Each year, in the week following the FBS conference championships, we have the Army/Navy game where college kids who don’t get to opt to stay in school for their 5th, 6th, 7th seasons and who become active duty officers in the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps to serve this nation with bravery and sacrifice, play for bragging rights. For those who don’t embrace the changes in college football related to the transfer portal or the NIL, etc., this is what college football used to be. While neither team will get a bowl game this year, this game is more important. It’s the only game where the spectators are watching people play a sport in which every participant has willingly signed up for combat and a life of service to this country. These are brave men and women in the academies (including the Air Force and the Coast Guard here as well) who deserve a little bit of a reminder what’s at stake for them today. Bragging rights, sure, but more importantly, the reminder that this game we love so much is just that, a game. Regardless of who wins, today’s game combatants and their entire corps who travel to the event, will turn their attention to defending this nation as the officers of the future. Hats off and thank you for your service.
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The game itself is a matchup of 5-6 teams that have struggled on offense (Army is 215th in Offensive Efficiency Rating and Navy is 241st), but have excelled on defense (57th and 52nd, respectively, for Defensive Efficiency Rating). I’m expecting a very low score with very little passing (except for a trick play or two). Army is favored in Vegas -3.0 and the GCR agrees 55% and to cover. Kickoff is at 3:00 (all times Eastern)
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The FCS playoffs continue and we had a game last night that I just missed. Montana beat Furman 35-28 in OT. The GCR had MONT to win 57% so that’s good, I guess. Doesn’t count since I didn’t get it posted before the game. The other games include, at 12:00 Villanova (10-2/137) at South Dakota St (12-0/102) where SDKS wins 63%, North Dakota St (10-3/140) at South Dakota (10-2/138) at 2:30 in which South Dakota will knock off the defending champion 56% of the time, and at 10:00 Albany (10-3/141) invades Idaho (9-3/144) and comes out with the win 52%.
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That’s it for today. Have a great Saturday. Next posts will be all about the bowl games (and yes, as predicted Florida St got hosed), and the semi-finals of the FCS championship.
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Thanks for reading, G
