Here's Scout's blurb preview from March.
SB Nation has a list of Army's need-to-know things.
It's one thing to go super negative like the USA Today's preview. Paul Myerberg of the fish wrap doesn't seem to think Army is capable of taking any steps forward from 2012 - he has Army ranked preseason #106.
... but for a preview to gloss over a prospectus without much mention of the team's weaknesses - and still rank 'em 104 is a little too harsh. Army preview by College Sports Madness
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Previews, Previews, Previews
Monday, June 10, 2013
2013 Army Preview: College Football Zealots
Friday, May 31, 2013
The top Army football preview of the summer is available over at College Football Zealots. It is my favorite preview because I was tapped to do the Q&A.
In the Q&A we look at the QB situation, some of the personnel the Black Knights have coming back and some of the expectations for the season. You can find the preview and my responses to their questions here.
College Football Zealots puts out a lot of content. There are a ton of other teams' Q&A previews on the site and I like most of the blogs that participated, so check out the Q&A and take a look at the other previews. You'll find a link to College Football Zealots on the left sidebar under CFB Blogs. If you're unfamiliar with the members of their blogroll, by all means click through and see the sites.
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Preseason Accolades
Seven Army players were selected for Phil Steele's All-Independent team.
Senior RB Raymond Maples, junior DT Robert Kough and junior FS Geoffery Bacon all earned first-team Preseason All-Independent honors from Phil Steele Publications. The group of first-team selections accounted for three of Army’s seven total honorees.
Junior FB Larry Dixon and junior OG Stephen Shumaker were second-team choices, while junior C Ryan Powis and sophomore LB Alex Meier picked up third-team accolades.
The rest of Phil Steele's Preseason All-Independent team can be seen here.
There are watch lists out as well and Geoff Bacon and Ryan Powis have been singled out for a couple. Bacon wound up on the Ronnie Lott IMPACT Trophy watch list (IMPACT defensive player of the year) and Powis is listed as a contender for the Rimington Trophy given to the nation's top center.
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Army Preview: Orlando Sentinel
Monday, May 13, 2013
Here's the first of the 2013 season previews... The Orlando Sentinel throws out the first lowball ranking placing Army at 117th nationally.
Seeing these early previews is on one hand nice in the pre-summer slow news days, but it is also typical for these countdown rankings to release the lowest ranked teams earliest.... so there is that.
In the past The Sentinel has ranked teams by their projected Win-Loss record and I have no reason to think this preseason's rankings are any different. While this is an insulting placement for any team, the Sentinel's way of ranking has usually been the least accurate of any method of ranking and I don't think it will be difficult for Army to far, far outplay the #117 rank that they have been given here.
Obvious question marks are at the quarterback spot and the defense needing to greatly improve on their NCAA worst numbers:
Outlook: The opportunities for success will be there for Ellerson and the Cadets, but a lot will depend on who takes over at quarterback. Steelman was the heart and soul of the program for the past four seasons and finding someone who can fill that role could be difficult. The triple option offense is tough to stop because few teams actually run it, giving Army an edge. But the Black Knights’ defense must improve in order for the team to be successful this season.
I like these kind of early previews and low rankings as a mark for the team to surpass, but #117 will be pretty easy to surpass and assuming any improvement on defense they should clear that low hurdle in week 2.
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Yearbook: San Fransisco
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Long before the South Florida Bulls appeared on the college football roll books the name "USF" was reserved solely for the Dons of the University of San Fransisco. Univ of San Fransisco's yearbooks are available online and present a great look at student life at USF. The yearbooks are complete from 1910 to 2003 and were named the Ignation (1911-1931), Adios (1941-1950) and the Don (1937, 1939, 1951-2003). These are great yearbooks and the editions I looked at are a fantastic chronicle of USF sport culture.
The Dons basketball acumen is well known with their back-to-back national titles in 1955 and 1956, but San Fransisco football had a stellar season of their own 5 years prior in 1951. The 1951 team went undefeated at 9-0 and by the numbers had the best rushing defense in the country. The team placed ten players into the NFL and produced the school's first All-American Ollie Matson.
Matson was a big part of the season for the Dons. In their 9 games Matson rushed for 1566 which was 114 yards fewer than the standing college record. Matson's number of 1566 yards on the year wasn't bested until O.J. Simpson rushed for 1709 over 11 games in 1968. Ironically Matson made All-America as a defensive player. Here's a look at Matson running wild on offense in that great 1951 season:
The Dons were offered a bid to the Orange Bowl with the condition that they leave behind their two African-American players - Ollie Matson and Burl Toler. The team refused the bowl bid due to that stipulation and sat on their unbeaten, untied and uninvited season.
Here is a short documentary on San Fransisco's 1951season with interviews from some of the players.
Sadly the 1951 season was USF's final year of football as the varsity team gave way to a four team intramural league.
The USF Yearbook does well to chronicle that intramural football league as well as San Fransisco's varsity sports teams. Go to the yearbooks page and check out the USF Don and the USF Ignation yearbooks.
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Black and Gold game Updates
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Sal's pre-spring game report notes injuries were the reason why the format was to be offense vs defense in situational play.
With the Army moving the game from Ft. Hood back to West Point and then moving again indoors to the Foley Center due to weather, then cutting down to situational scrimmage it kind of seemed like the Black Knights were closing ranks and getting down to work.
Sal Interdonato tweeted from the scrimmage.
Rich Ellerson did a post spring game interview with Ken Kraetzer and talked a little bit about the attrition that went on over the spring and some positional shifts they tried out on defense.
Sal has his spring game report up, the most comprehensive review of the day that I could find.
He also has the early word on the QB spot.
Hit em all, they are all must read/must see.
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