Army Navy game is a spectacle unlike any other

When people ask me if UC wasn’t my team who would I root for, I simply answer, “The Naval Academy…Until we have to play them.” I enjoy watching their offense. When the “flexbone” triple option clicks at the highest level it truly is a thing of beauty, as Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano said in October. (http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2009/10/pigskin-plenty.html)

I got catch a little bit of the Army-Navy game on Saturday afternoon, and while both teams looked sloppy, it was a terrific day for football in Philadelphia. There’s almost nothing better than the Army-Navy game, nothing.

People in the Midwest will argue that Ohio State-Michigan is the premier rivalry in America, while the Southeast will argue an SEC matchup like Florida-Alabama carries more clout. I disagree, respectfully. Nothing compares to the Army-Navy game. While people joke about how often the TV announcers make clichéd remarks about thanking the troops and how this game means nothing more than brothers fighting brothers, they are very truthful remarks.

Truthfully though, I try to watch football, and try to not worry about everything after football. And this Army-Navy game—the parts that I was able to watch—was another impressive showing by Navy’s offensive unit.

Although it took nearly eight minutes for the first pass to be thrown and Navy did not throw the ball for almost one whole quarter, I found it exciting. While others I work with find this offensive gameplan to be, “boring as watching paint dry,” I find it thrilling and exciting. You never know what Navy will go to next.

Will they run their traditional triple option or will they gash you up the middle with their “midline” option play (a play that both Ohio State and Notre Dame had trouble stopping)? Navy also features quick hitting pitch plays to wing backs already sprinting in motion around the end and occasionally sprinkles in play action passes trying to hit the defense for huge chunks of yardage.

It is a very scary offense when it clicks, and although I loved former Navy quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, I think current Navy signal caller Ricky Dobbs might be better at running the offense. And that’s why when people say Navy is a bad team I remind them of a close call at Ohio State at the beginning of the year, and of course the systematic dismantling of the Fighting Irish in South Bend.

And hey, if Coach Kelly wanted to call me to get my thoughts on stopping Navy next season, well, I might not be able to help him with that, but I’d just have to ask him for tickets to the game anyway. One time a very inebriated man offered me tickets to the Army-Navy game. While I knew he wasn’t serious, and a scheduling conflict would have kept me from attending anyway, I know that if there’s one more thing I need to add to my bucket list, it’s attending an Army-Navy game.

Anyone want to help me out with that? (I do get to see Florida play UC, so we can scratch that off the “list”)

While all the talk in Cincinnati has been about coaching transitions and Brian Kelly’s departure, my focus has been taking a few days off from football and getting ready for two weeks of work and fun, work and fun, and traveling to New Orleans for work and fun. More on UC-Florida as the week progresses, and of course I have to tell you all about the year 2009 as the year comes to a close too. Stay tuned.