Army and Navy in Top 25 October 13-14

[gsmooth]

This post is for the fans that know college football really well and have followed it for decades, but really anyone can respond to it.

Both Army and Navy are undefeated and are in the Top 25. I know they don't play the toughest competition, but their offensive styles are so unique in that they run the ball 80% with the triple option and other option plays and only throw 20% of the time. I do occasionally think of these questions, listed below, in my head whenever I see the score of their games pop up at the bottom of the screen and they are kicking the snot out of their opponents and I am curious what others think.

1) How would they do against the elite teams in the top 10? I think they would lose and their style probably wouldn't be effective against far superior athletes and with superior coaches that teach them how to stop the their offenses.

2) How would they do against the mid tier P4 teams? I think they could be quite effective as the athletic/skill gap would not be as big the coaches for these other teams are more likely to get confounded with Army and Navy style offenses.

The most important question
3) Do P4 teams avoid playing Army and Navy with the exception of Notre Dame because they don't want the embarrassment of losing to such an unaesthetic and gimmicky style that Army and Navy play? Would a loss to them Army/Navy on the schedule look like a big fat pimple on their face?

Army and Navy have the benefit of playing against seeing their opponents style of play but their opponents don't the benefit of going against an offense like Army or Navy's style of offense.

I ask these questions, because as much as I love the way UConn found a way to win against Temple, Army kicked the snot out of Temple in Philly.

 

[gopher2]

1) Not at all well against top 10 teams. Too much speed and athleticism.
2) May sometimes beat a mid level P-4, but only about 25% of the time I'd quess in years when they have a good team.
3) In recent years its more like Army and Navy avoid the P4s. For years they both scheduled quite a few P4s, but it was resulting in too many pastings, especially for Army, So they started scheduling more realistic competition.

 

[Vowelguy]

Both of them play ND this year so we will see how they fare against top 15 competition.

 

[Vowelguy]

Also they could end up playing first for the AAC title (and an CFP spot) and then in their yearly game the following week.

Army is 5-0 in conference and should beat ECar and UTSA at home. Only big challenge is at UNT.

 

[noeynox]

Obi Melifonwu single handedly stopped the Army option one year. Big, rangy athletes do really well defending the option. Top teams tend to have those types in bunches.

 

[metsfan2323]

The Army QB should be in the Heisman conversation. It is great for CFB that the academies are relevant, they are very easy to root for and fun to watch.

BTW there is nothing gimmicky about the triple option offense, definitely unique, but it is as old school as it gets, and it is great that it still works. It is baffling that more schools don't try it.

 

[gopher2]

Also they could end up playing first for the AAC title (and an CFP spot) and then in their yearly game the following week.

Army is 5-0 in conference and should beat ECar and UTSA at home. Only big challenge is at UNT.

When they meet this year I hope its a more exciting game than last years Army-Navy game which was the most boring game I've ever watched start to finish. Army must have run the QB up the middle about 30 times.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Both of them play ND this year so we will see how they fare against top 15 competition.

Leap of presumption Notre Dame remains in the top 15.

 

[Chin Diesel]

And Happy Birthday Navy.
October 13, 1775.

 

[Husky68]

Per Massey Army to date has a strength of schedule #133 and Navy #127 and UConn #122. Just win and get into top 25.

 

[Chin Diesel]

In a world of transfer portal and NIL, there are a few schools almost insulated from that model.

The service academies are now most likely to have the most consistency with roster composition and stability.

There's an opportunity for them to hang in the 15-25 range because of the roster stability.

 

[Windham4th]

Do u think Space Force Academy will run triple option?

 

[Deepster]

And, if you're interested....

Army is 6-1 against the spread. Navy is 5-1. The Army/Navy parlay has been very good to me.

 

[Steve UConn72]

Mentioned this in the Week 8 thread, but this is the first year that both Army and Navy have been the top 25 since 1960.

 

[Jetskies]

BTW there is nothing gimmicky about the triple option offense, definitely unique, but it is as old school as it gets, and it is great that it still works. It is baffling that more schools don't try it.

my humble opinion:

the academies run it because they have to. they don't have elite athletes, and they have different physical requirements as cadets/midshipmen, so to keep up they use the weird offense that other teams don't see often. Other teams don't do it because passing offenses are where the excitement and thus $ is.

the few times in recent history that it has been tried outside of the academies it's been lame.
Prime example - Georgia Tech made the huge mistake of hiring paul johnson after Chan Gailey left the team. Paul Johnson took a yellow jackets offense that used to recruit guys like Megatron Calvin Johnson, Reggie Ball, and PJ Daniels, and turned it into one of the most boring offenses ever, resulting in low-tier receivers and quarterbacks (guess why? the triple option). They won "enough" but seriously the Jackets were one of the lamest teams to watch durign the 2010's.

apparently, no one wants to watch a P4 team rush 80% of the time. Surprise

 

[JohnFSilver]

The Army QB should be in the Heisman conversation. It is great for CFB that the academies are relevant, they are very easy to root for and fun to watch.

BTW there is nothing gimmicky about the triple option offense, definitely unique, but it is as old school as it gets, and it is great that it still works. It is baffling that more schools don't try it.

No one wants to play it. And no coach who runs it will get a big job. To me, run the damn offense. It has worked for a century. Lol.

Georgia Tech and moderate success with Paul Johnson. But, imagine if Alabama or Texas ran the offense. Would be incredible.

There are spread options and such. Zone reads are a type of option game. Add in rpo, as we saw last week, and there are things you can do that mimic it with more dynamic play.

 

[Patman]

No one wants to play it. And no coach who runs it will get a big job. To me, run the damn offense. It has worked for a century. Lol.

Georgia Tech and moderate success with Paul Johnson. But, imagine if Alabama or Texas ran the offense. Would be incredible.

There are spread options and such. Zone reads are a type of option game. Add in rpo, as we saw last week, and there are things you can do that mimic it with more dynamic play.

the reasons teams went away from it is that it wasn't working. If more schools used it then it would go back to not working once again.