Sportsman of the Week Ending 12/15/2019

The Army/Navy Game remains one of the longest running traditions in American sports.  And its 120th edition did not lack luster.  The President of the United States attended.  Navy, which had recently dominated over the last 20 years found themselves on a three game skid with a class of Midshipmen not tasting victory.  Never Fear.  Malcolm Perry is here.  And how.  The Navy QB (which in this case, means guy who ran after it was snapped to him), ran for a record 304 yards on 29 carries.  That's called unstoppable.  By record-breaking, Perry set a single season Navy rushing record (1804), single season yards record (2831) and had the most rushing yards in the history of the series.  He was the best player on the field and now gears up for the Liberty Bowl against Kansas State.  Will he lead Navy to their fifth bowl victory in seven years?  Our Sportsman of the Week has the desire and the talent.

Sportsman of the Week Ending 12/10/2017

Sometimes it's not about an entire game. Sometimes it's not about being the best athlete on the field.  Sometimes it's about making a play.  A play that will live in history.  That helps your team win.  In one of the biggest rivalries in college sports.  That's our Sportsman of the Week.  From 2002 to 2015, the Navy Midshipmen dominated the Army Navy game.  That's from just a year after 9/11 through nearly the last year of Barack Obama's presidency.  In fact, our Sportsman of the Week was only 6 years old when Army won before their upset in 2016.  But was it an upset? Because they won again in 2017.  John Voit was a big reason why.  With Navy leading 10-7, the best athlete on the field Malcolm Perry cleared most of the Army defense on his way to what looked like a 57 yard TD run to put Navy up 17-7 early in the third quarter.  But senior defensive lineman John Voit took the perfect angle and stopped Perry from scoring.  The 6'3" Montana native ran down the speedy Perry and got him by a shoelace.  Or splashed snow on his cleat.  Whatever it was, Navy settled for a field goal.  And never scored again.  Army scored a TD to win 14-13.  Voit's football career is likely over after the bowl game.  He'll likely never suit up again.  But for one day, he stopped Navy.  And gave Army a win.  History will remember this.  As will our Blog, as he is our Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

College Football 2014 - Week Sixteen Picks

Things started out with so much hope last week with a fast 2-0 start.  Then came crashing down in the prime time window.  A microcosm of this season's journey.  There was good times and bad times.  More bad than good.  But here's how it played out:

Stats (ATS, S/U upset pick)
Coming into week: -$780 (31-38-1, 5-10)
Previous Week: -$230 (2-3, 0-1)
Season total: -$1010 (33-41-1, 5-11).

This week is of course just The Game.  Army vs. Navy.  We'll scratch out five ($110 or money line) bets to keep things interesting, here we go!

Navy (-15) vs. Army (Baltimore)
Army is a hungry team having lost 12 straight in the rivalry.  That's back to 2002.  But Navy is waaaay better.  Their only loss since October 4 was to Notre Dame by 10 points.  Army hasn't really played competitive with any of the bowl teams on their schedule (Stanford, Rice, Air Force, Western Kentucky) with an average loss by 25 points.  Take out the Stanford loss (clearly an overmatched team) and it's only 16.5 point.  But Navy takes this by 3 TD

Navy (+610) vs. Army (Baltimore)
Yes, we'll take the money line, too.  Even if it means putting up $610 to win $100.

Navy (-8) vs. Army (Baltimore) (First Half)
I see Navy jumping on Army early and the second half being closer.  So we'll give the points and take Navy

Navy vs. Army (Baltimore) (Over 55 points)
This is a close one, but Navy's defense does give up points (30+ in 3 of last 4 games, 3-1).  So does Army (20 or more in all games, 30 or more 7 out of 11).  This one will feature some big offensive plays and just give it to the over (like 42-21)

Army (wins coin toss) vs. Navy (Baltimore)
Army has to win something, it'll be the coin toss.

This will be the final installment of this series.  Bowl picks to come out next week (and will include a post-mortem)

Sportsman of the Week Ending 12/09/2012

I'm going to bend some criteria this week for Sportsman of the Week.  Normally I choose star players with big numbers in important games who came out victorious.  This week, I'm going to choose a quarterback that lost the game. Unfortunately to a rival. For the fourth straight time.  But exemplifies the spirit of sport, and what it means to compete, and be an outstanding young man.  I am referring to Trent Steelman, quarterback for Army, who has started since his freshman year, and been on the losing end against Navy now 4 straight games (4 year starter).  Navy has won 11 straight against the Cadets, further adding to the burn.  Steelman completed 4 of 5 passes for 48 yards and ran for another 96 yards (on 17 carries) including a TD.  But it was his senior poise and decision making that led Army to outgain the Midshipmen 418 yards to 297.  It was just a couple of inopportune turnovers and critical 4th down conversions that didn't work out.  Steelman was distraught on the sideline after the game, but answered all questions in the post-game press conference and will be a fine young man representing our great country in what is sure to be a very successful military career.  I know beating Navy is all he's thought about for 4 years, but he is a proud representative of Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week.