DEVELOPING: Service Academies WiIl Play This Weekend

((HT: CFT/McGuire))

But for now, it looks like a one time only deal...

A senior defense official, who isn't going on record with his or her name, says Army will get to play Boston College and Air Force will play Navy after all...

Future games will be evaluated as the government continues to be in lockdown.

The games are paid for with non-appropriated funds, and have been long planned. The late review was coming from the lawyers of the service academies just to make sure that any appropriated funds were not going to be used in the process...

In a very classy move (and a very pee-ahr driven one, the HQ is sure), United Airlines stepped up and told Air Force that they could fly for free. And Boston College even told Army that they would pitch in on expenses...

Navy made it official on the Twitter machine:

#NavyFootball game on Saturday against Air Force is a GO. Kickoff 11:30 AM on CBS. No word on the rest of the sports this weekend.

Here was the original story from Denver when the thought that there wouldn't be any more game came to the fore...
((HT:TheDenverChannel.com))

Armed Services Games Might Be Played Regardless Of Shutdown

((HT: ESPN))

Through other sources of funding that have nothing to do with government dollars...

According to people who have talked to Brett McMurphy, all that's lacking ar ethe lawyers final sign off and the sign-off of Secretary of defense Chuck Hegel...

"The games (Air Force at Navy, Army at Boston College) have been approved to be played by everyone at the service academies, even the lawyers," the source told McMurphy. "Everyone is in. All the boxes are checked, just waiting for approval by the Secretary of Defense, who has final say, which would make it official."

The source also said that costs would be taken care of by "non-government funding."

"Not a dime of expenses: travel, game expenses, anything. Not one dime of government money will be spent."

The problem: Navy sports are all done through unappropriated funds while Army and Air Force have some appropriations...

Mark Schlabach discusses from his home...


There is an exception... Division III Coast Guard...

Their coaches are all staff and not on furlough- even as equipment staff, the sports information director and other civilian employees in the athletic department are.

The HQ would recommend showing some support for them with their home game against Western New England if you're around on Saturday...

Government Shutdown Effects Service Academy Football (As Of Right Now UPDATED)

Air Force Associate AD Troy Garnhart says it's possible Saturday's football game vs. Navy might not take place due to the government shutdown.

In addition, head coach Troy Calhoun's weekly press conference with selected players has been wiped away from today's rundown of events...

The game itself is sold out and is set for broadcast on CBS Sports Network...

Here was the message the Commander in Chief released early this morning related to the armed services and their duties as the government is shut down for the first time in 17 years...
((HT: White House Video))


The Army-Boston College game could also be in the swing...

AD Garnhart told the Capitol Gazette:

Garnhart explained that upper-class cadets at the Air Force Academy are considered military personnel, which means they could be subject to travel restrictions under the shutdown.

The final decision to decide whether or not the Air Force-Navy game will be wiped out will come no later than noon Thursday...

More as civilization as we know it grinds to a halt...

PM UPDATE: The Department of Defense released a statement about all of this at the Air Force...

At this time, travel for all intercollegiate athletics is cancelled – this includes the Air Force-Navy game on Saturday, 5 Oct.

The Air Force Academy Falcons will attempt to play all home intercollegiate athletic contests but those may be cancelled, as well. Academy officials are working with Mountain West Conference officials, those teams the Falcons were scheduled to play and officials at The Department of the Air Force to make up as many games as possible.

And from the Navy:

As a result of the government shutdown, the Department of Defense has suspended all intercollegiate athletic competitions at the Service Academies.

The Naval Academy will cancel contests as appropriate and notification on Saturday's football game against Air Force will be made public prior to 12 noon on Thursday.

Tonight's soccer game against Howard has been cancelled. It is not known at this time if the game will be made up or not.

Late Friday CFB: Boise St. Rolls on Air Force

Nothing can stop the U.S Air Force, but apparently the Boise State Broncos can at least slow down their football team.

The Broncos struggled early and pulled away late, walking away with a 42-20 win over the Falcons on the Smurf Turf.

Boise St QB Joe Southwick went 27-29 and 287 yards passing, but the star of the night was RB Jay Ajayi who ran for 125 and 4 scores.

The Broncos, now 2-1,  bounced back from an embarrassing 38-6 loss to Washington and a 63-14 practice game win over Tennessee-Martin and looked like they were ready to get back into the Top 25.

They have another Friday night game coming up next week vs. Fresno State.

Your game wrap from the Folks at ESPN:

ICYMI: Wyoming Head Coach suspeneded for going off on AIr Force Coach

It's probably not a good idea to go off on a profanity laden tirade against the Coach of a military academy during Military Appreciation night.

Yet that is what University of Wyoming head coach Dave Christensen did Thursday night after his team was beaten by Air Force.

What made it worse....it was caught on video.

And for that reason, Christensen earned a suspension for his next game.

Nobody is exactly sure what set him off at the end of a hard-fought 28-27 loss by the Cowboys but it's abundantly clear, he ain't happy.

What we found humorous in a story on the Cheyenne Tribune website quoting assistant coach Pete Kaligis. Kaligis told the paper "The program Christensen installed is a well-oiled machine. It rolls"

The Cowboys are 1-6 this season.

Read the story from the Trib.com website RIGHT HERE

The University's Athletic Director said he's not decided on Christensen's future...yet. But this probably isn't a good omen. The school has invested quite a bit of money in the coach, hoping he turn around the Cowboy program.

And while yeah, sure, he was ticked because he thought Air Force coach Troy Calhoun had one of his players fake an injury to buy time, it's still in no way shape or form an excuse for what happened.

Here's your video: (language quite NSFW)

OSG Bowling: Holy Toledo! Rockets Survive Military Bowl

((HT: WTVG-TV Toledo))

In a game that, pretty much, had everything- from Air Force converting more fourth-downs than having actual punts, onside kicks, kickoffs returned for scores, all that fun post-season stuff...

Wouldn't you know that another trick play would cost the Air Force in their Military Bowl game with Toledo...

A botched two-point attempt with less than a minute to go gave the Rockets and their 32-year-old head coach the win...

Here's how it happened...


And the HQ will admit that it was nice to see RFK in action ((or was it MAC-tion?)) for the game... and while it didn't look quite like a sell-out, it looked like a solid crowd on a cold day...

Good write-off for Northrup Grumman...

Big East invites potential new members: Will they accept?

((ht: cbssports.com))

And that friends is the $64 million (so-to-speak) question. Just because the Big East invited some new members today at their presidents meeting, we wonder how many of those invitations will be accepted.

None of the reports on this list specific schools that were invited, but...the implications are that the expected schools will be receiving one. Air Force, Navy and Boise State as football only schools and Houston, SMU and UCF receiving "All-Sport" invitations.

Read CBSSports.com's story on what is going down RIGHT HERE

We don't believe that all 6 of these schools will accept the invitations. Really, we don't understand at all how Air Force in Colorado Springs and Boise State would fit in the Big East at all. The one and only reason would be for a possible BCS berth. The other schools have that same reason, but they are closer to the actual East and are currently a part of Conference USA.

This of course ties in with West Virginia's lawsuit versus the Big East. One of the main points WVU makes is that the Big East is no longer viable in football. And arguably that is true. To an extent. It's also the reason they are inviting other schools.

The Big East minus WVU, Pitt and Syracuse would be down to 5 members, the new schools would put them back at 11. But again, we aren't so sure that all 6 will accept. Again, arguably, Houston could hold out for a Big 12 invite, something that would be a much better fit. As could Boise State.

Oh, and, there is still the specter of Connecticut and Rutgers leaving as well. Which would really screw this up, though we don't think that will actually happen.

We, I guess, will see how this all plays out. As we all know, "Galactic Realignment" isn't by any stretch of the imagination, done. Time will tell if the Big East is grasping at straw or they will come off looking like genius's for adding schools to keep them from going under.

Report: Big East to invite six teams

((ht: nypost.com))

The question is "Will they come?"

According to a story in today's New York Post, the Big East plans to chime in on "Galactic Realignment" by adding some teams of their own. Six of them to be specific.

The paper says that Air Force, Navy, Boise State, Central Florida and 2 of the following 3 schools: Houston, SMU or Temple, will all receive invites to join the BCS football conference.

Read the entire Lenn Robbins story from the Post RIGHT HERE

There are some caveats and the story doesn't explore the possibility that some of these schools will say no.

We told you earlier this week that UCF would be getting an invite. They'll go. As quickly as they can. The others, Navy probably will, but after that there is a lot of uncertainty.

Air Force and Boise State. Sure, they could come. It would guarantee them the BCS opportunities they'd like to have. Boise doesn't deny they'll listen, but they've already gone on record saying they aren't so sure they want to do it.

But.

There's the travel thing. Neither school is "East" of anything aside from the Pacific Ocean. The Texas schools, we think they'll have to gauge whether or not the Big 12/10 will call, something that logistically makes much more sense too.

And yes, we realize that Boise, Air Force, SMU and Houston would help create a "Western Conference". We aren't blind to that.

The Big East is doing what they can to protect themselves and make sure they survive. We get that. And they are going to or at least approaching schools that could potentially be available. But this all begs some questions.

Is it worth the extra travel?

Even though the ACC is adding Pitt and Syracuse, the travel costs won't be going up too much. But imagine UConn having to fly to Boise or to Colorado for a game vs. Air Force. That is a long, long trip.

Again, this, we suspect is being driven by TV money, because if it happens, you know darn well they'll head straight back to the negotiating table to get a bigger TV contract. Yes, we know the Big East has to add some football schools to survive. But we just question the targets not the need.