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There’s a lot of news, notes and quotes in Service Academy sports this week, so we put them all in one place. Here’s this week’s spin around the yard.
Air Force
- The Falcons’ volleyball team has new threads.
⚠️⚠️ New Uniform Alert ⚠️⚠️
— Air Force Volleyball (@AF_Volleyball) September 9, 2019
Take a at the different combos for the 2019 season! pic.twitter.com/pb7jcBSrCV
- Hey, Air Force, don’t fall for the flea-flicker this week. Banner Society’s Alex Kirshner breaks down how Colorado pulled it off against Nebraska.
Mosese Fifita was a rock in the middle for Air Force throughout Week 1. pic.twitter.com/3b3fDQ6e5o
— PFF College (@PFF_College) September 7, 2019
- Our friends at Ralphie Report preview the Air Force match-up.
- The Denver Post looks at how Colorado might attack the triple-option, with quotes from Mike Bobo and Tyson Summers.
Army
- The New York Times wrote about USMAPS. Here’s a Kelvin Hopkins quote from the piece: “Rather than trying to squeeze me in at the academy and watching me fail or struggle, it was, ‘Here’s an opportunity for you to understand how the academy works, get a nice baseline of how academics and things like that work.’ It was a period where I got to test the waters.”
- Army’s women’s basketball non-conference schedule is out. Of note, the Black Knights will open at home vs. William & Mary on Nov. 5. Army will travel to Air Force on Nov. 13, and host TCU on Nov. 26.
- Some advanced stats from Army-Michigan
Michigan 24, Army 21
— Bill Connelly (@ESPN_BillC) September 10, 2019
* 17% stuff rate, 12% sack rate for the Army D
* That's a whole lot of running nowhere, Michigan
* Shea threw pretty well on passing downs
* Thank goodness for Ronnie Bell, huh?
* YOU THREW IT TOO MUCH, ARMY pic.twitter.com/V1vWHNyP7z
- Banner Society’s Jason Kirk on how data isn’t on your side if you bet against a Service Academy.
- More from Kirk, who is projecting Army to face Cincinnati in the Birmingham Bowl. He also has Navy in the Hawaii Bowl and Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl.
- The Athletic goes behind the scenes in Army’s near-upset of Michigan. Here’s a sample, of Jeff Monken talking to his team after the loss: “I’m proud of ya. It sucks to lose. It sucks to lose like that. There’s nothing I can say to make it feel better. It hurts all of us. But I am so incredibly proud of the effort you gave today. Before we even got here, before we ever arrived here, there was a belief, an absolute belief that we will win the football game. A trust in each other. We didn’t have any doubt. The guys, we just battled our ass off with the No. 7 team in the country, right there with an opportunity to win the game.”
"Much respect to this Army opponent for what they stand for and what they do on a daily basis."
— UTSA Football (@UTSAFTBL) September 10, 2019
- @CoachWilsonUTSA #BirdsUp pic.twitter.com/ksrYpgZNHQ
Navy
- Here’s what Ken Niumatalolo had to say about first-year East Carolina head coach Mike Houston: “His teams have always been tough, hard-nosed teams, and you watch them during their first two games and they are very athletic. We’re not really sure how much of their plans they put out in that game (against Gardner-Webb) or if they kept things close to the vest, but I’ve been impressed... It’s going to be a tough game for us, athletically, because they have always been really athletic and coach Houston is known for being a tough coach.” (The Daily Reflector)
- And here’s Houston on his team’s preparation for the option this week: “We have a couple quarterbacks who have athleticism, but the hard thing is they are the ones playing. We have some guys who have played in the wishbone at other positions in the past, so we are using them this week. Practice is going to structured a little bit different... It’s all hands-on deck to really prepare.” (The Daily Reflector)
- More on ECU’s prep for Navy:
The big thing this week is defending the wishbone option.
— Ronnie Woodward (@RonnieW11) September 10, 2019
Here is some of #ECU linebacker Bruce Bivens on practicing for Navy. pic.twitter.com/LFZlJzoKM6
- NFL scouts have been visiting Annapolis lately. According to the Navy Football Twitter account, the Chiefs, Giants, Eagles, Raiders and Buccaneers came by this week.
- Navy’s men’s soccer team moved to 4-0 on Sunday after beating Saint Peter’s. Matt Nocita and Jacob Williams netter goals.
- An interview with Navy senior center Ford Higgins, in which he declares that centers are the most attractive football players:
Get to know @navyfb's Ford Higgins and what he thinks you need to know about the Center position. pic.twitter.com/u4piclE6cr
— Rimington Trophy (@rimingtontrophy) September 10, 2019
- The Capital Gazette on Navy’s upcoming game with East Carolina, who is on their third head coach since the Mids joined the AAC.
- Coach Ken used to be able to throw a pigskin a quarter-mile, sources say:
#Cover2 Throwback Thursday: Radford quarterback Ken Niumatalolo https://t.co/vWhDOVKizN @NAVYCoachKen @NavyFB @coachvaa #TBT // https://t.co/SOdY37JnAf pic.twitter.com/dswBidSGCz
— Rob DeMello (@RobDeMelloKHON) September 6, 2019