Navy Football

The Navy Midshipmen sail into Kelly/Shorts Stadium as Friday favorites against the Central Michigan Chippewas, where they will level their record to .500 thanks to their trademark triple-option attack.

Unfortunately for the home team, senior quarterback Ryan Radcliff is pretty much the only chance the team ever has week to week. Their defense is just that putrid.

Over the past two games of MAC conference play, the Chippewas have yielded 55 and 50 points to Northern Illinois and Toledo, respectively. Those were road games, to be fair. But no home-field advantage is going to mask that kind of play.

In the former game, Central Michigan yielded over 400 yards rushing. That's not exactly an ideal track record going up against the Midshipmen. The simple yet effective Navy ground game ranks 17th in the nation averaging just over 230 yards per game, so it's easy to fathom pretty gaudy numbers on this Chippewa defense.

Freshman Keenan Reynolds has split time with Trey Miller under center for the Midshipmen, but both ran the wishbone effectively against the Air Force Academy in last week's stunning 28-21 overtime victory.

Between Reynolds' superior ability to throw the football and the experience of Miller, the quarterback rotation for Navy actually works rather well since their offense is almost exclusively run-based. That will effectively keep the Chippewas off-balance all night, but expect to see more of Reynolds.

Patrick Stevens of the Washington Times had some exciting news about the freshman on Wednesday after speaking with Midshipmen head coach Ken Niumatalolo.

Plebe Keenan Reynolds to start at quarterback for Navy on Friday—bit.ly/RgFJjm

— Patrick Stevens (@D1scourse) October 10, 2012

Miller is nursing an ankle injury, which made the decision easier, but he should still be in action. The USA Today injury report lists him as probable.

The biggest disadvantage that Navy saddles Central Michigan with is that they will grind, plod and convert multiple fourth-and-short situations to stay on the field.

Sometimes it is said that the best defense is a good offense—and, well, vice versa.

Nevertheless, keeping Radcliff on the sidelines for most of the afternoon by dominating time of possession will allow Navy's defense plenty of rest to go up against the dynamic Chippewas signal-caller. Radcliff will be forced into obvious passing situations, where he tends to force throws that result in turnovers.

Expect a big night for Reynolds at quarterback, especially because he will be better at capitalizing on the potential of some of his most valuable offensive weapons.

Senior running back Gee Gee Greene has played exceptionally in 2012, averaging 7.4 yards per carry and continuing to prove his worth as a dangerous receiving threat. Greene will benefit greatly from Reynolds' ability to sling it for not just catching, but for opening up even wider running lanes as well.

Although junior receiver Shawn Lynch only has eight catches on the season, they have almost all been for big gains. He is averaging well over 18 yards per catch, and should get golden opportunities when the Chippewas cheat up to stuff the run.

Reynolds will respond well to his debut as the starter, because the triple-option's effectiveness will open up plenty of opportunities for him to deliver the ball to his playmakers—if it's even necessary. That will take any added pressure off the upstart plebe.

The freshman Midshipmen QB will orchestrate a multiple-score win on the road to keep Navy's bowl hopes very much alive.

The Midshipmen of Navy, coming off a victory over fellow service academy Air Force out in Colorado, stop in the Midwest for a Friday night college football game vs. the Chippewas of Central Michigan (8 p.m. ET, ESPN2).

Can Navy pick up a second straight road victory or will the Chippewas wake up and play some defense? And which way will this game tilt toward the point spread, which was sitting around -2.5 for the home side late in the week?

It's a surprising spread given that Central Michigan is a wallet-draining 2-16 ATS in its last 18 games, according to the college football odds database.

Navy returned 13 starters this season, which is a lot for a service academy. The Mids opened this season with a 50-10 loss to Notre Dame over in Ireland, then came back to the States and lost at Penn State, 34-7.

The Middies got their first victory, beating VMI 41-3, but then got shut out by San Jose State 12-0.

Last Saturday, though, Navy earned an important notch in its belt, coming from behind to win at Air Force, 28-21 in overtime. That puts the Middies a win over Army away from reclaiming the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy.

One of Navy's main problems has been its 12 turnovers. Middies QB Trey Miller has turned the ball over 10 times by himself, several times in opponents' territory. However, Miller is dealing with a sore ankle, and his status for Friday night is uncertain. 

Navy did not commit a turnover vs. Air Force.

Central Michigan, meanwhile, got 15 starters back this season—eight on defense—from a team that went 3-9 last year. In fact, after going 38-17 from 2006-09, the Chips have gone 3-9 each of the last two seasons.

CMU opened this year with a 38-27 victory over Southeast Missouri State, then lost to Michigan State 41-7. The Chips then bagged themselves an upset of a Big Ten team, getting a field goal at the buzzer to win at Iowa 32-31.

But Central Michigan has not been able to ride any momentum it might have picked up from the win over the Hawkeyes. The Chippewas followed that victory up with a 55-24 loss at Northern Illinois, then last week lost at Toledo, 50-35.

So CMU has allowed an average of 44 PPG in its four games vs. FBS competition.

As of Thursday, most college football betting outlets were listing Central Michigan as a two-point favorite for this game, with an OVER/UNDER of 60.

These two teams met two seasons ago, the Middies escaping as 14-point favorites with a 38-37 victory when the Chips went for two and the win in the final seconds but failed.

Free Pick: Teams that don't see Navy's option often can get a little lost on defense, but Central Michigan, despite its defensive problems, should have enough to beat the Middies. We'll give the points and take the Chips (courtesy of PickShark.com).

Overtime determined the outcome of the first Commander-In-Chief game of the season among the three major service academy football teams as Navy (2-3) defeats Air Force (2-3) at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs 28-21 while Army (1-4) scored a last minute touchdown to win its first game of the year 34-31 over Boston College. 

A crowd of 38,927 at Falcon Stadium saw Navy win the C-In-C game when 318 pound guard Jake Zuzsek jumped on a loose ball in the end zone for a touchdown.  On the Falcons last chance at possession, Navy defensive end Wes Henderson knocked down a fourth down Air Force pass attempt. the Mids starting QB Trey Miller ran for 110 yards before hurting an ankle and being replaced by freshman Keenan Reynolds. 

Sr. Air Force back Cody Getz rushed for 204 yards on the day as the Falcons out gained the Mids by the wide margin of 507 to 359 yards.  Navy freshman Nick Sloan kicked two field goals of 39 and 41 yards while Air Force kicker Parker Herrington missed attempts from 27 and 51 yards.  Air Force was hurt by losing three fumbles, while converting just two of ten third down plays.

Key play was a two point conversion run by Navy fullback Noah Copeland that tied the score at 21 all, after a 15 yard score by  Keenan Reynolds with 6:35 left in the fourth quarter. Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo commented on his team perseverance,

"We just continued to battle. Things have looked bleak, like I said, not just in this game, but this year—but our guys just continue to fight. That’s who we are though. The United States Naval Academy is producing leaders and fighters for our country, and our country should be proud of them. Obviously, it’s great to win anytime, but to beat a great program like Air Force, our rival. Like I said, this hasn’t been such a great year for us. We just got shut out at home. To have something positive, I’m just happy for our guys.”

Navy will play next week at Central Michigan while Air Force travels north to face Wyoming in Laramie.

A capacity crowd of 39,492 at West Point witnessed the Army (1-4) defense make a defensive stop on Boston College (1-4) in the last two minutes providing QB Trent Steelman one last drive, culminating in a 29 yard touch down run in a 34-31 win over the Eagles.

In a game much like Army's one point loss to Northern Illinois three weeks ago, the lead changed hands six times.  Tied 24 all going into the fourth quarter, Army freshman kicker Dan Grochowski kicked a 20 yard field goal to give Army a three point lead.  Boston College then proceeded down the field 77 yards finishing the drive on a reverse by wide out Alex Amidon good for 24 yard touchdown run and to take back the lead 31-27.

Army then went 74 yards down the field but on a fourth and goal from the one, the Eagle defense smothered Army's top runner Raymond Maples short of the goal.  The Army defense rallied stopping three straight BC plays and forcing a punt that went out of bounds at their own 38.

The Black Knights ran two plays before QB Trent Steelman, ran the option to his left, received a great block from back Malcomb Brown and accelerated through a hole 29 yards for the winning score.

Army ran for 516 yards in the game led by 184 yards by Raymond Maples, 141 yards gained along with three touchdowns scored by Steelman, and 128 yards gained by Larry Dixon along with a touchdown.  Boston College's Andre Williams ran for 191 yards and scored two touchdowns including a 99 yard run in the second quarter Steelman score in the fourth quarter broke the Academy career record for touchdowns scored with 36 passing Tory Crawford's record 35 set from 1984-1987.   

Army head coach Rich Ellerson was pleased that his team made the plays enabling the Black Knights to win their first game of the season commenting,

 “Our guys love to play, and that was kind of the war cry all week.  We knew it was going to be a hard game. We expected it to be a 15-round fight. We didn’t expect to have as many guys go down, but guys kept stepping up and making plays. When it got its darkest, nobody blinked. Nobody liked it, but nobody blinked. We kept playing. The guys love to play. They love to fight.”  

Army will play their third home game in a row next Saturday when they host Kent State from the Mid-American Conference.

In other games, Coast Guard (2-3) lost 44-21 to Bridgewater State (5-1) at Cadet Memorial Field in New London, CT.  At Kings Point, NY, Rochester defeated Merchant Marine (3-3) by score of 44-26. SUNY Maritime College (2-3) defeated ECFC Conference opponent Becker College, 33-7, at Reinhart Field in Throgs Neck, NY. Also in the ECFC, at Northfield, VT, Norwich (3-2) lost 35-27 to state rival Castleton State College.  

In Lexington, VA,  VMI (2-3) won their Big South conference opener 17-7 over Presbyterian College.  The Citadel (3-3) lost at Samford to a 38-7 in a Southern Conference game.

Sports Illustrated writer and West Point graduate Mark Beech will be Ken Kraetzer's guest at Monday 2:30 p.m. EST on the Sons of the American Legion Radio Report to discuss his new book about Army football in the 1950s glory years, When Saturday's Mattered Most. On Tuesday, National Football Foundation Hall of Famer and former Army head coach Jim Young will be the guest on the West Point Football Report, to be aired at 5 p.m. EST Tuesday on WVOX in New Rochelle, NY.

Listen in on http://www.wvox.com/.

It's the first weekend of the Commander-In-Chief Trophy round robin competition.

The Navy Midshipmen will play Air Force at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, and Army will again seek its first win of the season, as it hosts the Boston College Eagles at Michie Stadium in New York.

The C-I-C contest continues with the visit of Air Force to West Point on Nov. 3rd and the Army-Navy match-up in Philadelphia on Dec. 8th.  Air Force has dominated the 41-year history of this competition, winning possession of the prized Trophy 18 times. 

Navy (1-3) at Air Force (2-2)

9:30 AM MT Kickoff,  Falcon Stadium, Colorado Springs, CO

CBS Television Network

Air Force has the momentum coming off of last week's 42-21 win over in-state rival Colorado State, after close road losses at Michigan and UNLV. 

The Falcons have won the last two games, with Navy breaking a seven-year winning streak by the Midshipmen.  Air Force are tough at home in Colorado Springs, winning 25-of-33 at home under head coach Troy Calhoun.  

Air Force is a great running team, leading the country in rushing with an average of 396 yards per game. 

Senior running back Cody Getz is not big at 5'7", 175 pounds, but he had a career-best game with 222 yards rushing against the Rams of Colorado St.  Senior quarterback Connor Dietz is accurate when he throws the football, with only one interception in 104 collegiate attempts.   

On defense, Air Force is not big, with sophomore Nick Fitzgerald the largest player at 6'4" and 265 pounds. The Falcons are giving up 435 yards and 27.8 points per game.

Navy is struggling so far, having lost by big scores to Notre Dame and Penn State, earning a home win over VMI from the FCS Division and last week's home shutout loss to San Jose State. 

The offense is averaging 346 yards per game, balanced by service academy standards with 127 yards passing per game coming from junior Trey Miller.  AFA has productive receivers in junior Shawn Lynch and Brandon Turner, who both have eight catches on the season. 

The Mids are averaging 217 yards per game rushing the football, led by senior Gee Gee Greene, who averages 7.8 yards a carry, and sophomore Noah Copeland, who has been a workhorse, running 41 times for 190 yards.

Navy shows more size on its offensive line than the other service academies, with senior Josh Cabral at 6'3", 297 pounds and sophomore Jake Zuzek at 6 feet and a staggering 318 pounds leading the way at guard.  

Guards tend to be the key blockers in an option offense. 

Turnovers are hurting Navy, who have lost 9-of-12 fumbles on the year, while not recovering one themselves.

Look for another win by the Falcons.

Boston College (1-3) at Army (0-4)

12 Noon EST Michie Stadium, West Point, NY

In a meeting of old time eastern rivals, Boston College will travel to West Point to renew a rivalry that started in 1917.

The Eagles have won the last five matchups, the last game between the school having been a 37-17 home win for BC in 2007.

Head coach Frank Spaziani's BC club has a lone win on the year over Maine and has lost 41-32 to Miami, 22-13 at Northwestern and last week 45-31 at home to 17th-ranked Clemson.

The Eagles like to pass, averaging 331 yards in the air—13th-best in the BCS.  Junior QB Chase Rettig has completed 97-of-170 passses, with nine touchdown throws on the year, as he is rated No. 11 in the BCS rankings.  Wideout Alex Amidon, with an average of 8.25 catches per game and 139 yards per game, is ranked fourth in the BCS. 

The offensive line, led by sophomore Andy Gallik, are all very large at 300 pounds or bigger.

Leading the defense are linebackers Nick Clancy (senior), with 13 tackles per game, and Kevin Pierre-Louis (junior), with 11 tackles, who are both among the top 10 nationally. 

Overall, BC is giving up a lot of yards and points per game at 438 and 27.8, respectively.

Army is anxious for its first win of the season after losses at San Diego State 42-7, Wake Forest 49-37, a one-point home loss to Northern Illinois 41-40 and last week's turnover-plagued 23-3 loss to Stony Brook. 

In the last three games, Army has played well on offense, with the running game ranking second in the BCS at 367 yards per game. 

Senior Trent Steelman set an Army record last week for most career yards (rushing and passing) by a QB with 2,362 yards—Tory Crawford, who played at Army from 1984-87, previously held the mark at 2,323.  

Steelman suffered a rib injury two weeks ago against Wake Forest, and it is still unclear how much this affected him last week, when he ran well but lost the football twice when hit. 

The offensive line for Army has been playing well, led by seniors Ben Jebb and Frank Allen both on the left side.  Although not big, the option offense gives the Army linemen the chance to aggressively block defenders and clear holes for Steelman and the deep group of backs Army has.

Led by senior Ray Maples, who leads the team with 487 yards—an average of 122 per game—and fullback Larry Dixon, who is often seen carrying defenders along as he has gains extra yards up the middle, the Army rushing attack is a force to be reckoned with.

Dixon, a senior, has scored four of the Black Knights 11 rushing TDs, while averaging 83 yards per contest. 

On defense, linebacker Nate Combs (senior) dives into holes to make plays against the huge offensive lines they play against each week.  Sophomore Geoffery Bacon tends to follow Combs and make plays, leading the team in tackles with 43 on the season. 

Army is playing several freshmen in the secondary, so they need to find a pass rush from Combs or others.

The key for the Black Knights is to avoid turnovers, complete drives and give the young defense a chance.

Army plays tough at home, playing in front of the 4,000 members of the Corps of Cadets, and opponents tend to look around a lot at the start like they are at Yankee Stadium.  

BC has struggled in the ACC, so don't be surprised if Army pulls of its first win.

At New London, CT, the US Coast Guard Academy Bears (2-2) are coming off a 59-0 win over Fitchburg State and will host Bridgewater State (4-1) from MA on Parents Weekend.

Merchant Marine, coming off a 34-31 win over RPI, hosts the Rochester Yellow Jackets at Kings Point, NY.

National Football Foundation Hall of Famer and former Army head coach Jim Young will be the guest this week, Tuesday at 5 PM EST on the West Point Football Report, to be aired on WVOX in New Rochelle, NY.

Listen in on www.WVOX.com.

Maika Polamalu has the ability to be one of the best stories in college football based on his lineage and his school. However, he isn't making an impact for Navy's football program this season. As an offensive player, he is buried on the depth chart and is just seeing time on special teams. 

He needs to change something to become the player that he was recruited to be, when he was a two-star prospect according to ESPN. However, the question is what change he needs to make in order to be successful off the field.

Is it his inability to balance the military aspect of his college experience with football? Is he having trouble living up to the legendary bloodlines? Or could he just be completely out of position and need to switch to defense?

Military College teaches lessons that can't be found on the field.

While this may seem unrelated to on-the-field, it's a huge aspect in the personal development off-the-field that would lead to his eventually becoming a starter. It instills hard work, discipline and toughness into the gentlemen (and women) who go through the training.

Teams like Navy, the Air Force Academy, the Citadel and Army tend to be more disciplined on-the-field than other teams because of their off-the-field training. Polamalu using the discipline and hard work that he learns as a Midshipman and taking it to the field will only help him start eventually.

However, the main issue could be balancing the different aspects of military college life. The balance of football, classes and essentially a full-time job in the military aspect of the academy create a unique situation that few people are able to balance completely.

Legendary bloodlines aren't always a guarantee to a starting spot.

Despite being the cousin of Troy Polamalu, son of Aoatoa Polamalu, and nephew of Kennedy Pola, he hasn't earned the starting spot at fullback yet as one would expect him to be able to. Though, he has a ton of talent and has already been contributing on special teams as a gunner.

His issue though is that he isn't even in the top three on the fullback depth chart according to CSTV.com's Navy football depth chart. It will tough for the young Polamalu to earn a starting spot when he is behind multiple underclassmen.

Could a position change be for the best?

At 6'0", 218 pounds, he has the size to be a top notch linebacker. He also has a frame that could add another 20 pounds to it while maintaining his already good speed. Once he realizes that he should try to play a different position, linebacker should fit well as it's a similar position to fullback.

It's also the position that would make sense based on his family lineage. His dad played at defensive tackle and his cousin as a safety, so linebacker is a logical progression for his size. Who knows, maybe he could end up in the starting role as a weakside linebacker and eventually in the NFL?

Scott Carasik is a Featured Columnist and Trends and Traffic Writer for Bleacher Report. As a Featured Columnist, he covers the Atlanta Falcons, NFL and NFL Draft. He is also the Falcons analyst at Drafttek, runs the NFL Draft Website ScarDraft.com and hosts Kvetching Draftniks Radio.

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It makes sense that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish would be favored in Ireland, but Notre Dame isn't a 17-point favorite against the Navy Middies because of any home-field advantage.

Notre Dame's Fighting Irish and the Middies from the Naval Academy kick off their 2012 college football seasons Saturday morning with the playing of the Emerald Isle Classic in Dublin, Ireland (9 a.m. ET, CBS).

Most sportsbooks tracked by OddsShark.com opened this game with Notre Dame favored by upwards of 17 points, but it had been bet down to 14.5 points in many places by Friday. Part of that move is Navy's reputation as a tough dog.

"The opening line may have been a bit high because there is no real home-field advantage here, but I think that 14-4 ATS mark as a double-digit dog is also a factor," Jack Randall, a handicapping analyst at OddsShark.com, said in an interview today.

The NCAA football database at OddsShark.com affirms that Navy has been very tough in this position. The 14-4 ATS mark stretches back to 2002.

Notre Dame returns 14 starters this year from a team that went 8-5 and lost a bowl game last year. But for Saturday's game, the Fighting Irish will be without both QB Tommy Rees and RB Cierre Wood, who are both serving suspensions for some offseason transgressions.

They get back eight starters on offense, including three along the O-line. But they'll have to replace WR Michael Floyd, who's off to the pros. Defensively, the Fighting Irish get back six starters, but lost four of their top five tacklers from a season ago.

Navy, meanwhile, returns 13 starters from a team that went 5-7 last year. But five of those losses came by a field goal or less. The Middies get six starters back on offense, although they'll have to break in a new quarterback this year, and seven starters return on defense, including last year's top four tacklers.

Notre Dame pounded Navy last year 56-14, covering as 24-point favorites, as the Middies played with their backup quarterback. But Navy has actually won three of the last five games in this series.

Free Notre Dame-Navy Pick: Even with the suspensions of Rees and Wood, the Fighting Irish outclass the Middies talent-wise by a considerable margin. Navy was better than their record a year ago, and we see them staying close here in a neutral-site game where many of the players may have hit the pubs the night before.

All quotes were obtained first-hand unless otherwise noted.

After years of disappointment, Navy has won two of the past three matchups in its historic rivalry with Notre Dame, and there is plenty of reason to believe the Midshipmen can pull off a shocker once again in 2012.

The Notre Dame-Navy rivalry is one filled with respect and mutual admiration rather than bad blood and bitterness.

That said, it's a game both teams desperately want to win, but Navy has all the makings of pulling off another stunning upset.

The Midshipmen lost their best quarterback in decades in Ricky Dobbs prior to the 2011 season, but despite the instability at the most important position, nearly pulled off an upset of 10th-ranked South Carolina early in the season.

That level of competition didn't carry over to Notre Dame week, as a 56-14 blowout ensued in South Bend.

Ironically, the Irish dominated in the area that the Naval Academy makes their living off of on the gridiron, pounding the rock for seven rushing touchdowns on the day.

Trey Miller has settled in under center as the maestro behind the team's vaunted triple-option wishbone attack.

Once again, the Fighting Irish enter the season with lofty expectations, despite the fact that the renowned program hasn't finished inside the Top 25 at season's end since 2006.

As the Chicago Sun-Times' Mark Lazerus reports, QB Everett Golson was overwhelmed last season in just about every way. Under the weight of huge expectations and adjusting to college, Golson fell into obscurity on the scout team.

Now, the redshirt freshman is the team's starting quarterback, and will have to develop without the help of the program's all time leading receiver in Michael Floyd.

The spread attack of head coach Brian Kelly should suit Golson in time, but Kelly hasn't sounded overly enthusiastic about his expectations for Golson's play (via WIVB.com):

I think we've prepared the offense to suit a first-time starter...If things go the way we're planning it, he'll play the whole game.

Golson has already shown discouraging signs of handling pressure before even reaching the field at Notre Dame. Starting his first game against a heated rival in a foreign country doesn't exactly seem like the best place to begin his career.

If Navy can control the ball with their wishbone attack against a defense that gave up 160 yards on the ground per game last year, Golson may be pressed to force throws and make plays to counter.

Having a young quarterback standing on the sidelines, out of rhythm, and relying on him to come in and make plays in his debut is a lot to ask.

Last year's matchup wasn't close, but these two teams are far more evenly matched this time around.

It will be unique to see the rooting interests of the Notre Dame-Navy matchup. The Midshipmen are listed as the home team, but this matchup—dubbed the Emerald Isle Classic—takes place in Dublin, Ireland.

Regardless of the home-field advantage, though, Navy once again feels the burning incentive to bounce back after an embarrassing loss to the Irish.

In what is literally Irish territory, the Midshipmen will methodically will their way down the field, and sail back to the States victorious.

Yesterday, USA Today released their bulk list of college athletic director salaries. The publication has opened a window into the world of collegiate athletics budgets, coaching salaries and they are doing the same with respect to the administrators behind the scenes now. Athletic directors are the coach's boss. They run the show from a hiring, firing and fundraising standpoint. The ADs are the guys who handle the dirty business of scandal as we've seen with Jeff Long at Arkansas.

Last night, Michigan State's Mark Hollis won the Sports Business Athletic Director of the Year award for his work with the Spartans. Hollis makes $395,000 a year, quite the pretty penny in "normal" America. However, in looking at Jeff Long and Dave Brandon, two of the athletic directors he beat out for the award, we see that Hollis is not exactly at the top of the pay scale as far as athletic directors go. Long, at $562,900 and Brandon, at $700,454, outpace the East Lansing athletic director. That said, Long and Brandon are not even at the top of the athletic director heap when it comes to salaries.

As far as coaches go, we all tend to know who is going to be the highest paid commodity on the sideline. The guys who win, Nick Saban, Mack Brown, Les Miles and Urban Meyer to name a few, make the big bucks and everyone else falls in line behind them. 

However, gauging the highest paid athletic directors is a much more complicated task. In fact, in looking at the salaries there are instances where it is next to impossible to determine why some make far more money than others. Certainly Florida's Jeremy Foley, Texas' DeLoss Dodds, Wisconsin's Barry Alvarez and Notre Dame's Jack Swarbrick are expected to be near the top.

Those schools have massive athletic departments, big budgets and a lot of success. Joining these big-name departments are guys like Navy's Chet Gladchuk and Duke's Kevin White, both ahead of the aforementioned Dave Brandon at Michigan.

Brandon is not the only big name passed by a lesser athletic department. In fact, everyone sits behind Vanderbilt's David Williams, and it is not even close. The Commodores athletic director makes $2,560,505 a year, that's a million more than the second place Foley.

With the exception of the schools on the low end of the economic scale in football, the Sun Belt, MWC and the MAC among others, there really is no sure measure to predict where teams fall outside of the Top 12-15 schools. Wake Forest is ahead of Texas A&M. Boston College is ahead of Alabama and Arkansas.

One thing that should be noted, the bonuses. There are schools that have a lot of extra money wrapped into their bonus packages for the athletic director. These bonuses yield escalators when collected and some athletic directors, such as NC State's Debbie Yow, can go from being in the middle of the pack to closer to the top as far as cash is concerned.

The most interesting revelation in all of this is not the disparity between the numbers at the schools. Rather, the biggest reveal I've seen in looking at the numbers is the massive chasm between the service academies.

Air Force, in the Mountain West, pays their athletic director $165,300 a year. That's near the bottom of the reported salaries. Army, an Independent, is not much better as their athletic director makes $233,500 a year. Combined, both Army and Air Force do not pay their athletic director nearly as much as the Naval Academy. Chet Gladchuk makes $712,742 in Annapolis. Why he is paid so much more than his Army and Air Force counterparts is definitely not clear.