoked behind the line of scrimmage repeatedly, have your starting middle linebacker tackle with his head down and get a targeting call, and then give up big yardage chunk plays on the outside. Eventually, your defense loses heart, and you wind up 35-7 in a rivalry game that you badly needed. That's what I saw.
It's no secret that I've not been a fan of the Malcolm Perry Show since its debut. I'm still not. If Navy starts QB Garrett Lewis and uses Perry as a slotback, I think they match Air Force's production--easily. As it was, they tried to use their big-play threat to distribute the football, and that's just not been working. Outside of one home game against Memphis, this Navy team has not performed as advertised.
Meanwhile, the takeaway for Army is about Air Force's D-Line. Those guys are big and fast. The Zoomies have given up a lot of yards passing this season, and Army has run on some teams (Hawaii) that the Mids couldn't much move, but still. QB Kelvin Hopkins Jr. will have to match Hammond's production in the passing game if Army wants to win. Granted, Hopkins is gonna get more help from the rest of his offense than Malcolm Perry got. Nevertheless, November's showdown in Michie Stadium may well be a game for the ages.
Army Football P(Wins) vs. 2018 Schedule: Bye Week
The good news for the Black Knights is that Hawaii and Buffalo both won their games in convincing fashion yesterday. The Rainbow Warriors are now bowl eligible, and the Bulls still look to have the inside track on winning the MAC. They destroyed Central Michigan, mostly on the ground. That bodes well for Army's end-of-season ranking.
Miami (Ohio) also won yesterday. That's a team that tends to start slow but pick up steam as the season progresses. I don't know if they can finish fast enough to make it into the postseason, but they might. Certainly, they'll come into Michie Stadium hungry to keep the turnaround going.
Eastern Michigan lost again, but what's amazing is that even at 2-4, they're still in plus territory on point differential. Very surprising. They must be the most under-performing team for their talent in all of college football. Of note, Army's game in their building will be an absolute must-win for the Eagles.
Finally, Colgate remains unbeaten. If you haven't noticed, Army's last home game is not a gimme. The Black Knights will be facing one of the very best teams in all of FCS football.
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Plot threads for the coming week:.
1. Navy's season is in the toilet, and they have the hardest part of their schedule immediately on the horizon. Temple, Houston, #6 Notre Dame, undefeated Cincinnati, and then #12 UCF. Unless something unexpected happens, Navy's liable to be 4-7 heading into the Army-Navy game.
Wow. The last time that happened, I think *I* was still a cadet.
2. Air Force has SDSU, UNLV, Boise State, and then Army. They're 2-3 now and will probably be 3-5 when they hit Michie Stadium. Maybe they shock the Aztecs, but that's not the way I would bet. A Zoomie win would certainly help Army's strength-of-schedule rankings. After Army, the Zoomies have New Mexico, Wyoming, and Colorado State.
Bottom line, the Zoomies can still salvage their season despite their slow start. That's worth watching. I was very impressed with the way they played yesterday.
3. Despite their record, San Jose State is a dangerous team for Army on the road. The Spartans are big on their D-Line and very good against the run, allowing just 3.8 yards/carry. They have a big-play offense, but an inconsistent one, and that's why they haven't won a game.
Assuming Army can move the ball against their front, I think the Black Knights have a serious advantage in terms of style-of-play. But this will be an interesting test against another stout rushing defense. Having seen Air Force's D-Line, the Black Knights need those kinds of tests heading into the November showdown.
While I’d been a yearling, my father had served as the Operations Officer (G-3) of the Third Marine Division, located in Okinawa, Japan. Call sign “Warlord.” He went a little crazy. Drank the way they used to drink back in the 1960s and 70s and kept a full-time in-house mama-san35 among many other personal indulgences. He remained one of the best operational planners in the Corps, but his time at Special Operations Command had put a serious dent into whatever commitment he’d once had for “clean living”. By himself overseas, my father degenerated into a legitimate party animal.
We marched back from Camp Buckner a day before the plebes returned from Lake Frederick, and in no time, my classmates and I settled back into Academic Year rhythms. I watched my own plebe struggle through Reorganization Week, eventually pulling him aside that Friday afternoon as my own team leader had done with me the previous year.
“Cangolosi! Go take a shower right now! That’s an order!”
I was surprised to the point of shock when I got to West Point and found Layne, the object of my ill-advised affections from my halcyon days with the Vista Swim Team, ensconced as a yearling on the Army Women’s Swim Team. Though she’d once been one of my very best friends, indeed an object of true adolescent adoration, Layne and I spoke maybe two dozen words in the three years we were together at the Academy. The Army Men’s and Women’s Swim Teams just weren’t close when we were there, and whatever romantic affections I’d once felt, they weren’t strong enough—on either side—to pull us back together against the tide of our teams’ mutual animosity.
I gave little thought to this as a plebe because plebe life offered little time for self-reflection. As a yearling, however, I mourned the loss of Layne as a perfect ideal. In time, however, I realized that whatever I’d once felt for my first crush, those feelings were of a piece with a part of myself that lived only in memory.
That was some game, folks. Maybe not Army's best game of the season, but the defense did just enough to keep the team in it, and then the offense -- finally -- managed to string some drives together in the second half to not only put points on the board but also rest that defense for the final push. Then mistakes caught up to the Midshipmen for a change, and that was your ballgame.
I wouldn't say that the game went as advertised, exactly, but if you read this week's preview, I think a lot of this game came as expected.
What a year this has been for Army Athletics. Last year’s performance in Baltimore seemed to spark something in the Corps of Cadets, and indeed, it’s now been nearly eight months since Navy has beaten Army… inanything.
Alas, that streak is almost certain to end with the women’s swim teams tomorrow night, but this has nevertheless been one Hell of a run for Army Athletics. When the football teams meet on Saturday, it will cap one of my favorite all-time seasons of Army sports.
But though momentum seems to be on the Black Knights’ side, make no mistake. This will be a very close, very hard fought contest.
As a cadet, I at no time expected that it would ever be easier to be a fan of Army Football than it is to be a fan of the Tennessee Volunteers. But here we are.
Honestly, I'm glad that my father did not live to see the destruction of his beloved Vols, but I also kind'a wish that I could rub it in, too.
