Category: navy football

GAME WEEK: WKU

On By MikeIn navy football10 Comments

WKU has a proud football history, from their nine Ohio Valley Conference championships to the 2002 I-AA national championship. Their move up to the I-A ranks hasn’t been quite as glorious. Part of that futility has certainly come from the schedule; WKU has made $50 million in facilities improvements to support the I-A move, and paying for them has meant hitting the road to play Florida, Indiana, Virginia Tech, Alabama, Kentucky, Nebraska, and Tennessee over the last few years. It would be hard for a lot of teams to build up some winning momentum against that group, never mind a program in its I-A infancy. The Hilltoppers have gone 4-32 over the last 3 seasons, including an 0-12 campaign in 2009. They haven’t won a home game since 2008.

While the bright spots have been few and far between for WKU, last week offered a glimpse of what school administrators and supporters were probably thinking when they decided to jump to I-A. There was WKU, going toe-to-toe against the in-state SEC powerhouse (relatively speaking), on national TV, in a big stadium, and playing with swagger.

“They supposed to be SEC” is without a doubt my favorite moment of the young 2011 season. There are no moral victories. I understand that. You can, however, recognize improvement when you see it, and build on it. Considering that last season’s game against Kentucky was a 63-28 blowout, I’d say that this year’s 14-3 slugfest was indeed an improvement. Constant improvement will eventually lead to wins, but Navy rolls into Bowling Green looking to ensure that “eventually” is at least a week away.

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Navy at WKU: Three Things I’ll be Watching

On By AdamIn navy football11 Comments

Because we can’t all break down game film like Mike, here are some general storylines I’ll be on the lookout for when Navy plays Western Kentucky on Saturday night.

Jared Marks: At 6-foot-5 and coming in a Buffalo Chicken Sandwich shy of 300 pounds, Marks might be the most physically imposing Navy nose guard since Nate Frazier. I was all set to see what he could do in attempting to clog two gaps against the Blue Hens, but a last-minute suspension forced sophomore Alex Doolittle into Marks’ spot. While Doolittle “did some good things” – coach Green speak for not screwing up too badly – he didn’t exactly help Navy stonewall Andrew Pierce and the Blue Hen running game, which attacked Navy right up the middle. I anticipate Western Kentucky to try to do something similar with stud running back Bobby Rainey, whose 5-foot-8 size makes him the ideal player to exploit misdirection back into the middle of the defense. Navy linebackers Matt Warrick and Matt Brewer are excellent in space, but both showed some vulnerability last week with over-aggresivness against the inside handoff and delay. They’ll get a feel for snuffing plays out with experience, but would really benefit from having Marks step up in his first start of the year.

Andrew Jackson: The Western Kentucky linebacker went on record this week of saying it was “his job” to “take out the quarterback.” Kriss Proctor, your thoughts? Call me old fashioned, but I’m always intrigued at watching players try to live up to their pregame talk, especially when it comes to defending Navy’s offense. Maybe it comes from watching all those Notre Dame promises against the option fall flat the last few years, but I’m not going to lie and tell you I don’t savor watching the sometimes frustrating realization that  shutting down the option is easier said than done. Still, every once in a while a Scott McKillop will come around a and completely change a game to the point where the offense is stonewalled. Not saying Jackson is anywhere near that kind of player, but I’ll be watching just the same.

The Coin Toss: I actually predicted that coach Niumat would take the ball first against Delaware (but Mike, being a bum, didn’t publish my ‘Three Things’ post) in order to establish some early season offensive momentum, and I have a hunch he may buck tradition and do it again this week if he wins the toss. Western Kentucky, after all, has lost 15 consecutive games at home. No one is more aware of that than the WKU players, who after years of losing are trying to escape the proverbial loser’s mentality. Easier said than done (eh, just ask my Aggies) so an early Navy score could go a long way to deflating any pregame momentum the Hilltoppers build up.

NAVY 40, DELAWARE 17

On By MikeIn navy football16 Comments

It’s never as good or as bad as it seems.

I don’t like to dwell too much on Paul Johnson for obvious reasons, but that mantra of his is a nugget of simple wisdom that can serve fans just as much as it serves any team he’s coached. We’ve rolled it out in the past when we’ve tried to convince ourselves to back away from the ledge after a loss. Sometimes, though, it can be just as important to remember those words after a win, even one as convincing as Saturday’s 40-17 rout of Delaware.

And man, it sure seemed pretty good. Navy rolled up 391 yards rushing, with 176 of those yards (and 3 TDs) coming from Kriss Proctor. The senior lived up to his billing as Navy’s fastest option quarterback, running for a 75-yard touchdown on the Mids’ third play from scrimmage. The slotbacks combined to run for 126 yards and a touchdown. Navy only had to punt once all day, and even that was a beauty. Defensively, the Mids held Delaware to only 10 points before the reserves came in. It’s hard to imagine things going any better.

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Business As Usual

On By AdamIn football, naval academy, navy football8 Comments

Take a look at the scoreboard from week one around college football. You’ll find plenty of close calls and near upsets (Eastern Washington’s 30-27 loss to Washington comes to mind) and you’ll also find plenty of games with misleading final scores. You’ll see blowouts and nail biters, traditional powerhouses running roughshod and FCS punching bags getting, well, punched. Somewhere in there, you’ll see Navy’s  40-17 win over Delaware.

It wasn’t the first time Navy beat an FCS team, and it was far from the most impressive from a production standpoint (anyone remember Shun White?). But with so many questions entering the year, and so many defensive players breaking into the fold for the first time, Navy’s win over the 5th-ranked Blue Hens is something to feel good about after an offseason of turbulence.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not here to play cheerleader, and I’m not here to start making predictions or begin starting chants to see the proverbial “gravy” everyone always talks about. But at the same time I’m not coach Niumatalolo, and I’m not going to nitpick when Navy’s win was in fact a very solid performance for week one, especially given what some other college teams were dealing with against lesser foes this past weekend. As Bruce Feldman reminded everyone during the halftime break, KC Keeler’s Blue Hens aren’t exactly the Little Sisters of the Poor, and Delaware’s  number five ranking was well deserved.  Considering Oregon State – a BCS team – fell to 24th-ranked Sacramento State, and that Duke – another BCS team – lost to 16th-ranked Richmond, Navy’s win looks like the kind the kind of business-as-usual game you’d expect a perennial bowl team to have over an FCS team.

And you know what, it was. The final stats– including Navy’s 437 yards to Delaware’s 363 – may not seem blowout-worthy, but the Mids did almost everything right.  From Kriss Proctor’s running of the option, to the defense stepping up in key moments and holding the Hens off the board, Navy kept the perennial FCS title contender at arm’s length for the entire game. Once more, Navy did it virtually mistake-free. I mean, how many week-one games do you see without a team committing a penalty or just turning the ball over a scant one time? How about having a kicker nail a 54-yard field goal, or a special teams unit – with a number of freshmen, mind you – giving up no big returns? Now that‘s something last year’s team didn’t manage to do in the opener, nor was it something Navy managed to do in its rout of Towson in the 2008 opener.

There’s a lot of season left to play, and a lot of games on the schedule that are going to challenge this team more than Delaware. For all we know, the Blue Hens might end up being the FCS’s biggest disappointment. But something tells me they won’t be, and something tells me that Navy’s business-as-usual win could be a welcome prelude to a season filled with many more.

GAME WEEK: DELAWARE

On By MikeIn navy football7 Comments

Compared to the hoopla surrounding last year’s season opener, the start of the 2011 Navy football season feels almost subdued. Rather than heading into Baltimore to play in a 70,000-seat NFL stadium against a rival BCS-conference team on Labor Day, this year the Mids are keeping things simple. They’re opening the season at home sweet home, on Saturday like everyone else, against a I-AA team they’ve faced plenty of times in recent years. The hype isn’t there, but the promise and excitement that comes with each new season remains. It’s nice to have football back.

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To Care or Not to Care: KC Keeler and the Importance of Week 1

On By AdamIn football, naval academy, navy football9 Comments

The opening week of the college football season will always hold a special place in my heart. Aside from providing a usually welcomed and much-needed break from a whole three or four days of classes, it has always managed to indulge that innate sports fan desire in me to see an upset. David vs. Goliath matchups? Week One always provides plenty of them, and that’s not likely to stop anytime soon. Sure, fans of BCS conference teams may moan ad nauseum about playing the Little Sisters of the Poor (who, it turns out, don’t actually field a team), but with the state of television contracts and ticket sale revenue being what they are, the incentive to play an FCS team isn’t the opportunity cost loss some people would like us to think it is.

Good for people like me who enjoy watching the ACC take its annual nose dive or two against Colonial Athletic Conference teams, but good for the FCS teams playing? According to Delaware head coach KC Keeler, maybe not. That, at least, if you’re going off of what Keeler said in the weekly CAA teleconference on Monday:

My preference is to not play any I-A teams. The goal of our program is not to win a I-A game, it’s to win a national championship. It’s really difficult to make the playoffs and we need to put ourselves in the best position possible to do so. We need to have enough wins to get into the playoffs.

Interesting comments, no doubt, especially when you factor in the history of the Navy-UD series. As Bill Wagner points out in his blog, the series has been going back to 1984 and is currently sees Navy with an 8-7 series advantage. Hardly the kind of one-sided stomping that certain SEC or Big 10 schools unload on their FCS “rivals” on a yearly basis, and by and large good football to watch regardless of the week the game is being played in.

While I don’t presume to actually define what’s good and what’s not good for the Delaware program, I can’t help but question what is behind Keeler’s comments, and if they’re really meant to be taken at face value. True, his team is among dozens fighting for 10 at-large spots in the playoffs if they don’t win the CAA – but I’m sure Keeler would tell you that winning the CAA is the first goal of his program each year, if only because it would include a bye in the playoffs and a possible streamline to the National Title Game. Likewise, if we’re to believe recent history, then beating an FBS team – especially a perennial bowl team like Navy – carries quite a bit of weight with the NCAA committee when considering at-large bids. So wouldn’t it help Delaware to keep playing a game against an FBS team like Navy? My inclination says it would, especially now that one of the CAA’s best teams – Massachusetts – is heading up to the FBS.

Smoke and mirrors? I’m not saying it is, but something tells me to take these comments with the suspicion of coach speak. Keeler’s program is established enough that it’s always going to be in contention for an at-large spot in the playoffs even if his team doesn’t win the CAA, and given the demanding CAA slate and the incentives of upsetting Navy, it seems a productive use of a game to travel down to Annapolis. The real reason for the comments? Economic, perhaps, but also to deflect attention from the matchup, and to downplay media attention for the upset that he and his players are banking on.

He cares. His team cares. They just don’t want you to know how badly they do.

THE WISH LIST

On By MikeIn bowls, navy football9 Comments

I’m looking forward to this season for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that I think I’ll actually be going to a fair number of games for once. South Carolina is too close for me not to go, so I’ll be there. I try to get to at least one game a year in Annapolis, and this year it’ll probably be ECU or Troy. Even the Army game is in Washington, so there’s no excuse for me not to go (assuming I can get a ticket). And if the Mids keep their bowl streak alive, that’ll be in Washington too.

I know some people aren’t big fans of the Military Bowl, and maybe I’d feel the same way if I was local. I’m not, though, so I love it. I love Washington. I love RFK, but that’s because I’ve been there enough to know the right seats to get (I TOLD YOU PEOPLE NOT TO SIT IN THE LOWER BOWL BUT YOU DIDN’T LISTEN). I love being so close to Annapolis, and with any luck there will be a home basketball game or two around the same time as the bowl game. How awesome would it be to pack Alumni Hall over Christmas leave with a couple thousand Navy fans in town for the bowl game? Someone should make a ticket package out of it. Damn I’m brilliant.

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