I was riveted, too.
In no way am I attempting to downplay the emotional impact of watching the on-field drama and some of the pageantry at Saturday’s Army-Navy game, the 120th renewal of the service academies’ rivalry.
That’s even before you get to Navy quarterback Malcolm Perry’s stunning 304 yards rushing as the Midshipmen won 31-7 to get to 10-2 for the season heading into a Liberty Bowl matchup against Kansas State on New Year’s Eve.
But it’s time to get Air Force in the mix.
I propose rotating the three annual games service academy games – Army vs. Navy, Navy vs. Air Force, and Air Force vs. Army — as the neutral-site curtain closer of the FBS regular season.
Call it the Pentagon Showcase.
We’re accustomed to Army-Navy locked in as the traditional final game in that exclusive FBS national television slot, now on CBS.
It’s a draw even in the seasons when neither program is going to have a winning season and play in a bowl.
Because, no, that’s really not what the game is about.
I get all the tradition.
I’ve taken the tour at West Point and seen the grave of Glenn Davis, and didn’t even need the guide to tell me that he was “Mr. Inside” to Doc Blanchard’s “Mr. Outside,” and that both won the Heisman Trophy.
I’ve never been to Annapolis. But I am aware of – and I salute – its history, too.
Yet as an observer and as, yes, a Coloradan, I repeatedly am tempted to wonder out loud:
What about Air Force?
It’s a matter of rearranging schedules, not drastically overhauling them. The three academies with FBS football programs play the round-robin series every year.
(By the way, the Merchant Marine Academy and the Coast Guard Academy have Division III teams, meet annually for the Secretaries Cup and apparently have a rivalry every bit as spirited as the ones among Army, Navy and Air Force.)
This season, Navy beat Air Force 34-25 at Annapolis on Oct. 5, and Air Force beat Army 17-13 at the AFA, near Colorado Springs, on Nov. 2.
Oh. You didn’t know that? That’s understandable. Those games drew attention, but given how they’re wedged in among full Saturday national schedules, including the typical multiple-network, multiple-game marathons, they can be overlooked.
Air Force deserves to share the final-game spotlight, too, and that would be the case even if the Falcons hadn’t had the most successful of the three programs since the inception of the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy in 1972.
Air Force has won the trophy in the round-robin competition 20 times, Navy 16 times and Army 8 times. The trophy has been shared four times, with the incumbent winner retaining possession.
In fact, from 1989-2002, the Falcons won the trophy outright in 12 of 14 seasons, and the recent relative parity among the three programs – each team now has won it twice in the past six seasons – has been refreshing and enjoyable.
This season, the Falcons are 10-2, lost only to Boise State in Mountain West Conference play and will meet Washington State in the Cheez-It Bowl in Phoenix on December 27.
Army-Navy goes back considerably farther. Absolutely. I love tradition. I’m accused of being overly conscious of it. But by now, the Air Force Academy doesn’t have that new-building smell, either. It started in temporary quarters in Denver in 1955 and moved into the picturesque campus north of Colorado Springs three years later. Falcon Stadium opened in 1962.
Ben Martin, Ken Hatfield, Fisher DeBerry and now Troy Calhoun have had successful runs as the Falcons’ head coach, with a one-year wonder – some guy named Bill Parcells — wedged in there in 1978 before he decided academy coaching wasn’t for him.
You’re telling me that if staged with appropriate reverence and respect in the second weekend of December, an Army-Air Force game in Philadelphia or Chicago or Dallas or Miami couldn’t evoke the same kind of emotions?
I disagree.
I’ll concede it would be more difficult to get the two corps of cadets there, but with corporate sponsors – including some of those with military connections and ads placed on the telecast Saturday — involved, it could be overcome.
In each three-year rotation, the Army-Navy game would be played one year at West Point and one year at Annapolis during the main body of the season, and one year at a neutral site – most likely Baltimore or Philadelphia. For those willing to tune in September, October or November, the Army and Navy campuses are on display, the echoes are evoked, and the emotions are tapped.
Plus, each of the three FBS academy programs would be in the Pentagon Showcase, that FBS season-ending game, two out of three years.
You hope it’s the two best teams among the three each season, with the Commander In Chief’s Trophy at stake, but that’s not all that important. Right? That’s what we’ve been told before.
For entertainment purposes only, this is how it could work:
2020
Air Force vs. Army at West Point
Army vs. Navy at Annapolis
Pentagon Showcase: Air Force vs. Navy (major neutral site)
2021
Army vs. Navy at West Point
Navy vs. Air Force at AFA
Pentagon Showcase: Air Force vs. Army (major neutral site)
2022
Army vs. Air Force at AFA
Air Force vs. Navy at Annapolis
Pentagon Showcase: Army vs. Navy (major neutral site)
I’d salute that.
About Terry: Terry Frei is the author of seven books. His novels are Olympic Affair and The Witch’s Season, and among his five non-fiction works are Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming, Third Down and a War to Go, and ’77: Denver, the Broncos, and a Coming of Age. Information is available on his web site, terryfrei.com. His woodypaige.com archive can be found here.
