Crawling Ahead to VMI

It feels like this week is going by slowly - with the bye week last Sat. and not much press for the VMI game.It is hard to believe that we are 8 weeks into the season. Soon enough, winter will be here and the bowl season will be all that's left of the 2010 season.

A couple of additional notes moving ahead toward VMI.

Astute reader David notes the uniform selection for Saturday's game.

"VMI’s game notes for their game at Army say that Army will be wearing “alternate” jerseys on Saturday (VMI will be wearing red jerseys).
When Army’s new unis were revealed ( http://www.goarmysports.com ), it was announced that they’d wear the “Dress Grey” uni against Air Force. Will we see them a week early? Or will we see some other (previously unrevealed) combination?"

 Great catch by David and a hat tip to him for the content in what is looking like a slow news week.

Here's a week-old article regarding Army's stretch run.

We know how Navy did against Notre Dame and how Air Force fared against TCU... the most important message gleaned from this writeup is that the Black Knights have been competitive in every game this year.

Army can compete with every team remaining on the schedule. They have competed with every team they have faced so far, and should continue to do so. The offense has been consistently productive, and the defense’s ability to create negative plays has helped them keep opposing offenses in check.

This year is an unusually strong Army team, in terms of depth, leadership and strength along each of the lines. As Army moves closer to bowl eligibility (and bowl season) those same attributes will be looked for in next year's athletes.

Freshman Matt Luetjen was working with the safeties. Luetjen was Army’s fourth quarterback the last few games.  Coaches believe Luetjen’s fastest track to the field may be on defense. Starting quarterback Trent Steelman is only a sophomore. Max Jenkins, his backup, is a junior. Army will graduate its top three safeties – Donovan Travis, Donnie Dixon and Jordan Trimble.

Not to get too far ahead of ourselves here, but a lot of question marks will be raised for the 2011 season. The message? The time is now.

ESPN takes a peek at the bowl situation for this season.

This year's game is scheduled for Dec. 29 at RFK Stadium and is set to feature teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference and Conference USA, with Army as a possible backup.

Military Bowl in D.C? Nice. I would take a Dec 29th bowl date in the capital. The alternate bowl opportunity comes with the standard late season Army/Navy game stipulation...

Army (4-3), which hosts Division I-AA VMI Saturday, needs to reach six wins to be bowl eligible and must have the sixth win before its game against Navy on Dec. 11 to qualify for both bowls.

A story about Eric Legrand and Army's pledge for continuing support of the Rutgers family.

The Black Knights have felt the hurt as much as anybody. The players have prayed for and written cards to LeGrand, who underwent surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey.

"There's been a real effort on the team to reach out to Eric and his teammates and to the Rutgers football community and to support now and support for the long term, and a lot of thoughts and prayers," Ellerson said. "We're not strangers here to wounded warriors.

"We have a model for endurance here and an appreciation, culturally and institutionally, where maybe we can weigh in at some point and really make a difference, beyond the emotional support," Ellerson said.

It would be hard not to pledge support for Eric, anyone who watched the game was affected by Eric's injury. It's awful what happened to Legrand- I hate thinking about it; but thinking tragic injuries such as these is a clear reminder of the freedom that many of us take for granted every day, everywhere. Go out, speak your mind, be honest with yourself and with others, explore the world and enhance your self - because we have only one chance to do those things.