Armed Forces Bowl Preview: Ready for defense
Wednesday, December 29th, 2010
2010 Armed Forces Bowl
Thursday, December 30 Noon Eastern

Army's triple-option led by QB Trent Steelman should sneak up on SMU in the Armed Forces Bowl. (Icon SMI)
Southern Methodist Mustangs (7-6, 6-2 CUSA, 1st Place West, 2nd Place Overall)
vs. Army Black Knights (6-6)
As an interesting kickoff to the preview, both these teams have already faced an offensive clone of their opponent and lost: SMU lost @ triple-option Navy 21-28 in Week 3 and Army was downed at home by run-and-shoot Hawaii 28-31 in Week 2. So both these defenses have already had a taste of what is in store for them this Thursday. The main thing about the triple-option is that it is just so tough to prepare for in one week mid-season, especially if you’ve never seen it before. A guy or two out of position can lead to a breakaway TD. SMU has at least some familiarity with the offense and has had 3 weeks to prepare.
Meanwhile, the time off has not made Army’s DBs any quicker or faster. They might be able to diagnose tendencies, but no one has grown 6 inches or carved a few tenths off their 40-time since early December. The advantage here goes to SMU (Note: SMU has actually played Navy 3 times over the last 3 years and have gone 0-3 vs the triple-option). Read the rest of this entry →



