Postgame Haiku, Vol. 69

That was unpleasant
Sometimes you just have to laugh
It’s one of those days

Postgame Haiku, Vol. 68

A lot like last year
Army left it all out there
This is why we watch

ARMY WEEK

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for Navy fans, what with conference realignment starting again and Arizona State receiving a bid to the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. We’ll get to all that stuff in due time. Right now, only one thing matters. You know what it is.

Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl Possible Opponents – Final Update

We’re about 30 hours away from finding out all the BCS bowls, so we’re even closer to finding out who Navy plays in San Francisco in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. The PAC-12 title has been decided – Stanford edged out UCLA by scoring the game’s final 10 points, sending the Cardinal to the Rose Bowl. For our final look, we’re just going to run down all the bowl eligible teams and I’ll give you my best guess where they go.

Spoiler Alert: I’m picking Arizona State

Did Air Force deface the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy?

Army-Navy media day was yesterday, and part of the festivities was the delivery of the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy to Philadelphia after a two-year sentence in Colorado Springs. Upon its unveiling, Bill Wagner tweeted:

Tidbit from Army-Navy media luncheon today. Air Force allowed the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy to fall into major disrepair!—
Bill Wagner (@BWagner_CapGaz) November 29, 2012

Navy spent $5,000 to refurbish trophy and it was beautiful. Sparkling silver. Now it is tarnished black!—
Bill Wagner (@BWagner_CapGaz) November 29, 2012

It looks like there is more damage to the trophy than just tarnish, though. Here’s what the Trophy looked like while it was in Annapolis:

Here’s what the Navy side looks like now. Apparently, Bill the Goat needs some help to keep from falling over:

 

Why does Bill need to be propped up? Was he bent or broken off? Did Air Force players all take the trophy home like it was the Stanley Cup? Was there an accident? What happened?

In other news, it appears that the years where there was a 3-way tie have been removed, something that should have happened a long time ago.

Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl Possible Opponents – Week 12 Update

Well here go hell come. It is actually possible that USC could fall all the way to the 6th bowl in the PAC-12. I believe that, given their cache, it probably won’t happen. Can you really see someone like the Las Vegas bowl passing up having a good portion of LA roll up I-15 for a football game the weekend before Christmas?

But right now there are 5 teams with better conference records than USC (by BCS ranking: #5 Oregon, #8 Stanford, #15 Oregon State, #17 UCLA, #25 Washington) and a 6th with a higher ranking (#24 Arizona). So even if the PAC-12 lands a second BCS bowl game, Navy is going to either face a team that was ranked at the end of Week 12 or USC. There really is no bad matchup for exposure’s sake.

The other big news for the watch list is that Arizona eliminated Utah from bowl contention thanks to a 34-24 win last weekend. The Utes were up 24-17 going into the 4th quarter, but gave up 17 unanswered points. So bon voyage to that opponent. Frankly, it was the least attractive matchup. We’ve played them before, they’re not a traditional PAC team, and I don’t need another stinking referee blowing a touchback call again.

Click on through for our update of Washington, Arizona, and Arizona State.

New Big East Power Rankings – Week 12

Welp. Rutgers is no longer part of the New Big East. Too many people will write too many words on this, so I’m not going to say much. Someone else will probably leave – all signs point to Louisville or UConn. But honestly, unless the ACC makes their $50M buyout stick to Maryland, the Big East isn’t the only conference in trouble. For as much strength as John Swofford got by wresting Notre Dame away from the Big East and any overtures from the B1G, he lost it by having a founding member split for cash. So the NBE rankings bid farewell to Rutgers and now has 12 teams.

Anyway, it’s Thanksgiving Day, so we’re going to be quick about the rankings this week. Think of these as the twitter version of the rankings – short and missing all the details.