Air Force (1-1) — Lost to Michigan, 31-25. Air Force played well in a game that mirrored Navy’s contest with South Carolina last year in many ways. Like Navy, the Air Force offense was able to move the ball pretty well, but just couldn’t put one last drive together to win it in the end. Also like Navy, there was one player on the other team that the defense just couldn’t stop. For the Mids it was running back Marcus Lattimore that ran wild for 246 yards and 3 TDs. Air Force was just as helpless against Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson, who had touchdown runs of 79 and 58 yards on the way to 218 rushing yards to go along with 208 passing yards and two more touchdowns. The biggest surprise in this game was how poorly Michigan defended the option. They spent most of the game in a 3-deep 4-4, with the safety assigned to the pitch man. Sound familiar? No wonder Air Force was able to move the ball. After playing both Navy and Air Force several times in his career, you’d think that Brady Hoke would have known better.
(Of note is that after this game, Troy Calhoun not only elected not to address the media, but prevented his players from doing so as well. Shutting out the media is par for the course for Calhoun, who spends as much time imitating the “old Soviet Presidium” as he does criticizing it. But his players have “Service” and “Freedom” on their jerseys so calling him out for acting ridiculous probably makes me unpatriotic.)
Army (0-1) — Hoke’s old defensive coordinator at San Diego State knew better, though, as Rocky Long’s Aztecs trounced Army, 42-7. The Black Knights were able to drive to just inside the SDSU 30 on their opening possession, but were stopped for a loss on 4th & 1 and never really recovered after that. Army would get no closer than the San Diego State 44 until late in the third quarter, when Long took his foot off the gas up 35-0. Army did end up with 282 rushing yards, but a rash of fumbles and interceptions kept them from doing any damage while the game was in doubt. Army also had a couple of statistical standouts in Raymond Maples and Terry Baggett. However, 78 of Maples’ 107 rushing yards came after Army was down 35-0. Baggett was a little more successful, accumulating 40 of his 100 yards from the same point.
Long uses a 3-3-5, but in this game it was more of a 3-3-2-3 the way they lined up. What Long likes to do is to use those “2” to put an extra DB on either side of the formation to be #3 in the count, then have the free safety follow the pitch. This way, the offense has to block #3, but doesn’t have anyone left to get to the safety (indeed, Aztec safety Nat Berhe led all tacklers with 14). You should be able to run inside fairly well against this defense, but Army wasn’t able to do so consistently. Neither did Navy when they played San Diego State in the Poinsettia Bowl, although they did have some success through the air. Trent Steelman has a lot of strengths, but Army can’t rely on his arm to jump-start the offense.
Defense and special teams didn’t look any better for Army, as the Aztecs were able to run for 228 yards and 4 TDs as well as tacking on a 96-yard kickoff return for another TD. It was a disappointing start for an experienced Army team that came into the season with high hopes. Next up for Army is an NIU squad that gave Iowa all they could handle to start the year.
Bonus! Our brothers-in-option at The Citadel upset fellow optioneers Georgia Southern, 23-21. Spike is all over that one over at The Sports Arsenal. Based on the photo gallery, it looks like everyone’s diggin’ the shotgun lately.
Greetings Navy fans! Who among us can contain their excitement after Saturday? I had the unenviable task of re-watching the Navy-Notre Dame game tonight. I should get paid extra for that because it was every bit as painful as watching a stammering plebe deliver a chow call with three menacing upperclassmen surrounding him. From Gary Danielson’s lame announcing to the jealous Irish Rugby guy, I could have watched Battleship and been happier. Anyway, there are a lot of analogies one could use to describe Navy’s loss to Notre Dame, but anything that involves inappropriate prison humor will suffice. But let’s not forget, this game is always a stretch for Navy. I’m not just falling back on old clichés about how we should NEVER beat Notre Dame, but it’s always a tall order. Ten years ago I would have given anything just to beat Notre Dame once in my lifetime. By the way, I hope God doesn’t collect on some of the things I promised to give up if Navy ever beat Notre Dame. Please Lord!!! Needless to say, we’ve been insanely blessed to win 3 of the last 6 games against the Irish.
Last year’s game featured a Notre Dame team that was just plain solid. This year was no different. It’s one of Mike’s pet peeves to talk about intangibles like heart and preparedness for a game. Why? Because as fans we have no clue how prepared the teams are or how much heart they exerted. Either way, Brian Kelly seems to have had the last two Notre Dame teams ready to play Navy. He obviously learned something from the 35-17 shellacking Navy put on the Irish in 2010. Let’s do a review of this game using the three phases of the game: offense, defense, and special teams.
For the finale of our look at Navy’s decision to join the Big East, I’m just going to do a Q&A format to expand on some of the things we touched on earlier and to cover any other lose ends. Each of these should probably be its own post, but whatever. This is running a lot longer than I thought it would, so it looks like there will be a Part 5 too.
It’s been a pretty wild 18 months or so for the Air Force football program. The Mountain West has basically disintegrated around them, with cash cows Utah, TCU, and BYU all leaving for greener pastures. The conference had already added Boise State, and will replace the defectors with Fresno State, Nevada, and Hawaii next year. While the Mountain West has been busy transforming themselves back into the WAC, Air Force has been mixed up the same Big East rumors as Navy. (Remember how BYU was excoriated for leaving the MWC? Can’t wait to see THAT double standard exposed). Like everyone else not in the Pac 12, Big Ten, or SEC, the future is a little uncertain for Air Force, at least off the field.
On the field, Air Force had a fantastic year. Well, depending on your point of view they did. For a service academy, it was as good a season as one could hope for. The team won 9 games, won the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy, and beat a BCS team in their bowl game. That’s a season I’d be thrilled with, but there was also a certain amount of disappointment in Air Force’s performance. As good as it was, it was also a missed opportunity to move up the conference food chain. BYU had an off year, and after Air Force beat the Cougars early in the season it seemed like Air Force would take their place in the Mountain West’s top tier. That didn’t happen; instead, San Diego State emerged as an up-and-coming program and beat Air Force to start a 3-game conference losing streak for the Falcons. As good as Air Force was, they weren’t able to break through to establish themselves as part of the new elite of the conference that will replace the programs that have left.
Work is preventing me from getting up to Annapolis for the game this weekend, but I’ll be alert and focused from my couch as Navy attempts to avenge last year’s 14-6 loss in Colorado Springs. This game is getting broken down from literally every angle you can think of, but here are three storylines I’m going to be keeping an eye on for Saturday.
Orange Zone Playcalling: Navy’s offensive struggles in the red zone during last year’s game have been well documented, as has the apparent turn-around through the early part of this year. But can you really call it a turnaround after just three games? Navy has been six for eight in the redzone this year in terms of coming away with touchdowns, but the offense has also scored seven touchdowns from outside the redzone. Given the familiarity of the Air Force defense with the option and the usually solid play of the Air Force cornerbacks in supporting the run while in the redzone, I’m curious to see if Niumatalolo and Jasper roll the dice in what I’m dubbing the “Orange Zone.” I’m talking about the area between the opponent’s 20 and 40 yard line, or as it’s better known, “field goal range.” Think about it; John Howell and Gee Gee Green have proved themselves as a big play slotbacks who can score when they get to the outside, while the Navy passing game – on somewhat questionable footing coming into the year – has already produced three receiving touchdowns. If Air Force is firing the corners and cheating a safety, I would not be surprised to see Navy’s offense become especially aggressive in trying to score while in my so-called “Orange Zone.”
Alexander Teich: I’ve been in my share of Navy press conferences after losses, but until the post-game press conference after the loss at South Carolina, I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a Navy player as mad about a game as Alexander Teich was. It’s one thing to be disappointed. It’s one thing to be heartbroken. But when your team captain is – and please excuse my somewhat vulgar nature here – straight-up pissed off, you can’t help but think to the next game and wonder how he’ll play. Teich is the kind of emotional leader who has always used that kind of fire to fuel his performance, and I’d expect nothing less in arguably the biggest game of the season. At the same time, Navy-Air Force games have hardly been conducive to breakout fullback play in the recent past. Last year Teich had just 38 yards against Air Force, and the year before that he and then-starter Vince Murray averaged just under 3.0 yards per carry between them on 29 combined carries. Actually, Navy has gone five seasons without a fullback or fullback tandem running for over 100 yards against Air Force (Adam Ballard had 134 yards in 2006), a stat that something tells me Teich knows all too well. He won’t need to rush for over 100 yards to make his presence felt, but he’s going to have to make an impact if Navy wants to come out on top. Whether it’s leading the way for Proctor and blowing up the ‘backer on a midline, or catching, turning, and getting upfield on a screen, Teich has the opportunity to live up to his captain status this Saturday, and prove that he was more than just a fuming player after the tough loss to the Gamecocks.
Defensive Substitutions: Bill Wagner posted an interesting tidbit on his blog about defensive end Wes Henderson getting the nod over Jamel Dobbs at defensive end for Saturday’s game. Henderson had a pretty rip-roaring game against USC two weeks ago when he recorded five stops, so much so that I honestly mistook him for Jabaree Tuani at times. Henderson getting the nod might just be a case of a great game rewarded and coach Pehrson going with the “hot hand,” but I think it also speaks to what has silently become a surprisingly deep Navy defense. With all three injured outside linebackers returning this week – and with Brye French having played well against South Carolina – I don’t think it’s unreasonable to see Buddy Green rolling guys in and out on a regular basis Saturday to keep them fresh. On the other side of the coin, you’ve got to wonder if the Air Force defensive injuries will be felt hardest in the second half, when the attrition of a *hopefully* successful Navy run game could really take its toll.
Ok, that’s what I’m going to be checking out, in addition to the “usual” storylines of special teams, extracurricular activity, and amount of times coach gets caught on national television mouthing “SON OF BISCUIT.” Any particular storylines you’re checking out?
My grandmother died a couple weeks ago. She was one of my best friends; I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone as generous and loving as she, and I don’t think I ever will. In going through some of her papers, I found an old recipe that called for, among other things, a not-insignificant measure of MSG. The siblings and I had a laugh; how times have changed!
Thanks to my terrible work ethic, the M.O. for this blog over the last year or so has been for me to comment on things about a month after everyone stops caring (Man, the Casey Anthony verdict is making my Twitter timeline unreadable! And can you believe the U.S. women lost to Sweden?). But I can’t move on to other things without mentioning a few items of varying levels of interest, so let’s do that first.
LACROSSE: Obviously, item #1 on the docket is the hiring of Rick Sowell as the new lacrosse coach. Sowell comes to Navy by way of Stony Brook, where he went 47-26 over five seasons. The Seawolves won the America East regular season the last two seasons, and won the conference tournament in 2010. Stony Brook was a respectable America East program when Sowell took over, but the 2010 season was the best in the program’s short history, earning the #8 seed in the tournament and advancing to the quarterfinals before dropping a 10-9 decision to top-seeded Virginia. Stony Brook again advanced to the America East finals in 2011 before losing a heartbreaker to Hartford in the final seconds (or second, actually).
I like the hire. If Richie Meade had retired on his own terms instead of being forced to resign, I think most people would share my optimism. Unfortunately, the nature of Meade’s dismissal means that some people aren’t going to give any new coach a chance. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t some legitimate questions to be asked, though. Is Sowell the kind of coach that the old-timers had in mind as they spent the last 5 years calling for Meade’s dismissal? He certainly isn’t as accomplished as Meade. He could be when all is said and done, but were the ’60s laxers expecting more of a sure thing? We’ll find out the answer when we see how long it takes for them to start complaining again. And make no mistake, they will; the kind of success that they want isn’t sustainable at many schools, let alone a service academy. Keep in mind that these guys were complaining before the struggles of the last two seasons. I’ll be happy if Sowell matches Meade’s record at Navy.
Some might question whether or not he can, but the basis for some of the criticism of the hire is unfair, in my opinion. While his record at Stony Brook was better, Sowell’s overall record is just a hair over .500 at 86-81. Not all .500 records are the same, though. Sowell took on some thankless jobs. Before taking the helm at Stony Brook, Sowell started the St. John’s program from scratch. Before that, he took over a Dartmouth program that had two winning seasons in the 16 years that preceded him. By the time he left the Big Green, he had won the Ivy League and had notched the program’s first win at Princeton since 1956. Seriously, he won the Ivy League at Dartmouth. I don’t think that can be said enough. They’ve had a steady downhill trend ever since he left. So yes, he’s about .500, but with some of the challenges he took on, that’s an accomplishment.
Everyone knows what I thought about Coach Meade’s dismissal, but none of that matters anymore. The program marches on– the Mids themselves will march on– and I’m excited to see where Coach Sowell can take them. Welcome aboard.
#@$%ING CBS: John Feinstein’s 14 years in the Navy football radio booth have come to an end. After having pitched the idea of an Army-Navy documentary for a while now, he was understandably upset when CBS decided to move forward with a documentary of their own. He says that he isn’t throwing a fit, but to watch CBS working on this documentary in front of him all year would be too much to take.
It’s a little bit like dating a girl for 10 years, getting dumped and then being invited to her wedding. I just don’t want to watch it.
It certainly does sound like a hissy fit, but I’m more than willing to give Feinstein the benefit of the doubt. One, because everyone I’ve ever talked to that knows Feinstein has nothing but nice things to say about him; and two, because I have no idea how much of a slap in the face this is professionally and can’t possibly relate to any of it. I might be a little disappointed in his decision since NAAA stood by John after he dropped an F-bomb on the air, but only a little; it wasn’t that big of a deal.
In fact, I’m actually sort of glad to see him go. I’ve never liked him on the radio. His ability to tell a story makes him a great writer (and probably would have made him a good documentarian for that matter), but that doesn’t translate much to an in-the-booth game broadcast. Yes, he’s a national media voice in a time when there aren’t many others who give a rat’s ass about the Naval Academy. On the other hand, I disagree with just about everything that comes out of his mouth on the air. I don’t know if losing Feinstein will lead to decreased interest in Navy radio broadcasts, but I do know that I’ll do less in-game yelling at people who can’t hear me, so my blood pressure likes the news.
I’m sure Feinstein will be back when he realizes how much he misses the postgame Juicy Juice benders with Socci.
THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THAT STORY: Showtime is going to air a two-hour documentary on Army-Navy!
SPEAKING OF CBS:They’ll be showing the Air Force game. That’s CBS as in CBS, not the CBS Sports Network as usual. That’s a big deal, but the cherry on top is that the game is now going to be played at noon. TAILGATERS REJOICE. Seriously though, noon game on CBS? The decision to partner with CSTV instead of ESPN looks better every year. Unless the game is preempted by some garbage ACC game locally, in which case I will embark on a murderous rampage (just kidding) (or am I) (I am) (maybe).
OTHER PEOPLE’S PROBLEMS: Georgia Tech has become the latest program to be flattened by the NCAA regulatory bulldozer. OK, “flattened” might not be the best way to describe it, but the punishment includes probation, a $100K fine, and forfeiture of all 2009 wins after November 24 (including the ACC championship). The From The Rumble Seat reaction ranges from acceptance to WTF as details of the story became public. Those details can be found here.
If the punishment seems excessive, it is. Remember, though, that Georgia Tech was already on probation when all this was happening, so any violations that happen during the probationary period are going to deliver an extra dose of boomshakalaka. Still, I don’t know if forfeiting Tech’s ACC championship makes sense. The school plans to appeal, and while it will probably be denied like most appeals are in the new NCAA process, that doesn’t mean that they don’t have a point. The NCAA forces a forfeiture of wins when it finds that ineligible players were used in these contests. While they did find that one of the two investigated players received “preferential treatment” by being given $312 worth of clothes from his cousin’s roommate, the NCAA did not say that either player was ineligible in its report. If either player was in fact ineligible, the NCAA should have made that clear. If they did not determine that the players were ineligible, then Tech shouldn’t have to forfeit any wins. As for the rest of the penalties, meh.
I bring it up because Paul Johnson’s connection might be of some interest to Navy fans. His involvement in all of this is apparently that 1) he was told of the investigation when he shouldn’t have been, and 2) he then told the players in question. I know, rules are rules, but if I was in Johnson’s position I don’t think I would have done anything differently; coaches make their living in part by earning the trust of teenagers. Keeping something like this from them might feel like a betrayal of that trust, and I suspect that part of the reason why the NCAA doesn’t want coaches to know about investigations like this is for the coach’s sake. Still, if it is normal practice for schools to suspend players pending the result of inquiries into their eligibility, how can anyone not know what is happening? That sort of lets the cat out of the bag, doesn’t it? Someone explain it to me.
Anyway, for his part Coach Johnson has been pretty quiet on the subject LOL NO HE’S NOT.
WHAT REALLY SHOULD BE AN NCAA VIOLATION: Army’s duck-hunter uniforms from 2008 were certainly a violation of something. The all-camo getup against VMI had a little more to offer in gimmicky appeal, but didn’t exactly raise the bar aesthetically. Hopefully Nike takes a different direction with the Pro Combat unis they’ll be giving Army and Navy this year.
WHERE DID ALL THESE FLOATING TORSOS COME FROM
IN OTHER SERVICE ACADEMY NEWS: Troy Calhoun’s solution for graduation rates? Bribery!
NIUMAT’S CONTRACT EXTENSION: It was really just a down payment for a plane ticket to Guam.
FEINSTEIN’S DREAM DEFERRED: John will have to wait another 15 years for the Navy-Notre Dame series to end. I don’t think he’ll mind playing Marshall, though.
My blog is sort of like the chicken pox virus: causes itchy bumps, then lays dormant for years before stress causes another painful breakout that can only be treated with herpes medication. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. If you’re institutionalized and miss the pain, though, don’t forget that you can find me on Twitter even when this place is gathering dust.
We all have our problems, I guess. For Mr. Campbell’s sake, I hope his West Point degree is worth more in his employment search than an Air Force Academy degree is. It’ll take a while to pay back the government if your only prospects are plumbing and chicken wings.
In other news, there was a time when a headline like this would seem a little ridiculous when talking about a soon-to-be service academy graduate. I guess not anymore.
The Birddog 