ANOTHER ANNOUNCEMENT

On By MikeIn Uncategorized15 Comments

I am now officially the third-best writer on my own blog, as Christian Swezey has joined the Birddog crew.

You already know him so we’ll skip the “former Washington Post Navy beat writer” this and “award-winning lacrosse writer” that and get to the important stuff. There are a few things you need to know about Christian.

One, he knows Navy inside and out; not just from his time covering the Mids for the Post, but from a lifetime of watching Navy sports. If he didn’t already write for a living, he probably would’ve started a Navy blog long before Adam & I did. The Navy Football History Knowledge Power Rankings look like this:

1. Jack Clary
2. Christian Swezey

Two, he has an even bigger library of Navy football and lacrosse games than I do. It ranks somewhere between “Library of Congress” and “Jedi Archives” in terms of scale. That probably contributes to the first point.

Three, you have to be REALLY careful what you say to him, because if you give him even the slightest opening he’ll make this blog all about cricket and Manchester United faster than you can say “Old Trafford.” Seriously, the first time he says, “I don’t care if Australia’s wicket-keeper is an all-rounder. He can’t hit a grubber, and England’s bowler has the best googly I’ve ever seen! I’ll bet you 20 quid they win The Ashes!,” don’t say you weren’t warned.

Four, he is the nicest person you would ever hope to meet. He has already been indirectly contributing to this blog for a long time through the advice and insight that he’s given me. I consider it a privilege to collaborate with Christian and Adam and am very, very excited about what we can do with this formerly-mediocre-but-now-kinda-good blog.

So with that, please join me in welcoming our newest gnu to this internet watering hole.

STOCK MARKET, WEEK TWO

On By MikeIn football, navy football11 Comments

Mike

STOCK DOWN: Navy’s special teams. Two missed extra points, a fumbled punt return, a couple of long kickoff returns given up, and a less-than-impressive punting average. Did I miss anything? The schedule isn’t going to get any easier. Maybe WKU wasn’t good enough to take advantage of Navy’s miscues, but I’m pretty sure South Carolina is. They’re supposed to be SEC. That will never get old to me. I don’t care what you think.

STOCK UP: Auburn. We should know better than to write anyone off after one week. Maybe they aren’t what they were a year ago, but they’re still good enough to beat one of the favorites in the SEC West. Michael Dyer is good at the footballing.

STOCK DOWN: Army. This might be a little harsh, since they played a lot better than they did against Northern Illinois even with their nine (!) fumbles. Yes, I know San Diego State had sort of a crazy time getting to West Point, but Army at least looked like the team that got to a bowl game last year. The problem is that 1) Trent Steelman appeared to re-injure his shoulder, which is the same injury that kept him out most of the spring, and 2) they still lost. They aren’t going to beat Northwestern, which means they’re looking at 0-3 to start the year. That means they pretty much have to go on a 5-game winning streak before stealing one from Air Force, Rutgers, Temple, or Navy at the end of the year to get to 6-6. Not impossible. Also not likely.

STOCK DOWN: Air Force. Rumors of a shift in Mountain West power have been greatly exaggerated. In fairness, plenty of teams are going to lose to TCU. This doesn’t mean that Air Force is a bad team. This just means that they aren’t all that different than they have been for the last few years. All of the “Mountain West will come down to the Boise St.-Air Force game” talk can now be retired. Oh, and I’m going to assume that a quarterback controversy is too much to ask for and won’t make a big deal about Tim Jefferson being benched in the second half.

STOCK UP: Reports that Jerry Kill is doing ok after his seizure during the Minnesota-New Mexico State game. Apparently this has happened before. Doesn’t make it any less scary.

STOCK UP: UCF. They won 11 games last year, won Conference USA, and beat Georgia in the Liberty Bowl. Beating Boston College as badly as they did shouldn’t have come as too much of a surprise. Somehow it still feels like one, though. For me, I think it’s because of how they won– with defense. UCF hasn’t given up a touchdown in their last three games, which include Georgia and Boston College. Usually, when non-BCS teams win it’s because they have some offensive innovation that their BCS-conference counterparts aren’t prepared for. This was different. This was UCF absolutely manhandling BC. That isn’t supposed to happen.

STOCK DOWN: Me saying anything nice about a team coached by George O’Leary.

Adam

STOCK UP: John Howell’s Facebook friend requests. Don’t get me wrong; losing Aaron Santiago, perhaps Navy’s best all-around slotback,  is a huge blow. But when it comes to big-play ability, Howell should have the offense covered. He’s not quite as shifty as Santiago but his straight-line speed was on full display Saturday night. It should be fun to watch his progress in the offense the rest of the way.

STOCK DOWN: Southern Miss. Each week I join the In The Bleachers podcast to keep tabs on possible BCS-buster teams, and at the start of the season I pegged the Eagles as one of my favorites to run the table. Six turnovers and a medicore-looking loss to Marshall later, and I join the other Phil Steele readers who are now scratching their heads saying, “what was I thinking?”

STOCK UP: Central Florida. I expected the Golden Knights to beat Boston College. I didn’t expect them to drub the Eagles 30-3 and outgain them by nearly 300 yards. Is this the new CUSA favorite? I’m thinking yes.

STOCK DOWN: Missouri. Wait a second, did I hear those preseason reports of James Franklin being the second coming of, well, who was he supposed to be the second coming of, exactly? The Tigers still have a long way to go, and Franklin IS one of the best young quarterbacks in the country, but no way this team should have been as hyped as they were.

STOCK UP: Steele Jantz. Freshman quarterback throwing for 67% completion and 4 TDs in an early season showdown against an in-state rival? I don’t care what the trophy looks like, I’m jumping on the Cyclone bandwagon.

STOCK DOWN: Air Force. No, it was not as close as the final score indicated. I just feel the world needs to be reminded of that. K thanks.

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.

Continue reading “GAME WEEK: WKU” →

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.

Continue reading “NAVY 40, DELAWARE 17” →

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.

STOCK MARKET, WEEK ONE

On By MikeIn football9 Comments

Mike

STOCK UP: It’s Sunday and there’s still more college football left to be played this weekend. Our cup runneth over.

STOCK UP: Tyree Barnes. The former Navy wideout was unfortunately released by the Patriots last week, but not before the Boston Herald got a hold of his story. This is a perfect example of real PR that brings credit and attention to the work our sailors and Marines do vs. what you get when you let guys go straight to the NFL.

STOCK DOWN: Army. NIU is good, but not so good that they should go up 49-6 before calling of the dogs. Holy cow. If  2002 brought us the Meadowlands Massacre, this was the DeKalb DeBacle. Hopefully we get at least a week off from all the “they’re catching up to Navy” talk.

STOCK DOWN: Lane Kiffin. This man was once a prized commodity in college head coaching searches. I have no idea why.

STOCK UP: Navy’s slotbacks. A’s make plays, and against Delaware they made some pretty great blocks, too.

Adam

STOCK UP: The amount of wearage I’ll be getting out of my collection of Utah State t-shirts and polo shirts this week. A defensive choke job for the ages, perhaps, but considering how the other perennial WAC bottom feeders made out this weekend, I’ll take my alma mater’s 32-28 loss to the defending National Champs.

STOCK DOWN: The entire state of Oregon. Between the Ducks not being able to take down an LSU team with multiple personnel losses and Oregon State laying an egg against Sacramento State, California’s colder and more progressive northern neighbor didn’t exactly flex its gridiron prowess on Saturday.

STOCK UP: Death by Tight End. A few years removed from listening to media commentators attempt to eulogize the position in the wake of the movement to spread-based offensive attacks, we saw several All-American candidates lead their teams to victory on Saturday. Jake Stoneburner proved a constant mismatch for Akron in Ohio State’s win, while Kyle Efaw (Boise State) and Coby Fleener (Stanford) should get plenty of action from their Heisman Trophy-candidate quarterbacks.

STOCK DOWN: Underdogs finishing upset bids. I don’t need to remind myself of Utah State’s late defensive collapse, but take a second to look around the country. Eastern Washington was picked off in the endzone on the game’s final play to lose to Washington, while Kansas State escaped Eastern Kentucky with a late touchdown and South Carolina roared back after a 17-0 deficit against East Carolina.

STOCK UP: Sticky Glue, for Notre Dame’s offense, that is. The Irish’s five turnovers – including a fumble that was returned 99 yards for a touchdown – were what led South Florida to an upset 23-20 win in South Bend. Not, you know, the 254 yards of total offense the Bulls managed.

STOCK DOWN: Expansion talk. Someone needs to tell Larry Scott (and preferably NOT on Twitter) that the season has officially started, and as such all talk of expansion, superconferences, and the implosion of the sport as we know it must cease and desist for the next three months. K thanks.