They talk about it all the time at West Point. About Doc Blanchard and Glenn
Davis and Earl ''Red'' Blaik.
About tradition.
''That's one of the special things about being at West Point, as a player
and a coach, looking back and seeing the people who've come through here and what they've gone on to do,'' Army
football coach Bob Sutton says. "We talk
about how lucky we are to have that, to be able to reach back."
For the better part of three decades, however, there has been more reaching
back and embracing Army's rich, colorful history than advancing it.
For all three service academies, in particular Army and Navy, it has been a
struggle to merely stay competitive with the rest of major-college football.
Until this season. Call it the Year of the Hawk. Of military might, at least
on the playing field.
Add 'em up. Army, Navy and Air Force are a combined 14-3, including the
Cadets' first 6-0 start since Blaik was on
their sideline in 1950 and Air Force's stunning, 20-17 overtime upset of
Notre Dame on Saturday.
The Falcons are 4-2. Navy is 4-1, a remarkable reversal from a 1-10 finish
four years ago.
"I'm sure part of it is probably just a cycle. I don't know that it's
anything special," Sutton says. "When you go against
the academies, you know how they're going to play. They're going to play
hard. They're going to play tough. They're
going to be unified. All of those things are part of being associated with a
military academy. And I think there are some
pretty good football players out there, too."
Like Beau Morgan, the senior Air Force quarterback who a year ago became
only the eighth player in NCAA history
to both pass and run for 1,000 yards in a season. At Notre Dame on Saturday,
he rushed for a season-high 183 yards
and a touchdown, passed for 51 yards, and the Falcons' outsized defense shut
down an Irish running game that had
dominated nationally ranked Washington a week earlier.
Tackle Joe Suhajda's sack of Notre Dame quarterback Ron Powlus forced an
immediate fumble in overtime, and
Dallas Thompson followed with a 27-yard field goal.
"When I went out there for our first defensive play, they looked at me and
they actually snickered," the 6-3,
250-pound Suhajda says. "I mean, I'm giving up 60 pounds to those guys, and
they're smiling, thinking, 'Look at this
guy."
The Irish are smiling no more. The loss, their second of the season, could
knock them from a top-tier bowl - and
possibly from the postseason altogether, if they're passed over by the
Sugar-Fiesta-Orange bowl alliance and decline
to play in the bottom-rung Independence, the only other game with an
available opening not committed to a
conference.
Army, meanwhile, was rolling past Tulane 34-10 on Saturday, giving the
Cadets an eight-game winning streak over
two seasons that ties for the second-longest in Division I-A (West Virginia
also has won eight in a row; Wyoming is
tops at 11). Navy, which beat Air Force Oct. 12, was idle.
Granted, other than the thriller at Notre Dame, the three academies hardly
have built their records against the nation's
elite. Army beat the likes of Ohio, North Texas, Yale and Rutgers before
beating Tulane, a respectable team even
though the Green Wave have won only twice this year. Navy has beaten
Rutgers, Southern Methodist and Duke
besides Air Force.
Each, however, poses problems with a sleight-of-hand option offense that
opponents otherwise seldom see. "It's
difficult to simulate in practice, and they do a really good job with it,"
Tulane coach Buddy Teevens says.
"Obviously. (Army's) undefeated.
Like Air Force, the other academies have effective quarterbacks. Army senior
Ronnie McAda returned from an ankle
bruise to run for a touchdown and throw for 103 yards against Tulane, and
Navy junior Chris McCoy has rushed for
an average of 110 yards a game. Army, Air Force and Navy rank Nos. 1-2-5,
espectively, in the nation in rushing.
And no surprise, given the discipline of the players' everyday lives, they
keep damage from turnovers to a minimum.
The three teams have committed half as many (21) in 17 games as their
opponents.
Not only did the Cadets not lose a fumble or interception against Tulane,
they didn't have a penalty. "This program is
predicated upon discipline," Army tackle Rich Fredricks says. "You need it
on the field and later as an officer."
What the academies need now is some kind of recognition of their efforts.
Army is unranked despite its perfect record
and no doubt because of the questionable competition that has fed it.
"I feel if we do the things we're capable of, certainly we can go out and
play and compete with everybody on our
schedule," Sutton says. That includes Air Force on Nov. 9 and, more
notably, Syracuse the following week.
Navy is yet to play Notre Dame (in Ireland), Georgia Tech and Army. Air
Force must navigate the Western Athletic
Conference.
Dangling in front of the academies is perhaps a single bowl berth, if that.
The Independence Bowl scouted Army and Air Force on Saturday. "I would hope
they liked what they saw," Sutton
says.
With five more games, he hopes, "We can make it hard for them to say no."
By Steve Wieberg, USA TODAY