OK, I woke up about 4 am this morning, and started thinking about this subject, as I read a post last night about how Navy lost to Army partly because of having played in the AAC Championship game the week before the 2016 Army-Navy game; so having no bye week before the game.
Back in the 1970s and 1980s, the Army-Navy game was on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. And several posters have mentioned maybe we ought to return to that. Or maybe a game on either Thanksgiving Day or Friday sometimes.
I think our AD ought to call his counterpart at Annapolis about this, and for both of them to approach the AAC Commissioner about moving the game to that week. I would suggest that the AAC always schedule a bye week for Army and Navy on the Saturday before Thanksgiving AND now count the Army-Navy game as an AAC conference game. This would cause all FBS teams to end their regular seasons on Thanksgiving weekend. And Conference Championship week follows. Note that the CFP scheduled two weeks between the rounds of its play-off games.
Of course, Army and Navy will have to talk to both CBS and the NFL Stadiums scheduled for the Army-Navy game in future years. Now some stadiums may not be able to handle a game on Saturday and have their NFL team play on Sunday, but (1) the NFL could easily make it an away game that weekend for that team OR (2) have them play on Thanksgiving, Sunday evening, or Monday evening. I believe that the University of Pittsburgh Panthers have played several Saturday games at the Steeler's stadium, with the Steelers playing the next day on Sunday. As for CBS, I think they can figure things out, does Auburn and Alabama always have to play at 3:30 pm on Thanksgiving Saturday? And CBS can use their streaming platform to show the March-ons and Pre-Game build up. And if CBS does not want to play, bet NBC or ESPN/ABC would.
Now will the AAC play and always schedule A-N on the last week of the regular season. Hmm, the SEC does, as Tennessee-Vanderbilt, Alabama-Auburn, Mississippi-Mississippi State play that weekend almost every year. And the Big Ten has rival games scheduled on the last week, like Ohio State-Michigan, Illinois-Northwestern, and Purdue-Indiana. Plus Army and Navy would have a bye weekend before their season ending game, and both ought to have a bye weekend before their annual games with Air Force. Note, that in most seasons, AFA has a bye week before playing Army.
One benefit for Army would be that the first three weeks of the season would be non-conference games, just like most everybody else. Do you think Florida Atlantic and Rice wanted to play conference games on the second and third weekends like they did this season? So Army would not have two non-conference games in November like this season, only Air Force.
Now for USMA, I think they can tweak the academic calendar and have only Monday classes, bonfire that night, and maybe Tuesday morning classes, and then let the Cadets go on Thanksgiving leave on Tuesday afternoon (better day to travel, and cheaper); with the Corps having to report 3-4 hours before kickoff for the March-on (or the night before to West Point to ride the buses).
Of course, this proposal might be put into the "Too Hard to Do" box. However, both Army and Navy deserve to have two weeks to prepare for the Game. And if no one wants to budge and move the Army-Navy game to Thanksgiving, then maybe Army decides in some future season that playing in another AAC Championship Game is a bridge too far.
Back in the 1970s and 1980s, the Army-Navy game was on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. And several posters have mentioned maybe we ought to return to that. Or maybe a game on either Thanksgiving Day or Friday sometimes.
I think our AD ought to call his counterpart at Annapolis about this, and for both of them to approach the AAC Commissioner about moving the game to that week. I would suggest that the AAC always schedule a bye week for Army and Navy on the Saturday before Thanksgiving AND now count the Army-Navy game as an AAC conference game. This would cause all FBS teams to end their regular seasons on Thanksgiving weekend. And Conference Championship week follows. Note that the CFP scheduled two weeks between the rounds of its play-off games.
Of course, Army and Navy will have to talk to both CBS and the NFL Stadiums scheduled for the Army-Navy game in future years. Now some stadiums may not be able to handle a game on Saturday and have their NFL team play on Sunday, but (1) the NFL could easily make it an away game that weekend for that team OR (2) have them play on Thanksgiving, Sunday evening, or Monday evening. I believe that the University of Pittsburgh Panthers have played several Saturday games at the Steeler's stadium, with the Steelers playing the next day on Sunday. As for CBS, I think they can figure things out, does Auburn and Alabama always have to play at 3:30 pm on Thanksgiving Saturday? And CBS can use their streaming platform to show the March-ons and Pre-Game build up. And if CBS does not want to play, bet NBC or ESPN/ABC would.
Now will the AAC play and always schedule A-N on the last week of the regular season. Hmm, the SEC does, as Tennessee-Vanderbilt, Alabama-Auburn, Mississippi-Mississippi State play that weekend almost every year. And the Big Ten has rival games scheduled on the last week, like Ohio State-Michigan, Illinois-Northwestern, and Purdue-Indiana. Plus Army and Navy would have a bye weekend before their season ending game, and both ought to have a bye weekend before their annual games with Air Force. Note, that in most seasons, AFA has a bye week before playing Army.
One benefit for Army would be that the first three weeks of the season would be non-conference games, just like most everybody else. Do you think Florida Atlantic and Rice wanted to play conference games on the second and third weekends like they did this season? So Army would not have two non-conference games in November like this season, only Air Force.
Now for USMA, I think they can tweak the academic calendar and have only Monday classes, bonfire that night, and maybe Tuesday morning classes, and then let the Cadets go on Thanksgiving leave on Tuesday afternoon (better day to travel, and cheaper); with the Corps having to report 3-4 hours before kickoff for the March-on (or the night before to West Point to ride the buses).
Of course, this proposal might be put into the "Too Hard to Do" box. However, both Army and Navy deserve to have two weeks to prepare for the Game. And if no one wants to budge and move the Army-Navy game to Thanksgiving, then maybe Army decides in some future season that playing in another AAC Championship Game is a bridge too far.
