[jacketree]

Army couldn't be much worse than they were last year, and in fact they appear to be much better on first viewing.  (I watched the first half of the Army-Buffalo game last Saturday before heading out to a Navy event of all things.)  Monken is a really good coach from the Paul Johnson triple option tree, the Cadets seem to have bought what he's selling, and were able to truly train as a football team over the summer as opposed to last year, due to changes at USMA.

When running on all cylinders, the triple option is a thing of beauty and the great equalizer on offense for Army.  They put up 47 points and  466 yards against the Bulls. (Buffalo is FBS btw in case there is any confusion. Turner Gill coached them a couple of years ago.) Army was up big in the fourth quarter but nearly collapsed, escaping with an 8 point win. The best way to stop the TO is to force the reads inside and have a bunch of big nasty linemen clogging everything up.  Ohio State did that at times to Navy, although Navy gouged them for 370 on the ground. Turnovers and one busted coverage killed the Mids.

Stanford shouldn't wait until the second half to get going on offense or they may find themselves in general freakoutery.  (Or if they wait, at least do something in the second half.)  I don't think scoring on Army will be a problem. Stanford should be able to physically dominate the Army DL. They won't out-tough them, but they should be able to get a brobdingnagian push off the ball and win with a mere 281 pages of the 300 page playbook.  If Stanford doesn't screw up on its own, they should be fine.

But holding Army to 150 yards rushing would be a major accomplishment. I don't see that happening. Last year Army ran for 284 and that was while playing catch-up late with Maples hurt for a significant part of the game.  Army will churn out first downs.  They will score. Will Stanford score more?

I think so, but I do not expect a blowout.

[jacketree]

Army couldn't be much worse than they were last year, and in fact they appear to be much better on first viewing.  (I watched the first half of the Army-Buffalo game last Saturday before heading out to a Navy event of all things.)  Monken is a really good coach from the Paul Johnson triple option tree, the Cadets seem to have bought what he's selling, and were able to truly train as a football team over the summer as opposed to last year, due to changes at USMA.

When running on all cylinders, the triple option is a thing of beauty and the great equalizer on offense for Army.  They put up 47 points and  466 yards against the Bulls. (Buffalo is FBS btw in case there is any confusion. Turner Gill coached them a couple of years ago.) Army was up big in the fourth quarter but nearly collapsed, escaping with an 8 point win. The best way to stop the TO is to force the reads inside and have a bunch of big nasty linemen clogging everything up.  Ohio State did that at times to Navy, although Navy gouged them for 370 on the ground. Turnovers and one busted coverage killed the Mids.

Stanford shouldn't wait until the second half to get going on offense or they may find themselves in general freakoutery.  (Or if they wait, at least do something in the second half.)  I don't think scoring on Army will be a problem. Stanford should be able to physically dominate the Army DL. They won't out-tough them, but they should be able to get a brobdingnagian push off the ball and win with a mere 281 pages of the 300 page playbook.  If Stanford doesn't screw up on its own, they should be fine.

But holding Army to 150 yards rushing would be a major accomplishment. I don't see that happening. Last year Army ran for 284 and that was while playing catch-up late with Maples hurt for a significant part of the game.  Army will churn out first downs.  They will score. Will Stanford score more?

I think so, but I do not expect a blowout.