Staff picks is a segment in which we usually get snarky about the opponent (all in good fun, of course — usually). When it comes to Army, though … well, it’s nothing but respect.
It’s the same with all the service academies, and while Army vs. Navy is a rivalry and they talk about “not liking each other,” even Michigan defensive line coach Shaun Nua, 4-0 against Army during his time coaching at Navy, admitted to seeing the big picture.
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“Any service academy, every time you have a man that’s getting ready to go into the service in the military for our country, you always appreciate that,” Nua said. “But this is still the game of football. We’re trying to win.”
Army head coach Jeff Monken knows it won’t be an easy task for his team Saturday. He chuckled when asked if they were knocking off some rust after a tougher-than-expected, 14-7 win over lowly Rice.
"You're like a lot of people," Monken said. "You think we're something we're not. Of the 85 guys on scholarship on Rice, we probably offered 80 of them. Of the guys we've got on our team, they offered none. Knocking rust off didn't have anything to do with it. Our guys were fighting their butts off, playing as hard as they could to try and win the game. That's what we've got to do to win here.
"I don't know where people got disillusioned about Army football. We're just a bunch of tough kids … play hard. We've got a lot of guys nobody else wanted. We've got some talented players in here, maybe some people missed on them. But it's not like we're busting at the seams with All-Americans. It takes everything we've got to win a game here."
They’ll be overmatched at every position one-on-one, he added. That’s why they’ll try to win as a team.
"It's going to take us playing our very best to even give them a good look," Monken said. "That's how talented they are. Holy smokes, all 11 one-on-one matchups we're outmanned. We're outmanned in every one-on-one matchup. Like I said, we just try to prepare our schemes and do the best we can and hope it will be good enough."
Congratulations to last week’s winner, Doug Skene, who was closer than anyone (and would have been even more on the mark with his 42-10 pick had the backup secondary not whiffed on a big touchdown play during Middle Tennessee State’s last drive). This week’s champion receives the jersey Skene wore his last game, the 1993 Rose Bowl … in other words, it’s up to him to repeat, because he’s not aware yet that that’s first prize.
Second prize is a set of steak knives.
The Picks:
CHRIS BALAS: Yahoo’s Pat Forde predicted a win for the Black Knights in the preseason, continuing his Jim Harbaugh bashing (last year, after the Notre Dame loss, he said it “feels like the beginning of the end” for Harbaugh.
“Michigan will finally beat Ohio State. And still will lose three games and not win the Big Ten East and the fan base won’t know what the hell to do with Jim Harbaugh. It’ll want his head on a pike after a stunning upset loss in Week 2 to Army, of course.”
Of course … not. MICHIGAN 34, ARMY 10
JOHN BORTON: Michigan fans will be treated to all the anticipated wow factor that comes with playing a service academy — flyovers, sky jumpers, etc. What they want to see when the game gets rolling in earnest is a home team that doesn’t shoot itself in the foot. It’s the old week one to week two improvement, and the expectation here is that the Wolverines march on at 2-0. MICHIGAN 31, ARMY 13
AUSTIN (‘Alvin’) FOX: Army’s underwhelming 14-7 win over Rice last Friday suddenly has this game looking a lot easier for Michigan than it once did. How in the world will the Black Knights be able to score enough points to potentially win on Saturday, when they were only able to put up 14 on the vaunted Rice Owls last weekend? Having a one-dimensional offensive attack against Don Brown certainly won’t help matters. Army’s attempts to try and win the time of possession battle will likely prevent this one from getting too lopsided, but it has all the makings of a game Michigan should control throughout. MICHIGAN 35, ARMY 14
EJ HOLLAND: Army runs an unconventional offense, which seems scary. But the bottom like is they’re not very good. Michigan should win handily.MICHIGAN 38, ARMY 12
DOUG SKENE:West Point cadets are highly driven, motivated by a higher calling, and tough as nails. This won’t be an easy win for Michigan. I look for the playbook to open up a bit more, which will be fun to see. MICHIGAN 35, ARMY 17
DOUG KARSCH: This game has been scary since the day it was scheduled. I've talked about it all summer. Because it's scary. But, Don Brown has a plan. Michigan's offense looked like a high-performance vehicle that you have worked on in the garage for nine months; you take it for the first spin and realize something isn't quite right. What does it need -- a bit more time in the garage. Josh Gattis (the mechanic) has been tuning this thing up. MICHIGAN 35, ARMY 12
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