Since his younger brother had the stronger throwing arm, Ali Villanueva spent hours running pass patterns in his backyard as a child. Villanueva wanted to be a receiver, score touchdowns and hear the roar of the crowd.
Villanueva had the hands - but not the body.
Villanueva was always tall and big for his age. So tall and big, in fact, that he naturally gravitated towards basketball. Villanueva, the son of military parents, actually didn't play competitive football for the first time until he attended the American high school in Belgium. When he strolled through the gates of West Point in 2006 as a 6-foot-10, 310-pound plebe, Villanueva started the football season at -- take a guess -- defensive end before being switched to offensive line a year later.
In ten days (I'd say ten short days, but this time of year the days are never short enough), Ohio State will open its 2009 season with a home game against the United States Naval Academy. It will mark the first time these two teams have faced each other since the 1981 Liberty Bowl, which the Buckeyes won, 31-28. Prior to that, Ohio State and Navy hadn't played since 1931.
Ohio State University wants its fans to know that this isn't exactly the Kentucky School of Turfgrass Management that's coming to town. The Midshipmen are giving up a minimum of four years of their postgraduate life serving this country in harm's way and face a brutal class load off the field. Consequently, they deserve a better treatment than hearing "YOU SUCK, 23" from five directions at once. OSU has a YouTube video saying as much (video after the jump).
Everyone with even a passing interest in college football (or the life of Ronald Reagan) knows about Knute Rockne's famous "Win one for the Gipper" speech. Less well known is that the speech was delivered in the bowels of Yankee Stadium, a facility that hosted the Notre Dame-Army football game in the 1920s, 30s and 40s and therefore hosted some of the greatest moments in college football history. It's time to revive that tradition.
He was the trophy's first junior winner in helping West Point to consecutive championships in 1944 and 1945 near the end of World War II. In total, Blanchard netted 1,908 yards and 38 touchdowns in his three-year Army career (he played freshman football at North Carolina). Army would go 27-0-1 in that span.
Every Monday during college football's endless offseason, The FanHouse Walk will put last week's stories to bed and deliver the essentials to bridge that agonizing space between now and September.
Was He Even Alive Then? -- Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin dove back to the pre-disco era in describing his football team after a recent scrimmage. "I feel like we're in the '60s right now with our offense. We've got to run the ball and throw play-action right now. That's about all we can do. It's pretty scary right now."
Mercifully football has moved beyond '60s era mundanity, but Tennessee fans might welcome '60s results as the Vols snagged two SEC championships over the decade.
The last time Army went into the world of Division I-AA (er, FCS) football for a new coach, it was an unmitigated disaster. Todd Berry tried to install a one-back, "traditional" offense, and failed miserably.
Former Detroit Lions coach Bobby Ross came aboard for two years, and assistant Stan Brock took over after that. Brock was fired after consecutive 3-9 seasons, even though he appeared to getting the program moving back in the right direction by re-installing the option offense in 2008.
This time around, Army wasn't fooling around. They knew they needed a coach well-versed in the triple option, and they got one.
They're optimistic that dipping into the I-AA ranks for a coach will prove more fruitful this time.
In the end, Stan Brock is paying for Bobby Ross' sin.
But that's coaching. Sometimes, you do the right thing schematically, you stand by your assistants, and you get canned anyway.
That appears to be the case with former Army football coach Stan Brock.
Yes, Brock led consecutive 3-9 seasons. No, that's not good enough. The idea here is to get Army football back on track, not keep it spinning its wheels hopelessly.
But Brock did the right thing before the 2008 season. He took the pro-style offense Ross was trying to make work, and he replaced it with an option-style attack. It didn't work because he was trying to run the option without option personnel. It was the right idea, and it's terribly unfortunate that Brock will not be allowed to see the concept through.
Promise me this: Once in your life, please try to make it to a football game at one of our service academies. I can't promise you a great game, but I can promise a great experience. Yes, even if Army football is involved.
Army-Navy is one of the sport's oldest rivalries. It hasn't been much of a rivalry lately, though. Navy has had Army's number, winning nine of the last 10 games, including today's contest, which Navy won 34-0. The Black Knights of the Hudson have really hit the skids. The last time they won more than four games in a season was in 1996, when they went 10-2.
Navy dominated today's game, which was basically over after Navy's first possession. The Midshipmen controlled the line-play on both sides of the ball. Paul Johnson may have taken his system to Georgia Tech, but he left behind his top assistant, Ken Niumatalolo, who hasn't missed a beat. Navy's triple-option offense still works beautifully, with both Shun White and Eric Kettani going for well over 100 yards of rushing. The real story is the dominance of Navy's defense, which held Army to seven first downs and 150 yards.
When Army and Navy decided they should look to see what other cities and stadiums were interested in hosting the Army-Navy game, there was a good amount of interest Especially in Texas. The sticking point, though, was likely to be that the host city and stadium would also have to pay transportation costs for up to 8000 students from both schools. A prohibitive cost the further you get from an Atlantic or Mid-Atlantic state without some serious subsidies.
[State Fair of Texas president Errol] McKoy said the major hang-up was that the winning bidder had to pay for transporting the entire Naval Academy and West Point student bodies – about 8,000 students – to the game each year. McKoy estimated that cost at around $5 million and added that there was nothing in place to help offset those costs.
"It was a little bit too rich for us," McKoy said.
Cowboy Stadium in Arlington and the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio are still considering making bids. Unless the respective cities chip in to pay for transportation, reality should slap those organizations soon.
Philadelphia, East Rutherford, Baltimore and maybe Boston and Charlotte seem to make the most sense in keeping transportation costs within reason.
It's been hashed and rehashed once more this summer, about how the Big East needs at least one more team on the football side of things to allow teams to have an eight game conference slate -- and save some effort and money by trying to schedule four non-conference games rather than five.
The problem is that the Big East doesn't want to go down the football-only membership path in which Temple existed, and the basketball schools sure don't want any more members on that side.
The [New York] Post has learned that the Big East has explored deals with Army and Navy in football. The concept is for each of the service academies to play four Big East opponents each season on a rotating basis.
For example, in a given year, Army would play Connecticut, Cincinnati, Louisville and Pittsburgh. Navy would face Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse and West Virginia.
Don't get too excited yet, since it seems both Army and Navy said no to the basic plan.
This one, though, may not go away. There is significant benefit to the service academies to at least continue negotiations. The arrangement would only tie each to four games, leaving each to schedule eight other games with whom they wish. It preserves their athletic independence. Ongoing negotiations would also be very likely to add some tie-ins to the bowls the Big East is affiliated.
In ten days (I'd say ten short days, but this time of year the days are never short enough), Ohio State will open its 2009 season with a home game against the United States Naval Academy. It will mark the first time these two teams have faced each other since the 1981 Liberty Bowl, which the Buckeyes won, 31-28. Prior to that, 
Legendary Army back 
Every Monday during college football's endless offseason, 
In the end, Stan Brock is paying for Bobby Ross' sin.
Promise me this: Once in your life, please try to make it to a football game at one of our service academies. I can't promise you a great game, but I can promise a great experience. Yes, even if Army football is involved.
When Army and Navy decided they should look to see 
It's been hashed and rehashed once more this summer, about how the Big East needs at least one more team on the football side of things to allow teams to have an eight game conference slate -- and save some effort and money by trying to schedule four non-conference games rather than five.
