Army 9-2 record; no bowl

[tx ind 7060]

This is some BS.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/30570455/left-bowl-mix-now-all-army-black-knights-coach-jeff-monken-want-chance-play-memorable-9-2-season

Spoiler

Army football coach Jeff Monken woke up early Sunday, anxious to find out who his team would face in a bowl game.

The Black Knights had posted a 9-2 record, capped by Saturday's victory over Air Force that secured them the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy. Army had an agreement to play in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl against a Pac-12 opponent. By mid-afternoon Sunday, Army thought it would have the matchup secured.

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"OK, we should know something by 2:30,' but 2:30 came and went. 'We should know something by 3 o'clock,' but 3 o'clock came and went," Monken told ESPN on Sunday night. "And then we started getting word that we were getting shut out."

After a surge of Pac-12 teams opted out of bowl season and other teams, according to Monken, threatened to opt out if paired against Army, the Independence Bowl canceled its game and the Black Knights were left without a postseason destination. Monken and Army administrators informed the team following dinner at a 6:15 p.m. ET meeting.

"We had guys in tears," Monken said. "We pulled off the biggest wins of these seniors' career, they just won the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy back, that's going to be their legacy, and they're looking forward to playing in a bowl game one time together, before they go off in the United States Army, and we're sitting here telling them, 'Sorry, guys, you can't play.'

"You can talk about a playoff system and people bitching about they're not a top-four team, 'Oh, we should be in.' All we want is a bowl game. All we want is a chance to play."

An FBS independent, Army secured an agreement to play in the Independence Bowl in 2020, 2022 and 2024 as long as it was eligible. Although the Football Bowl Association lifted the six-win minimum to qualify, Army still celebrated its bowl appearance after securing its sixth victory Oct. 24 against Mercer.

Monken said he was concerned when Pac-12 teams began opting out of bowl season late last week. But he still thought Army would find an opponent for the Independence Bowl, which has been played in 44 consecutive years.

"The bottom line is there were enough people who kept saying, 'No, we don't want to play Army, we don't want to play Army,'" Monken said. "And I'm sure they don't want to have one week to get ready for the option [offense] or whatever, but our players, we've got guys on our team that wouldn't be invited as walk-ons to the teams we're getting ready to play. We've got guys from California, they didn't have a Pac-12 walk-on offer, and they are starting for us."

Monken praised SEC commissioner Greg Sankey for the league having 12 of 14 teams participating in bowls, even several, such as South Carolina and Mississippi State, with losing records. He noted that several teams seemed intent on participating in the postseason until losing games this past weekend.

"USC, a week ago, was saying, 'We deserve to be in the College Football Playoff if we go undefeated and win the Pac-12 championship,'" Monken said. "And the Pac-12 was saying, 'An undefeated Pac-12 team deserves to be considered.' So they go to the Pac-12 championship against Oregon and lose and they go from wanting to go to the College Football Playoff to not wanting to play at all? I don't get it. Boise State opted out today. They lost their championship game yesterday. So they went from being their conference champion and representing their conference in a bowl game to opting out? You couldn't go one more week and play us?

"It just doesn't make any sense to me that you can go from wanting to play to not wanting to play in a matter of 12 hours."

USC cited a recommendation from its medical team for why it opted out. And if USC hadn't opted out, it would have been almost guaranteed to play in the Alamo Bowl, which would have bumped Colorado to the Independence Bowl as Army's opponent.

Monken added that the situation is particularly unfortunate because neither Navy nor Air Force will appear in a bowl game this season.

"I'm not pointing the finger at any one person," he said. "It's just collectively, as a bowl season, whatever the system is, a 9-2 team should not be left out and a 9-2 Army team should not be left out. I don't know how we have an Armed Forces Bowl and a Military Bowl and a First Responders Bowl and at all of these bowl games, we're going to have service members coming back and being reunited with their families, we're going to put it on TV and it's going to be a feel-good story, and you're going to leave the Army team at home.

"How much bull is that? Somebody's got to fix that."

After Monken broke the bowl news, Army's seniors met and agreed to remain on campus and continue practicing until Thursday morning, in case another participating bowl team cannot play because of COVID-19 tests or other reasons. If Army can't find a bowl spot, players will be dismissed to return home for the first time since May. But if a bowl spot opens up, Army will be ready. Athletic director Mike Buddie issued a statement Sunday saying the academy would "continue to fight to get them that opportunity."

Monken said the team would need only a day to arrange travel and reach the bowl site. He noted the team's season-long motto: Don't plan. Prepare.

"If we got a Dec. 31 bowl game, if you call us on the 29th, we'll have those guys flying there on the 30th," Monken said. "What I'm hoping is some of these bowl games, when they hear enough of this about Army, they're going to say, 'You know what? If somebody cancels, we're going to take Army. We're going to be the knight in shining armor and we're going to look like a hero taking this team.'

"They'll be the hero."

Monken doesn't blame the Independence Bowl at all, saying, "They worked hard. They were in tears. They wanted to have this bowl game and they wanted to host us and they tried to get an opponent, and people kept turning them down."

He said he also understands the contracts bowls have with conferences and their members.

ESPN Staff Writers Alex Scarborough and Kyle Bonagura contributed to this report.

The New York Jets won a football game Sunday for the first time in 358 days, but they might have suffered a loss that will be felt a lot longer.

With a 23-20 upset of the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, the Jets (1-13) relinquished their front-runner position for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft. In a decades-long search for a franchise quarterback, they might have blown their shot at Clemson star Trevor Lawrence, the presumptive top pick.

"Hey, our job is to try to go out and win every week," embattled coach Adam Gase said, dismissing the narrative that a loss would've been more beneficial to the franchise.

By pulling off the most improbable win of the 2020 NFL season, and one of the biggest upsets in team history, the Jets fell behind the Jacksonville Jaguars in the race for No. 1. They have the same record, but the Jaguars clinched the tiebreaker, according to ESPN research. The tiebreaker is based on strength of schedule, and the Jaguars have played a significantly weaker schedule than the Jets.

That didn't dampen the Jets' postgame celebration.

"It's an amazing feeling," said quarterback Sam Darnold, the player who could be most impacted by the Jets' draft position.

The Jets snapped a 13-game losing streak, the longest in franchise history, and eliminated the possibility of becoming the third team in NFL history to finish 0-16.

"It's been too long for us to even remember what a win feels like almost," a relieved Gase said.

It was a crushing loss to the Rams (9-5), who missed a chance to clinch a playoff berth and fell out of first place in the NFC West. Coach Sean McVay called it a "very humbling" defeat, adding, "This loss will demoralize us only as much as we allow it to. It's going to be embarrassing, sick to your stomach about it."

McVay called Gase the other day at 7:15 a.m. ET to compliment his counterpart on his team's tenacity, in spite of its 0-13 start. It's unusual for opposing coaches to talk during the run-up to a game, but McVay wanted to share that sentiment with Gase after watching Jets tape.

"I'm sitting there going, 'I can't believe he's at the office already,' because it's 4:15 [in Los Angeles]," Gase said. "I was going to answer it, just because I knew he was up and wanted to say something."

The Jets showed mental toughness as they nearly blew a 20-3 lead, protecting a three-point advantage in the final five minutes with a touchdown-saving tackle by punter Braden Mann, a fourth-down pass breakup by safety Marcus Maye and a game-clinching catch by running back Frank Gore with 2:20 play.

Gore, 37, who lamented a few weeks ago that he didn't want to end his legendary career with an 0-16 season, was beaming after the game.

"I've had tough years and this has been a tough one," said Gore, the third-leading rusher in NFL history. "One thing I can say: I never went 0-16."

How stunning was the upset? A week earlier, the Jets suffered the most lopsided loss of the Gase era -- 40-3 against the Seattle Seahawks. The Jets went off as 17-point underdogs against the Rams. It tied for the second-largest upset win for them in the Super Bowl era; the only one larger was Super Bowl III in 1969, when the Jets stunned the Baltimore Colts as 18-point underdogs.

This marked the third consecutive season an underdog of 17 points or more has won outright. From 1978 to 2017, there had been only three such upsets, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

For weeks, the Jets' fan base has been buzzing about the prospect of drafting Lawrence, regarded by talent evaluators as a generational prospect.

"It doesn't affect us," Darnold said of the speculation.

Darnold, who has struggled, played his most efficient game of the season. He completed 22 of 31 passes for 207 yards and a touchdown, snapping a streak of five straight games under 200 yards. He had no turnovers and made smart decisions under pressure, throwing the ball away instead of making a negative play.

"There was no panic," Gase said.

Darnold's future remains uncertain, as the Jets clinched a top-three pick and still could opt for a quarterback. They have months before they make that decision.

For now, it was about celebrating a rare win. The feeling was so unfamiliar that Gase said he paid more attention to the victory formation than ever before, making sure nothing went wrong.

Darnold ended the game with three kneel-downs.

"The greatest feeling in sports to be able to ice the game out," he said.

 

[BurntOrange&White 42017]

fuck the SEC.

 

[Don Johnson 4852]

1 minute ago, BurntOrange&White said:

fuck the SEC.

 

Army is getting screwed because of teams not participating in bowls.  Not because of the conference that is participating.

https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/sports/college/2020/12/20/independence-bowl-canceled-due-lack-available-teams/3963028001/

Although Army was locked in for one side of the 11th oldest bowl game in the country, bowl organizers couldn’t find an opponent for the Black Knights after seven Pac-12 teams, six ACC and several Group of 5 teams opted not to participate in the postseason.

[BurntOrange&White 42017]

1 minute ago, Don Johnson said:

Army is getting screwed because of teams not participating in bowls.  Not because of the conference that is participating.

https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/sports/college/2020/12/20/independence-bowl-canceled-due-lack-available-teams/3963028001/

Although Army was locked in for one side of the 11th oldest bowl game in the country, bowl organizers couldn’t find an opponent for the Black Knights after seven Pac-12 teams, six ACC and several Group of 5 teams opted not to participate in the postseason.

Have you seen the sub 500 teams from SEC getting bowls over Army? Fuck the SEC

[Don Johnson 4852]

4 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Have you seen the sub 500 teams from SEC getting bowls over Army? Fuck the SEC

The problem is too few teams willing to play, not too many.  If other conferences did the same as the SEC, Army would be playing. As Monken says in the OP article:

"The bottom line is there were enough people who kept saying, 'No, we don't want to play Army, we don't want to play Army,'" Monken said. "And I'm sure they don't want to have one week to get ready for the option [offense] or whatever, but our players, we've got guys on our team that wouldn't be invited as walk-ons to the teams we're getting ready to play. We've got guys from California, they didn't have a Pac-12 walk-on offer, and they are starting for us."

Monken praised SEC commissioner Greg Sankey for the league having 12 of 14 teams participating in bowls, even several, such as South Carolina and Mississippi State, with losing records. He noted that several teams seemed intent on participating in the postseason until losing games this past weekend.

"USC, a week ago, was saying, 'We deserve to be in the College Football Playoff if we go undefeated and win the Pac-12 championship,'" Monken said. "And the Pac-12 was saying, 'An undefeated Pac-12 team deserves to be considered.' So they go to the Pac-12 championship against Oregon and lose and they go from wanting to go to the College Football Playoff to not wanting to play at all? I don't get it. Boise State opted out today. They lost their championship game yesterday. So they went from being their conference champion and representing their conference in a bowl game to opting out? You couldn't go one more week and play us?

"It just doesn't make any sense to me that you can go from wanting to play to not wanting to play in a matter of 12 hours."

Edited December 21, 2020 by Don Johnson

[BurntOrange&White 42017]

It doesn't matter what the fucking problem is 2-7 south carolina getting a bowl over army is fucking retarded.

[Al_4_ISU 12667]

It shouldn't be that hard for someone to tell South Carolina to get fucked and let Army play in that game.

[Js1 87300]

5 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

It shouldn't be that hard for someone to tell South Carolina to get fucked and let Army play in that game.

Right? Fuck the SEC and Sankey. 

Fuck Tom too. No one wants to watch lame duck Tom coach a bowl. Decline and offer our spot to Army.

[Don Johnson 4852]

6 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

It shouldn't be that hard for someone to tell South Carolina to get fucked and let Army play in that game.

IMO, the answer isn't less teams participating.  The problem isn't having too many, its having an odd number of teams willing to play.  

We know there are going to be more cancellations and teams unable to play.  Army's best chance is to wait until a team has to drop out and they can step in.  If I really wanted to play, I'd like my chances as the universal alternate as opposed to locked into one bowl game and at the mercy of my opponent having enough to play.

[clapclapclap 9000]

Army could go anyway and line up against 11 empty chairs.

[Al_4_ISU 12667]

Just now, Don Johnson said:

IMO, the answer isn't less teams participating.  The problem isn't having too many, its having an odd number of teams willing to play.  

We know there are going to be more cancellations and teams unable to play.  Army's best chance is to wait until a team has to drop out and they can step in.  If I really wanted to play, I'd like my chances as the universal alternate as opposed to locked into one bowl game and at the mercy of my opponent having enough to play.

Yeah, this is probably a good point.

That said, I really hope that there was some vetting of the schools participating in the bowls to see if they really intend to follow through.  It was obvious the past week that there were a ton of schools that didn't really have COVID issues, but were just beaten down by the year and wanted to go home and call it a day.  If you're in the boat, you should have just opted of a bowl, and if you're currently in a bowl, you better do whatever you can to play the game.

[freyguy 4368]

13 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

It shouldn't be that hard for someone to tell Texas to get fucked and let Army play in that game.

fify

[TexasGolf 5467]

see aggy, this is what actual getting screwed looks like

[crimsonlonghorn 2313]

Yeah, that's all bullshit with the Pac. 

 

[Don Johnson 4852]

1 minute ago, Al_4_ISU said:

Yeah, this is probably a good point.

That said, I really hope that there was some vetting of the schools participating in the bowls to see if they really intend to follow through.  It was obvious the past week that there were a ton of schools that didn't really have COVID issues, but were just beaten down by the year and wanted to go home and call it a day.  If you're in the boat, you should have just opted of a bowl, and if you're currently in a bowl, you better do whatever you can to play the game.

I think every team that is in a bowl wants to play.  The others dropped out.  However, many, even schools like Alabama, are letting kids go home for Christmas.  You have to think there will be teams that are going to have outbreaks.

[Steel Shank 9564]

Surly should get a team together and go play Army at House Park. We could drink beer and eat BBQ at halftime. Just a thought.

[NeverMarryAStripper 22322]

Maybe we could bail on the Alamo and let Army beat up on us in Shreveport

[Guest Lobo]

Can we trade Colorado for Army?  At least there was an Army at the Alamo, there weren't any Buffaloes.  If there were, they were safely locked in the basement. \

I know the Alamo Bowl has a fixed agreement with the Pac-12 and we're just 8 days from the game.  And it'd be hard to get Colorado off-loaded to another bowl game.  But 2020 is the year of modified contracts.  I haven't seen this many people go back on their signed word since Michael Cohen visited me with a briefcase handcuffed to his.......nevermind.  Anyway, I bet there's pressure already in a massive military city like San Antonio (yes, I know it's mostly Air Force, but still...) to replace Colorado with Army.  

Or Texas Athletics could do the honorable thing, demand we get to continue to practice under NCAA bowl rules.  Let Army have our Alamo Bowl spot, use a chunk of Herman's buyout money to fund the Black Knights coming to San Antonio.  And then publicly ask Tom Herman if he has 1/100th the honor of the U.S. Military Academy.......that he should resign and move on.

Edited December 21, 2020 by Lobo

[GringoSalado 1654]

1 minute ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

Maybe we could bail on the Alamo and let Army beat up on us in Shreveport

Beat me to it, how do they feel about the Alamo bowl?

[AUS-97HORN 12058]

considering how many of our D Line are out or opted out... Army would most likely end up running all over us.    We kinda suck at covering option plays... add in the triple option and yeah... we would end up looking like ou did against them 2 years ago, barely escaping in OT.

Edited December 21, 2020 by AUS-97HORN

[Underdog 29237]

Wait...  USCe got a bowl invite @2-7?  Damn and I thought it was fucked UK got one @ 4-6.  

['stache 22148]

After all the bitching Nebraska did about “let us play” they should man up and play Army in a bowl game. Fucking cowards.

[Pimphand 6382]

Teams from the P12 and B1G should have been selected last only after every other team that didn't try to be an abject sissy were exhausted.

Fuck this sport in it's stupid face for becoming such a traveshamockery.

[Guest]

36 minutes ago, clapclapclap said:

Army could go anyway and line up against 11 empty chairs.

Leave Texas Tech out of this.

[Js1 87300]

38 minutes ago, Don Johnson said:

IMO, the answer isn't less teams participating.  The problem isn't having too many, its having an odd number of teams willing to play.  

We know there are going to be more cancellations and teams unable to play.  Army's best chance is to wait until a team has to drop out and they can step in.  If I really wanted to play, I'd like my chances as the universal alternate as opposed to locked into one bowl game and at the mercy of my opponent having enough to play.

I read the article - I am glad they are going to stay around and practice until Thursday (12/24) hoping something opens up in the next 3 days, but you put them in a really uncomfortable spot if there's nothing by then, you send them home for the holidays, then you have to call them all back within a day or two (or more)? 

Considering how things are going, the bowl game would likely be cancelled then try to slot someone in last minute, having to recall a whole team back to practice after having gone home.  It goes against everything they are (seemingly?) trying to do to avoid more cancellations or exposure issues. 

[Al_4_ISU 12667]

15 minutes ago, 'stache said:

After all the bitching Nebraska did about “let us play” they should man up and play Army in a bowl game. Fucking cowards.

You say this like you expect Nebraska to behave with a modicum of integrity.

[tantric superman 4668]

["Serves them right for cheering for a certain political figure" Cloak Roomish comment deleted.  User banned.]

[Guest Lobo]

^
In all seriousness, that certain political figure could help them a lot by advocating for them to get into a bowl game they really deserve to play in.  And I bet 90% of Americans would rally around the effort.  In our insane federal budget, there's gotta be a few hundred grand laying around to re-open one of these cancelled bowl games in a responsible fashion.  Send along HHS and DHS personnel to effectively test players, officials, staff, et. al.  Of all the crazy shit our federal government has facilitated this year, a bowl game with Army and another deserving program in one of the existing bowl games or some neutral field somewhere (FedEx Field in Maryland for instance) would be great for military morale.  Shit, play the game on an Aircraft Carrier like they did in NCAA basketball.  Yeah, it'd cost a few bucks and take some personnel to pull off, but in the end most people paying attention would have zero issue with that.    

[Nicole44 22326]

Army AD not giving up without a fight! Good for them!

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/army-determined-to-play-in-bowl-game-despite-being-left-out-at-9-2-amid-independence-bowl-cancellation/
 

I would welcome the Black Knights as an addition to our conference btw if that would even be possible.

And yes, some team should give up their spot to let these players have the bowl. They are far more deserving than many of the teams selected. 

[ztejas 44290]

SMU is free. Probably too far gone, though.

[TexArcher 39078]

What a disgrace. 

And who are these teams that threatened to cancel if paired with Army?  Their cowardice should be a matter of public record.

[Doc Reeves 6434]

1 hour ago, Don Johnson said:

Army is getting screwed because of teams not participating in bowls.  Not because of the conference that is participating.

https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/sports/college/2020/12/20/independence-bowl-canceled-due-lack-available-teams/3963028001/

Although Army was locked in for one side of the 11th oldest bowl game in the country, bowl organizers couldn’t find an opponent for the Black Knights after seven Pac-12 teams, six ACC and several Group of 5 teams opted not to participate in the postseason.

 

aggy would claim that as a bowl win 

[Alien Octopus 666]

Guess they should join a conference if they want a guaranteed bowl w a winning record.

[Hornius Emeritus 12819]

1 hour ago, Js1 said:

 

Fuck Tom too. No one wants to watch lame duck Tom coach a bowl. Decline and offer our spot to Army.

I do, but I'm weird.

[Js1 87300]

8 minutes ago, Alien Octopus said:

Guess they should join a conference if they want a guaranteed bowl w a winning record.

fifSEC

[Vertigo 20502]

1 hour ago, slorch said:

Leave Texas Tech out of this.

Army vs Tech would actually be a really interesting game. 

[Al_4_ISU 12667]

51 minutes ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

I do, but I'm weird.

I'd much rather watch you guys in a bowl game than South Carolina.  I know y'all think your team sucks, but your team is decent.  And I get that in Texas expectations being "decent" means you might as well be Kansas, but to the general football watching public, your team isn't shitty.  Just not "Texas".

[Huckleberry 34751]

2 hours ago, Don Johnson said:

IMO, the answer isn't less teams participating.  The problem isn't having too many, its having an odd number of teams willing to play.  

We know there are going to be more cancellations and teams unable to play.  Army's best chance is to wait until a team has to drop out and they can step in.  If I really wanted to play, I'd like my chances as the universal alternate as opposed to locked into one bowl game and at the mercy of my opponent having enough to play.

Well your opinion is partially wrong. Too many teams participating in bowls has been the problem for a long time. 

A 2-7 team having a spot over a 9-2 team is indefensible. Arguments can be made for a 5-5 team from a difficult conference compared to a 9-2 team with a cupcake schedule. But not 2-7.

But your point about being the universal alternate this season is valid.

[Hagbard Celine 11296]

the bowl system is dead and an archaic relic of the 20th century

it's a parasite on college football that no longer has any value-add

[TheBryMan81 2634]

3 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said:

It shouldn't be that hard for someone to tell South Carolina to get fucked and let Army play in that game.

The problem is, no one is opting out of playing South Carolina.

Replace South Carolina in whatever bowl with Army, watch that opponent all of a sudden start talking about opting out.

[USNALonghorn 5196]

3 hours ago, AUS-97HORN said:

considering how many of our D Line are out or opted out... Army would most likely end up running all over us.    We kinda suck at covering option plays... add in the triple option and yeah... we would end up looking like ou did against them 2 years ago, barely escaping in OT.

These guys are service academy athletes. They played a soggy toilet paper  OU D well with Mike Stoops as a dead man DC. Also, Bijan, Ehlinger, and RoJo would rack up ground yards at will. Tom Herman teams seem to get lit up by spread offenses, but stonewall ground and pound teams. And once again, undersized service academy athletes can only do so much.

Edited December 21, 2020 by USNALonghorn

[Spawn of Cthulhu 2241]

Army did really well against South Carolina in '64 and '65 IIRC. Armybrat would be able to provide some anecdotes.

[Don Johnson 4852]

Didn't take long

 

[Drew 2934]

What suck is I was sure Army would be at the Armed Forces Bowl again(my brother gets us tickets every year) and seeing them play a game Tulsa team would be MUCH better than seeing Tulsa/Miss ST. ugh.

[Js1 87300]

DO IT . GIF

[Beau Vine 55894]

7 hours ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Have you seen the sub 500 teams from SEC getting bowls over Army? Fuck the SEC

Here's the problem right here:

Quote

An FBS independent, Army secured an agreement to play in the Independence Bowl in 2020, 2022 and 2024 as long as it was eligible. 

 

[Gut Wagon 8219]

5 hours ago, Nicole44 said:

Army AD not giving up without a fight! Good for them!

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/army-determined-to-play-in-bowl-game-despite-being-left-out-at-9-2-amid-independence-bowl-cancellation/
 

I would welcome the Black Knights as an addition to our conference btw if that would even be possible.

And yes, some team should give up their spot to let these players have the bowl. They are far more deserving than many of the teams selected. 

The service academies have always amazed me with their competitive play. They have academic and other requirements most other players simply couldn't (or wouldn't) commit to. I'd be tempted to let them play in bowls every year even if they came up short of 6 wins. 'Murica. 

[SDG 3336]

Hope that other UT spot gets passed to Army.   

[Nick Nolte 31]

Internet buzz that the SEC is trying to reshuffle other bowl games so they keep the Liberty Bowl and have one of their other 3 loss teams play in it, and Army would play a G5 team.  So weak.

[tx ind 7060]

7 minutes ago, Nick Nolte said:

Internet buzz that the SEC is trying to reshuffle other bowl games so they keep the Liberty Bowl and have one of their other 3 loss teams play in it, and Army would play a G5 team.  So weak.

I'm absolutely shocked that the SEC would go thru schedule machinations in order to prop up their ability to win games.