It was just a few years ago that three service academies had a bowl agreement with the Liberty Bowl to send the winner of the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy to the Memphis bowl game every year. The only problem was, Air Force was the team that always went, and a couple of times there was real question whether any of the three would have enough wins to qualify.
Nowadays the service academies have the opposite problem. They're all having good seasons, but they may have nowhere to go after the season is over because of a lack of a bowl tie-in.More than halfway through the season, the three academies have a glossy combined record of 14-3 with one of the losses coming amongst themselves (Air Force's 20-17 loss to Navy). Last year the three combined for 14 wins for the whole season.
Army is off to its best start in 46 years at 6-0, while Navy is 4-1 and Air Force 4-2. Last week, Air Force came up with the biggest win of the season among the three with its overtime victory over Notre Dame. Navy gets its chance to do the same next week when it plays host to the Irish.
Looking ahead, Air Force has the toughest schedule the rest of the way with its WAC schedule against Colorado State, at Fresno State and at San Diego State, along with the matchup with Army Nov. 9. Army should win its next two games against Miami of Ohio and Lafayette before meeting Air Force and Syracuse on the road. Navy, coached by ex-Utah State coach Charlie Weatherbie, has tough games against Notre Dame and Georgia Tech on Nov. 23, but otherwise should be favored against Wake Forest, Delaware and Tulane.
Of course the big game will be Dec. 7 when Army and Navy meet in Philadelphia in a contest that will be a big game for a change.
BOWL NEWS: The Western Athletic Conference is putting a lot of hope in grabbing the open Independence Bowl berth, the only at-large berth among the 18 bowls, for its No. 3 team.
It makes a lot of sense for that bowl to take a WAC team that could be 9-2 and possibly ranked in the top 25.
The only thing is, the Independence Bowl might be more inclined to jump at Army or Navy, which have larger national followings than any WAC school.
The WAC, meanwhile is keeping its eye on some of the bowls which may not qualify a team because of not enough Division I-A wins. The Big 12 conference gets six berths in bowl games, but may only have four or five teams bowl-worthy, which could open up a slot in the Alamo or Aloha bowls.
PICKS: Like last week, all the locals should win except for SUU, . . . and Weber, which gets the week off.
Tulsa (3-3) at Utah (6-1), noon - The Utes have no offense with Fuamatu- Ma'afala out, right? Watch for U. to rally under adversity and break out . . . Utah 41-22.
BYU (7-1) at TCU (2-4), 1 p.m. (MDT) - The Horned Frogs have little, if any offense, as Utah found out last week. The Cougars should cruise . . . BYU 38-16.
Idaho (3-3) at Utah State (4-4), 2 p.m. - One more step on the road to the Las Vegas Bowl. You can bet John L. Smith will have the Ags ready for his old team . . . USU 28-23.
Southern Utah (4-4) at New Mexico State (0-7), 6:30 p.m. - The Aggies may be the worst Division I-A team in America, but are still a step above the I-AA T-Birds . . . NMSU 21-17.
National Game of the Week: No. 7 Alabama at No. 6 Tennessee, 1:30 p.m. MDT - Alabama never seems as good as its national ranking, but remember this - the Tide has beaten the Vols five straight times at Neyland Stadium since 1984. Still, Peyton Manning and pals should prevail . . . Tennessee 31-20.