College Football Playoffs

[GOARMYSPIKES]

OK we need some attrition in there to be the only undefeated one - key games:
Tulane @ Charlotte 10/31
Tulane @ Navy 11/16
Memphis @ Tulane 11/28
Navy @ ECU 11/29
You know I think Rabble was right -- this is all so terribly boring.

[neumanna1]

OK we need some attrition in there to be the only undefeated one - key games:
Tulane @ Charlotte 10/31
Tulane @ Navy 11/16
Memphis @ Tulane 11/28
Navy @ ECU 11/29
You know I think Rabble was right -- this is all so terribly boring.

I'm guessing that last line was sarcasm (correct me if I'm wrong), but yeah, this is more exciting. Forget about the playoff spot for a moment, just possibly being able to play for a Conference Championship game is fun, and gives me other games to care about (like the one's you listed above). There were years when Army was like 6-2, locked into whatever Bowl they had committed to (usually the Armed Forces Bowl) and the rest of November was basically just playing teams like UMass or the 2nd FCS game of the year in games that really didn't mean anything beyond just getting another win. Nothing they did in those games was going to change their ultimate fate. It's better than being 1-7 in November of course, but you did get the sense of just kind of killing time until the Navy game. Now you've got a CIC game, a huge league game, the Notre Dame game, and then a game against UTSA where they're hopefully punching their ticket to the AAC title game.

Gonna be an eventful month of Army football.

[gabn92]

Agree 100%...the conference play gives us fans a number of things to be watching and rooting for, and gives the team another goal to work towards and accomplish. We're looking at 4 important games this month:

1) Hopefully beat AF for first leg of the CinC trophy
2) Go on the road to face a tough North Texas team with the hopes of remaining undefeated and #1 in the American
3) The Notre Dame game, with hopefully national attention of 2 ranked teams playing. When was the last time Army played Notre Dame and both were ranked? A win puts Army in the driver's seat for a CFP bid, but even a close loss would validate Army as a legit top 25 team. Anything better than Navy's performance gives some level of bragging rights, lol!
4) Beat UTSA and hopefully clinch a spot in the AAC Championship game...if we beat NT and UTSA, I would assume we'd be the host team?

Lots to play for still and each week brings a few different things to be rooting for. Would love to see Tulane take a loss in the next couple weeks...and it wouldn't hurt for Memphis to do the same.

Beat Air Force!

[GOARMYSPIKES]

Yes of course it was sarcasm. The offseason whining about AAC reminded me of a bunch of plebes sorting laundry. Buddie and Monken have brought the thrill of a legit pennant race into our lives -and- the possibility of two special post season games including a conference championship. Over-the-top excellent by-products of joining a conference.

[hammerdown]

Learned something new today about the AAC Conference Championship. If both teams are undefeated within conference going into the championship game, the home team is based on strength of schedule. Even if Army wins out it won’t be at Michie unless both Tulane and Navy lose a conference game. One of the will when they play each other.

Not sure that is correct. The tie breaker is not strength of schedule, but who is
ranked higher in the CFB selection committee ranking, if neither are ranked,
then there is a combination of computer metrics used. Here is the link :

https://theamerican.org/documents/2024/ ... eakers.pdf

[GOARMYSPIKES]

Nice intel, General Hammerdown

[wpgrad]

Pretty easy to take a "perfect storm" of a season where the AAC gifts us by not having to play a few of the best AAC teams...and then puff out our chest and say after 8 weeks of football "oh this was 100% the right choice."

Forgive me for not being excited about playing Tulsa and FAU year after year after year, and for not having the flexibility of our scheduling where we can play opponents from across the country. And....lets see how everyone feels if we stupidly have to play the A-N game two weeks in a row especially if we lose both.

Has this been a fun season? of course. I plan to attend the AAC championship and a bowl game if it plays out. Army is undefeated and AF sucks.

Does 8 weeks of short-term success prove this move to a conference was the smart choice? Of course not. Moving to a conference was the lazy man's move by our AD and grossly restricts our scheduling options each year AND is likely going to cause the Army-Navy game to be moved by 2028 to a random November weekend and now that game loses a bit of its popularity

AND...playing this weak AAC schedule is actually negatively impacting us. If we had our usual schedule from year's past, we might have more "strong" wins to overcome boise. If memory serves, this year we were going to play Marshall, Kansas State and Syracuse before the AAC move. As it stands right now, though, because we have this week AAC schedule our only shot at the playoffs is likely beating ND. Again, being in a conference hurts more than it helps.

[gabn92]

That's some complicated math! The good news, obviously, is that Army controls its destiny: run the table, and there's no way Army isn't ranked above Navy, Tulane, and Memphis with a perfect conference record and a win vs. Notre Dame. Not to mention there's only the possibility of 1 other undefeated team in the conference (either Tulane or Memphis).

Lose to Notre Dame and finish 10-1 with an undefeated conference schedule...Army is still in since Tulane and Navy play. Depending on how Army looks in the wins and how close the Notre Dame loss would be in this situation, hosting the championship game could be in question...i.e. we lose badly to ND and Tulane looks better and better in their wins to close out the season, they could be ranked higher and get the home field advantage.

Lose to either North Texas or UTSA (and assuming a Notre Dame loss)...Army will need some help to avoid getting crowded out of the championship game. In this scenario, Army's weak strength of schedule will hurt us in the event there are multiple teams with 1 conference loss (Tulane, Memphis and possibly Navy could all be ranked ahead of Army in this scenario).

[3seconddelay]

[/quote]
Not sure that is correct. The tie breaker is not strength of schedule, but who is
ranked higher in the CFB selection committee ranking, if neither are ranked,
then there is a combination of computer metrics used. Here is the link :

https://theamerican.org/documents/2024/ ... eakers.pdf
[/quote]

Thanks for the correction. Trust but verify! My ODIA source was wrong. I should have checked. Fun to be discussing all this this time of year.

[RABBLE]

Pretty easy to take a "perfect storm" of a season where the AAC gifts us by not having to play a few of the best AAC teams...and then puff out our chest and say after 8 weeks of football "oh this was 100% the right choice."

Forgive me for not being excited about playing Tulsa and FAU year after year after year, and for not having the flexibility of our scheduling where we can play opponents from across the country. And....lets see how everyone feels if we stupidly have to play the A-N game two weeks in a row especially if we lose both.

Has this been a fun season? of course. I plan to attend the AAC championship and a bowl game if it plays out. Army is undefeated and AF sucks.

Does 8 weeks of short-term success prove this move to a conference was the smart choice? Of course not. Moving to a conference was the lazy man's move by our AD and grossly restricts our scheduling options each year AND is likely going to cause the Army-Navy game to be moved by 2028 to a random November weekend and now that game loses a bit of its popularity

AND...playing this weak AAC schedule is actually negatively impacting us. If we had our usual schedule from year's past, we might have more "strong" wins to overcome boise. If memory serves, this year we were going to play Marshall, Kansas State and Syracuse before the AAC move. As it stands right now, though, because we have this week AAC schedule our only shot at the playoffs is likely beating ND. Again, being in a conference hurts more than it helps.

I AGREE WITH WPGRAD 100%. The next few years will prove us correct. Not playing a national schedule is for the birds!! Do you want to play Tulsa, FAU and Charlotte every damn year? I sure as hell do not. A good variety of teams on an annual basis excites me more than a hum-drum no-nothings set of the same teams year after year after year.