Army vs. Air Force: There’ll Be More on the Line Than Pride

U.S. Military Academy, West Point, Monday: At 5 a.m., five Air Force exchange students storm the central guard house. They seize control of the public address system and awaken campus by calling for a formation. They declare a state of emergency before they are hauled away.

U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Wednesday: Several Army exchange students are seized. They are taken to the central parade ground, where they are pelted with food. This is called “nuking them.”

U.S. Military Academy, all week: West Point cadets retaliate by seizing Air Force students in the dead of night. They, too, are pelted. These actions are called spirit missions. “I hear the guys at West Point are getting it bad,” Air Force safety Scott Thomas says worriedly.

U.S. Military Academy, Thursday: Low-flying Air Force jets infuriate the Cadets by skimming West Point, disrupting formation and drowning out all conversation.

At Air Force’s meeting with Army at Falcon Stadium today, there will be 13 bowl scouts, a falcon and a mule, a four-star general and an Air Force chief of staff all descending on Colorado Springs for one of the most intriguing college football games of the season. It just makes the cadets want to splash some paint on a statue and dirty their uniforms with pushups.

Here Air Force is, hurtling along at 9-0 and ranked fifth in the country, and here is Army, unranked but 7-1, its only loss coming against a resurgent Notre Dame. There are two good and very different coaches, Air Force’s talk-happy Fisher DeBerry and Army’s close-mouthed Jim Young. And whoops, there go those improbable wishbones, Army’s purloined, incidentally, from the Falcons.

Air Force has the No. 1 scoring offense in the nation, averaging 39.2 points, Army’s is No. 2 in scoring, averaging 38 points, and the idea of their meeting has drawn nearly every bowl scout, from the Cherry to the Orange. The only bowls that won’t be represented are the Aloha, Rose and Cotton. The Cotton representative won’t be there only because he saw the Falcons last week.

“It’s a unique game in the rivalry because, let’s face it, it means something,” Army kicker Craig Stopa said. “But records don’t matter. Strong team or a weak team, it doesn’t matter. Anything goes, anything wins. It’s all up in the, uh, air.”

The game is certainly one of the most significant in the history of the service academies. You have to go back to the Army-Navy game of 1963 to find teams with comparable records and as much at stake. The Midshipmen, led by Roger Staubach, won that one 21-15, to go 9-1, while Army finished at 7-3.

Beyond that you must go to perhaps 1958, when Army, which had Heisman Trophy winner Pete Dawkins and went 8-0-1, beat Navy, 22-6. (Air Force, which did not play Army that year, went 9-0-1 and tied TCU, 0-0, in the Cotton Bowl.) From then it’s back to the war years, when Army captured national championships with 9-0 records and the season-ending victories over Navy in ’44 and ’45.

The Air Force-Army series is tied, 9-9-1.

“When we’re 7-1, it’s an unusual game,” said Army Athletic Director Carl Ullrich.

“Frankly, it’s a little hard to imagine that two service academy teams have a combined record of 16-1,” said Air Force Athletic Director Col. John Clune.

As if you needed anything more, throw in the increasingly heated rivalry between Army and Air Force for the Commander in Chief’s Trophy, which is also probably at stake. The trophy is awarded every year to the service academy that wins the round robin among Army, Navy and Air Force, but the Midshipmen have been struggling lately. The Falcons have already defeated Navy and a victory over Army would assure them of the trophy, which Army posseses after taking it from the Falcons last season.

“It’s no joke,” said Army fullback Doug Black. “The worst rivalry has always been Navy, but in recent years Air Force has really been the turning point of the season.

It’s taken on more importance, and it’s getting bitter. We don’t like them and they don’t like us.”

Of course there will be the inevitable thieving of the mascots. The Air Force Falcon is under round the clock guard. Clune would not divulge its location. The Army mule is making the trip by plane.

“We’re taking all kinds of precautions,” Clune said. “There are 500 cadets coming in here and I’m sure they’re going to want to steal it. And I’m sure our cadets will go for the mule.”

Cadets at both schools are forbidden to bet money, so bathrobes often are substitued for dollars. Any piece of clothing, however, is acceptable. The 500 Army cadets who were to fly to Colorado Springs this morning are carrying luggage full of robes, school sweaters, tie clasps and cuff links.

Clune, has a couple of more costly wagers going. A bottle of Chivas Regal Scotch is at stake between him and an old Army classmate. He also has a running bet with Ullrich every year. The debts are settled annually at the NCAA Convention in January, when the loser buys the winner dinner at the restaurant of his choice. This time the convention will be in New Orleans.

“He’s in deep trouble,” Clune said, “because we are going to New Orleans, where the restaurants are very good and very, very expensive.”