Coaching for Pizza: Odds and Ends From the Last Few Days

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Odds and Ends From the Last Few Days

Sunday, September 29, 2024

Loose ends usually need tying up . . .

This scenario would be most interesting

Army (4-0) routed Temple (1-4)

this past Thursday

Army is tied with Missouri (4-0)

with an eight game winning streaks

going back to the end of last season

Navy (4-0) had little trouble

dispatching UAB (1-3) on Saturday

Army and Navy continue on their potentially AWESOME collision course.

The question is, can either Army or Navy make it to the new 12-team National Championship playoffs?

The highest ranked Group of Five conference champion is guaranteed an automatic playoff berth.

The Group of Five Conferences are the American Athletic Conference (AAC), Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference, the Mountain West Conference and the Sun Belt Conference.

Army and Navy are tied atop the 14-team AAC's standings with 3-0 conference records.

The teams with the best current overall records in the other four Group of Five conferences are Liberty (4-0) in Conference USA, Eastern Michigan (4-1) in the Mid-American Conference, UNLV (4-0) in the Mountain West Conference and James Madison (4-0) in the Sun Belt Conference.

It is possible for Army and Navy to meet in the AAC Championship Game on December 6th. Their traditional Army-Navy game on December 14th is not considered an AAC game.

Back-to-back Army-Navy game weekends would be highly interesting!

Here are the remaining schedules for our two favorite Military Academy juggernauts:

ARMY

Oct. 5 at Tulsa (2-3) *

Oct. 12 vs. UAB (1-3) *

Oct. 19 vs. East Carolina (3-2) *

Nov. 2 vs. Air Force (1-3)

Nov. 9 at North Texas (4-1) *

Nov. 23 at Notre Dame (4-1)

Nov. 30 vs. UTSA (2-3) *

Dec. 14 Navy (4-0) at Washington D.C.

* American Athletic Conference Game

NAVY

Oct. 5 at Air Force (1-3)

Oct. 19 vs. Charlotte (2-3) *

Oct. 26 Notre Dame (4-1) at East Rutherford, N.J.

Nov. 2 at Rice (1-4) *

Nov. 9 at South Florida (2-3) *

Nov. 16 vs. Tulane (3-2) *

Nov. 30 at East Carolina (3-2) *

Dec. 14 Army (4-0) at Washington D.C.

* American Athletic Conference Game

There are still a lot of games to be played before any of this sorts itself out.

Only two Group of Five conference

members are in the newest AP Poll

Both are from the Mountain West Conference.

Boise State (3-1) is ranked #21 this week and UNLV (4-0) sits at #25.

The Utah State Aggies are the

latest school to commit to the

new look PAC-12 in 2026

Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State will be bolting from the Mountain West Conference to join Oregon State and Washington State in this revamped PAC-12 Conference with hopes of being considered a Power Five conference again.