Air Force coach Troy Calhoun, right, will get another shot at Brian Kelly and Notre Dame next season, with a game at Falcon Stadium. The Irish beat the Falcons 59-33 in 2011 in South Bend, Ind. (US Presswire photo by Matt Cashore)
Rapid-fire military-sports links for a Wednesday morning:
Irish invasion. Notre Dame will play Air Force at Falcon Stadium in 2013, according to this report by Frank Schwab in The (Colorado Springs, Colo.) Gazette, as school officials decided against moving the game to Sports Authority Field, home to the NFL’s Denver Broncos.
Jim Trego, the school’s senior associate athletic director, told Schwab the move was designed to keep the marquee matchup, set for sometime in late September (Update: Make that Oct. 26, 2013), “in front of our home fans.” Those home fans could be busy in the coming years: Air Force is considering a shift in scheduling philosophy, Schwab reports, cutting back on trips to top-tier schools in favor of more nonconference home games, likely against lower-level teams. Click the link for the details.
Bowl dates. College Football Talk passes along the complete 2012-2013 bowl schedule, courtesy of the Football Bowl Association. For academy football fans, two dates stick out: Army’s committed to play in the Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman on Dec. 27 at 3 p.m. Eastern in Washington, and Navy is set for the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl on Dec. 29 at 3:15 p.m. Eastern in San Francisco. The Military Bowl (which follows After Action on Twitter. Shouldn’t you?) will air on ESPN, and the Fight Hunger Bowl is set for either ESPN or ESPN2. Both teams will need to be bowl-eligible (.500 or better) to compete; Air Force’s bowl fate is linked to the Mountain West Conference, but the Falcons ended up in the non-MWC-affiliated Military Bowl last year, so anything’s possible. Click here for a handy sheet with all 35 bowl dates.
Byers’ competition. The last of the Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling previews from TheMat.com features the heavyweights, which include Army Sgt. 1st Class Dremiel Byers. The 2002 world champion did not compete in the 2004 games and didn’t medal in Beijing in 2008. His top competition in London, according to TheMat, will be five-time world champ and defending gold medalist Mijain Lopez of Cuba and 2011 world champ Riza Kayaalp of Turkey, who beat Lopez to claim that title. The heavyweights hit the London mats Aug. 6.
