Tennessee backs out of Army contest in 2022
Army fans looking ahead to the 2022 schedule will see an open date on September 17th, the day that Army West Point was scheduled to play Tennessee in Neyland Stadium.
What happened?
“Knox News reported this week that Tennessee is taking a $100,000 loss to switch from Army to Akron. Tennessee was supposed to pay Army $1.4 million to play, but will instead pay $500,000 to cancel.
The Vols are instead paying Akron $1 million for next year’s game. The two programs agreed to the deal this past February.”
Reactions from the Sporting World
We have seen no official explanation for the change, but popular opinion has it that Tennessee was concerned about losing the game and diminishing their bowl game chances. Sports fans across the country are unhappy with Tennessee’s decision.
ESPN analyst Paul Feinbaum left no doubt about how he felt:
“I think it’s pathetic,” Finebaum said in response to an inquisitive caller. “First of all, whenever you play a service academy I think it’s a tribute to your institution and it shows great respect for them. And if you don’t feel confident enough to beat a program like Army then your program’s in a world of hurt… I don’t want to see a game against Akron. It’s a waste of time.”
But some Tennessee fans see it as a smart move:
“Make no mistake, this was a brilliant move for the Vols to get out of this game. There’s nothing wrong with playing solid Group of Five programs, but Army would have been sandwiched between Pitt and the Vols’ Sept. 24 SEC opener, which will once again be against the Florida Gators.”
“Army runs the triple-option under Jeff Monken, and they run it well. Monken has built a consistent winner there, including going 11-2 in 2018 and 9-3 last year. His triple-option can be extremely tough to stop. The 2011 Alabama Crimson Tide’s worst defensive performance was against the Georgia Southern Eagles that year, which Monken coached at the time.”
“Simply put, preparing for the triple-option in between games against Power Five programs is way too difficult a task when you already have to navigate the SEC. Scheduling Army made no sense for Tennessee football in that regard.”
Head Coach Jeff Monken was less critical of the decision. He offered this response when questioned about the change during yesterday’s press conference:
“I wasn’t part of the conversations and Tennessee has to do whatever they think is best for their program. It’s just the way it is and it’s not the first team that has canceled a game with us and there have been times where we’ve probably had to cancel or change a game. It’s just part of the business, part of college football and I didn’t think twice about it. We will work hard to find an opponent to replace that game. Our athletic department does a great job and Mike Buddie (AD) does a tremendous job leading this department and he’ll work on it. I think play Army and a place like West Point or having a storied program like West Point travel to a school is desirable for a lot of teams. For some teams it doesn’t fit … it doesn’t fit the schedule or whatever reason.”
Limited Options for Filling the Slot
Army West Point Athletic Director Mike Buddie won’t find it easy to come up with a suitable replacement. By now, most, if not all teams have filled their schedule for 2022. It’s not essential that Army find a team with an opening on September 17, but unless Buddie want’s to drop one of the teams from the current schedule, he’ll have to find another team that has an open date that matches an opening on Army’s schedule.
In addition to Sep 17, Army West Point has two weekends open ahead of the Air Force game on Nov 6 and one week open before the Navy game on Dec 10. Since Dec 3 is the date for playing conference championship games, it will be difficult to find any team willing to commit to that date.
In addition to having an open date, any potential opponent could not have met their maximum number of games for the season.
Side Note on Historic Ties
Tennessee’s football stadium is named after Brigadier General Robert Neyland who played his college football at Army. After graduating from West Point, Neyland served as an assistant at /Army from 1919-1924 following the conclusion of World War I. He arrived at Tennessee in 1925 and after one year as an assistant with the Vols he was promoted to head coach, a position he held for 21 years.
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