When Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen took charge at West Point, he declared war on mediocrity. “I need to work all across West Point to build this winning culture,” he told Military Times in 2014, about a year into his tenure as superintendent (which ends Friday). “Mediocrity … it kind of bothers me. These kids, when they graduate, are going to lay it on the line. If they’re surrounded by mediocrity, we’re not providing them with what they need. “Whether it’s mediocre tactical officers, mediocre instructors, mediocre coaches — you know, wherever that mediocrity is, that’s something we’ve got to address.…
Browsing: Army Navy
CBS will not be messing with a good thing. The network, which has seen ratings skyrocket for its award-winning airings of Army-Navy football, will keep the game’s kickoff at 3 p.m. Eastern this year, per a news release announcing part of the CBS college football schedule. The Black Knights and Midshipmen will square off Dec. 8 in Philadelphia. It will be the second time Navy appears on CBS in 2018, as the Mids will face Navy in San Diego at 8 p.m. Eastern on Oct. 27 in the second half of a CBS college football doubleheader. Florida faces Georgia that…
The Commander in Chief’s Trophy hasn’t settled into its new home and the folks in Annapolis haven’t finished rolling up the presidential welcome mat, but that won’t stop oddsmakers from having their say on the 2018 Army-Navy rivalry game. The South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas released early lines for some of college football’s biggest games May 24, including the Dec. 8 service academy showdown. It’s the last game on the list — 15 weeks into the college football season, which won’t start for another three months — and the Mids are booked as one-point favorites. This goes…
Navy goes west, Air Force goes blue and Army West Point goes … well, goes to West Point … as the college gridiron season enters the home stretch. What service academy football fans need to know this week: 1. The basics. Before launching into conference tiebreaker procedures, national rankings and a handful of what-if scenarios, here’s the slate for the coming weekend: Air Force (7-3, 5-1 Mountain West Conference) visits the blue field of Boise State (7-3, 4-2 MWC) on Friday night for an MWC Mountain Division showdown (9:30 p.m. Eastern, ESPN2). Army West Point (2-8) concludes its home schedule Saturday (noon…
The Army West Point Black Knights will need more than a rebranding to beat Navy, at least in the eyes of Las Vegas oddsmakers. The Golden Nugget sportsbook in Vegas released its annual way-too-early-to-take-all-that-seriously betting lines for select college football games Friday. ESPN.com has the full list here, but for Army-Navy watchers, the number to know is 13. That is, Vegas has listed the Midshipmen as 13-point favorites over the Black Knights to extend their rivalry win streak, which now stands at 13 games. The Golden Nugget had the same line set last summer (Navy won, 17-10) and had Navy…
The 1963 Army-Navy game holds an established place in rivalry lore: Delayed a week following the assassination of President Kennedy, Roger Staubach led the No. 2-ranked Midshipmen to a 21-7 fourth-quarter lead, and the Navy defense fended off a late Army rally to secure a 21-15 victory. Despite that history, the game’s true place in the sports-viewing pantheon has almost nothing to do with the on-field participants and everything to do with Tony Verna, who died Sunday at age 81. Verna, then a 29-year-old director with CBS, had developed what was a then-unheard of bit of video genius, which he used late in…
Navy head football coach Ken Niumatalolo stands one win away from a third-straight postseason bowl appearance, remains unbeaten against Army and is poised to lead the Midshipmen into football conference play for the first time in school history. Can you put a price on that? Yes: $1,574,810. That’s Niumatalolo’s 2014 salary, according to USA Today’s annual college football pay roundup, ranking him 60th out of the 121 Football Bowl Subdivision coaches listed. He easily outpaces Air Force’s Troy Calhoun ($892,750 in total compensation, 74th) and Army first-year coach Jeff Monken ($834,667, 77th). Niumatalolo’s pay would rank fourth among coaches in the American Athletic Conference,…
Could a team lose the Commander in Chief’s Trophy and win that shiny trophy on the right in the same year? Yes, it could. But wagering on it might be a bad idea. The College Football Playoff begins this season, with four teams from the NCAA’s top tier selected to face off in a single-elimination tournament to crown a champion. It’s a history-making innovation … unless you count the postseason for nearly every other team sporting event on the planet. Regardless, the group said Monday that it will make its semifinalist selections public on Dec. 7, live on ESPN before…
A winter wonderland became a frigid mess. A defensive struggle became a rout. A packed stadium became a ghost town long before the final gun. And an 11-game win streak became a dirty dozen. Behind three touchdown runs from quarterback Keenan Reynolds — the first tying the NCAA single-season record for QBs at 27, the last setting a new record at 29 — the Navy Midshipmen used a punishing ground game to hand the Army Black Knights a 34-7 loss Saturday at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field. Navy hasn’t lost to Army since 2001 and now leads the all-time series 58-49-7.…
If you’re only going to read one Army-Navy preview this year … read this one, from our good friends at USA Today. But if you’ve got the bandwidth for a second preview, or you prefer your service-academy football with a side of spirit spots, read on for a few things you need to know as kickoff comes ever closer. The basics: 114th Army-Navy game, Saturday, 3 p.m. Eastern, Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia. TV: CBS (Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson have the call). Pregame: Live pregame fare begins at 11 a.m. on CBS Sports Network (Do you get it? Find out here)…
