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We’ll call it “Spot the Set-Aside.” Apparently the Marine Corps likes to put them in commercials, so that makes it easier.
Category: navy football
New Big East Power Rankings – Week 10
Ten weeks into the season and we’re at the point where we’re really not learning much new about the meta of the New Big East. But as a Navy fan, you have to like what the meta has shown us. The Midshipmen aren’t moving up from the #7 spot this week, but is it so bad to be sitting right smack in the middle of the new conference?
Last week I was asked by Dave69 if I thought there was a 4-4-4 pattern evolving in the New Big East. To finally answer him, I don’t see that existing in the conference.
But it’s extremely frustrating trying to break it down into parts. For example, one could say that we could define 4 “should win” teams this year based on their performances – Temple, USF, UConn, and Memphis. I think USF is having a crisis this year that may or may not cost Skip Holtz his job. But I certainly would not put the Bulls into that category long-term. Temple and UConn have had some success in the last 5 years, but are clearly regressing some this season. So at best there are 3 teams that are “should wins” in a good year for Navy. The issue with applying that to Navy’s schedule is that we’ll probably only get all 3 of those teams once every 6 years while divisional matchups rotate.
The “toss-ups” also shrink. Right now I’d put Houston, SMU, and SDSU into a toss-up category. But SDSU just beat Boise State at Boise, making them a prime candidate to move up to “stretch.” That would shrink the toss-ups to just two teams out of 13, and likely just one regular year-in-and-out opponent.
That means there is a whopping large “stretch” category. Once USF gets back on track, there will be 6 teams firmly in there – nearly half the conference. Louisville, Rutgers, Cincinnati, Boise State, and UCF are clearly stretch games for Navy at this point.
So there you have it. Being fairly optimistic the NBE sets up as a 6-3-3 conference right now. When you realize that our OOC schedule of Army, Air Force, Notre Dame, and a (likely) 1-AA team gives us a 1-2-1 lineup, you start to see how going 6-6 will be a really good season.
Ok, that’s my opinion. I invite others to share theirs in the comments. And now – the rankings!
Postgame Haiku, Vol. 65
FAU came out
Well-coached and ready to play
Glad to get the win
NAVY 56, ECU 28
After Navy lost to Notre Dame in 2008, I said this:
If there’s a silver lining in all this, it’s that maybe Notre Dame’s defensive success this year will lead them to line up the same way in 2009.
That’s exactly what the Irish did, and Navy won. It makes me wonder what some coaches see when they watch film after a game. It’s sort of amazing how little understanding there is of the Navy offense among some of the Mids’ opponents. Navy made a lot of mistakes in that 2008 loss to the Irish, but apparently the Notre Dame staff didn’t recognize it. They lined up the same way the following year, only this time, Navy corrected their past mistakes.
Looking at the stat sheet from 2008, you can sort of sympathize with Notre Dame’s coaches for feeling comfortable about their game plan. The Mids only had 178 rushing yards that day, and completed only 3 passes in 14 attempts. The final score was close, but that was thanks to a furious last-minute comeback. For most of the game, Navy’s offense didn’t do much of anything. Even if they didn’t recognize all the missed opportunities Navy had to beat their defense, there was at least a statistical basis for Notre Dame’s coaches thinking that their gameplan was sound.
Postgame Haiku, Vol. 64
Offense unleashes
A frankenstorm of touchdowns
Blue pants reign supreme
NAVY 31, INDIANA 30
It’s a strange situation whenever Navy plays a struggling BCS-conference program. When we see a team coming into Annapolis with a 2-4 record, it’s only natural to think that maybe the Mids should win this one. You have to be careful not to fool yourself. Not that Navy isn’t capable of winning games against BCS programs, because we’ve seen over and over again that they are. It’s just that there’s a big difference between “should” win the game and “can” win the game. Even struggling BCS teams are still BCS teams, with the talent that goes with it. For every blowout of Missouri or Notre Dame we’ve seen over the last decade, you can point to even more tight games with Duke or Vanderbilt. These teams might have their issues, but their issues are at a whole different level; a Big Ten team with problems is a different proposition than a MAC team with problems.
That’s why beating Indiana is such a big deal. On the 4-4-4 spectrum, any game against a Big Ten team is a reach for Navy.
New Big East Power Rankings – Week 8
This tweet sums up the biggest news in the New Big East this week:
4. Why do big schools schedule Toledo? Since ’01, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Kansas, Iowa St., Colorado, Michigan & Purdue lost to the Rockets
— Patrick Stevens (@D1scourse) October 21, 2012
Mr. Stevens (a must follow on Twitter if you’re the tweeting type) was referring Cincinnati and their trip to Toledo for a taste of MACtion. And just like those other BCS conference teams, the Bearcats left with a loss. Perhaps a lucrative new TV deal can help keep the conference’s top teams from heading to MAC schools for mid-season match-ups.
So a little shine is off the Louisville-Cincinnati match-up this weekend, but the conference is performing better than any preseason prognostications imagined. The top 5 teams are a combined 30-4. Rutgers and Louisville are 15th and 16th in the latest BCS standings, while Boise has moved up to 21st. The computers really like Rutgers (average of 10th), but Boise’s hill to climb (currently 20th in computers) got harder this weekend with Nevada’s loss.
Postgame Haiku, Vol. 63
Won’t watch game again.
Afraid that on the replay
We won’t pull it off.
NAVY 31, CENTRAL MICHIGAN 13
Navy pulled themselves back to .500 on Friday night with a solid 31-13 win over Central Michigan. It was a dominating performance by the defense, which held a fairly prolific Chippewa offense to only 221 total yards. As great as the defense was, the center of attention after the game was freshman quarterback Keenan Reynolds, who performed well enough in his first start to earn the job going forward. The first freshman to start at QB for Navy since Jim Kubiak became the first quarterback since Chris McCoy to throw 3 TD passes in a single game. Tack on another 59 yards rushing, and it was a pretty good game for a first start. It wasn’t perfect (it rarely is), and Central Michigan didn’t do very much read-wise to confuse him, but Keenan handled everything put in front of him. You can’t ask for much else.
The Birddog 