Sunday, December 31, 2006

Anatomy (Well, Kinda) of the Triple Stack

Yea, what, exactly, was that?

That's the question some of us Navy fans are asking this morning, as we try to make sense of the first wrinkle in what I would deem a very odd game. While I'm sure this is the least of our concerns after yesterday's 25-24 heartbreaking loss in the Meineke Car Care Bowl, it nevertheless is a place to start in explaining the game.
(Picture by Me, ask before stealing it please)

HEARTBREAKING


PHOTO BY TODD SUMLIN

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Navy Recruiting News

In case you haven't been paying attention, I've got you covered. We're in the "dark period" of recruiting right now, but Paul Johnson has already been able to secure eight verbal commitments and should be able to really lock up some great prospects come January. Here's a collection of links to get you acquainted with both the situation and Navy's current commits.

General

Success Serves Navy in Recruiting Mission (Bill Wagner, Annapolis Capital)

Navy Recruiting Update (Me, Navy Football Fan House)

Navy Commits Lead Teams to Playoffs (Me, Fan House)

Player Specific

Navy Gets the Other Caleb King (Me, Fan House)

Cabbage Picks Navy (Me, Fan House)

QB of the Future: Davis To Be A Mid (Me, Fan House)

As usual, updates when they come available. Hope everyone is having a pleasant and productive day.

(Picture from The Daily Commercial / Keri Rasmussen)

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

College Football Blog Awards Part Uno


The 2006 College Football Blogger Awards. They're all the rage these days, really. Remember when nominating your favorite Independent blog that Notre Dame is being filtered in with the Big East blogs for this event, which means by default I'm really the only candidate. Alright, I'll shut up now.


The Dr. Z Award
Cogent, interesting analysis.



Dawgsports.com. I still don't understand much of what Kyle is actually saying, but that doesn't make it any less interesting. He has a great base of knowledge on teams all over the country, and does a phenomenal job keeping track of all the daily happenings around the world of college football.

The Trev Alberts Quits To Do Construction Award
Comic relief; overall hilarity.

Like I'm sure you've read on a number of blogs to date, this one is simply a no-brainer. Orson's Every Day Should Be Saturday was the first college football blog I ever read, and is still the first I read when I get up every morning. I think I speak for all of us, however, when I say I wish he could have toned down the humor when interviewing Michael Lewis. I had no idea people actually could be that annoying when they laughed.



The Sports Fans Don't Cry Award
The blog that has suffered through its chosen team's dismal season with the most dignity.

How Ornage 44 can still find the will to not only post on his own blog, but on his Fan House blog, I'll probably never know. Let us all hope we can find such inner strength when our own teams suck that much.

The Keith Jackson Circa 1995 Award
The blog with the most consistently expressive and excellent writing.

The Blue Gray Sky. Excellent analysis combined with just solid diction and tone. If there was a "classiest blog" award, these guys would win it. Note that my overt fondness of the 'Domers played a huge role in this nomination. Deal with it.

The Brady Quinn Award
The prettiest blog, the best layout and design.


Defiantly College Football Resource. Brian has not only been a friend to Pitch Right since its inception, he's also been a friend to every blog since its inception. In a world of Blogger sponsored clones, CFR gets it right.

Best New Blog
The best new college football blog

There have been a lot of great blogs that have launched within the past year. The only problem is, I have no idea which ones are which, considering I've only launched within the past year. However I'm going to nominate another friend of Pitch Right (a reoccurring theme here) in Block U. Jazzy Ute does a great job not only keeping tabs of the Utes, but of keeping us all informed on whats going on in my favorite region of the country, The Mountain West.


More (hopefully anyway) tommarow...

Monday, December 18, 2006

Playoff = Dumb

For those of you wondering (all four or five of you) I am not in favor of a playoff for the Bowl subdivision or whatever they've decided to call Div I-A. The reasons for my opposition are simple. I just don't want one. I'm worried that the hoopla surrounding a playoff would take away from the excitement of Bowl season and even the playoff system in place for Divisions I-AA, II, and III. It's not a concept too alien, and I link it to the relationship between the NCAA Basketball tournament and the NIT tournament. Do you know who won the NIT last year?

Exactly, nobody (at least not regular fans) knows, and once more, nobody really cares. I don't want this to befall the Bowls, and the I don't want the matchup between two of the best teams in the land detracting from the significance of say, oh a Rice (which hasn't had a winning season in forever) in albeit a very low-tier Bowl. That's not to say I hate the hoopla of the big game or I'm anti big-time college football, I just would be very suspicious of where the "rest" of the Nation's teams would fit in amongst an ESPN/ABC controlled playoff system. Do we really think the powers that be would take anytime to contribute (meaningfully) to the Bowl games featuring teams that (gasp) aren't a prominent feature in the Top 10?

Because I don't, and that's why I'm proud to be part of what Brian has labeled the "Playoffs are bad, m'kay?" coalition. Well, that's my short little speil. I have more to say about this issue but not a lot of time to say, so if by chance you should like to either rudely disagree with me or give me the thumbs up, feel free to leave a comment.

Q&A With a BC Blogger

Just a heads up for anyone interested in reading this who hasn't already seen it on the Fan House. I've just published Part I of an interview Bill Maloney and I had over the weekend. Bill, as some of you know, is the author of the Boston College Fan House page and does some great work over at Eagle In Atlanta. Among other things, we discussed Tom O'Brian, Navy's secondary, Paul Johnson, Brian Toal, and even Doug Flutie. Check it Out.



(Picture from Reuters)

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Paul Johnson and the Fall of Fisher DeBerry

They say that things like this are bound to happen. That in all manner events, whether on or off the football field, all things must eventuall come to an end. For Fisher DeBerry and the Air Force football community, the dynasty built during the 1980s and 1990s has come to a sudden halt following a third consecutive losing season, an event which culminated with the retirment of the 68 year old living legend and the beginning of a new Service Academy football era.

And just as Rome did not fall by the hands of the Visigoths alone, so to can we trace the fall of Fisher DeBerry's Air Force program to a multitude of different causes and events. And while one can dispute the label of "fallen," one certainly cannot find argument in the fact that the Falcons of today are not the Falcons of five, ten, fifteen, or even twenty years ago. The possible explanations for this are many, and in reality we will come to find that it was probably a combination of both internal and external factors which finally slowed DeBerry's Juggernaut. From the advent of a more competitive Mountain West to the changing face of the Air Force Academy's administration, these factors finally came to a head in 2003, which, not by coincidence alone, was also the year another Service Academy asserted itself onto a winning stage. But for the sake of argument, I wish to focus in on only one of the many aspects that contributed to the recent downswing of the Air Force football program, and with it, DeBerry's career; The advent of Paul Johnson's resurgent Navy Football program.
(Picture from Deadspin.com)

Monday, October 23, 2006

A Reminder

Just a reminder that for the rest of the regular season I will be blogging primarily over at the Navy Football FanHouse. If you'd like to get in touch with me, email me at guyontheright at gmail.com

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Sunday Rewind

Well, that Sucked- It's never fun to watch your team lose 34-0, but to watch your team's starting quarterback go down for the year is just gut-wrenching.What we saw yesterday was a team which was completely dominated and completely demoralized. Give the Rutgers "D" a lot of credit, they flew to the ball-carrier and came off blocks which such speed and tenacity that the option never was able to gain a foothold. By the same token, it should be acknowledge that the focus of this Navy team just wasn't there yesterday, and that "dumb" mistakes (ie. penalties, blocked punts, blown assignments, dropped passes) kept Navy from even making this one close.

Read More

Navy Loses Hampton, then Game


As it stands right now, disaster may be an understatement. How else you would label a 34-0 drudging at the hands of Rutgers, I'm really not sure.

Not only did Rutgers dominate the Midshipmen completely, but Starting Quarterback Brian Hampton dislocated his left knee in the first quarter and may be lost for the rest of the season. Hampton's injury, which came about halfway through the first quarter, proved to be the deciding factor in the game, as Navy's offense could never recover its composure. Sophomore Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada was inconsistent and ineffective in relief of Hampton, although Navy's offensive woes ran much deeper then just poor quarterback play.

Read More

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Kettani Gets the Call

Things aren't going so hot for Navy fullback Matt Hall. The former starter has had a bit of a fumble problem this season,a problem which effectively killed a Navy scoring drive against Air Force on Saturday. He's also turned the ball over in key situations against ECU and Tulsa. With these struggles in mind, and a need to provide a relief for Navy's primary bulldozing fullback Adam Ballard, Coach Paul Johnson has decided to insert much-heralded sophomore Eric Kettani into the lineup.

Read More

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Navy More then "Lucky"

I, along with just about every other writer who covers Navy football, have no idea where all this sprang from. Most likely it had to do with some on-the-field trash talk or behind the scenes stuff that none of us regular people see or hear about. When asked if the source of the comment was an Air Force player, Johnson responded with a "sure was." However when Johnson elaborated on his team being the "luckiest team in America," Navy's head Coach maintained that it wasn't just coming form the Falcons.

Read More

Monday, October 09, 2006

Mids in "Others" of Harris Poll

The Mids are slated ahead of Wake Forest (9 votes), NC State (8 votes), Texas Tech (5 votes), Miami (3 votes), and South Carolina (1 vote). Despite numerous text messages placed to his cell phone from the author of this post, the Ball Coach was unable to comment on how little the Harris Poll thinks of his Gamecocks. Mike Leach, still in shock over the decline of his superior offensive genius, merely reaffirmed his fondness of hail.

Read More

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Navy 24, Air Force 17

I'll be the first to admit that once the Falcons converted a late fourth quarter onside kick, I thought the game was over for the Midshipmen. Air Force, it seemed, just had too much momentum, and having been in a similar situation against Tennessee, would have the confidence and experience to get the job done. Yet, despite my overly pessimistic outlook, the Navy defense rallied with two minutes left in the game to shut the door on a concerted fourth quarter Air Force comeback attempt, giving the Mids their fourth consecutive win against the Falcons. With the win, Navy improves to 5-1 on the season, and with games against Temple, Duke, Eastern Michigan, and Army, looks almost assured of becoming Bowl eligible.

Continue Reading

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Navy "D' Stands Strong


The Navy defense did a great job early, forcing key turnovers which allowed the Mids to seize the momentum and never looks back. After forcing a quick three and out on the games first possession, the Midshipmen defense came back onto the field and stripped UConn tailback Deon Anderson on a screen pass. The Navy offense capitalized, going up 14-0 in front of a stunned Rentschler Field. Then, on the very next possession, David Mahoney stripped Terry Caulley on a draw play, adding insult to injury for a UConn offense which had difficulty finding it's way all game.

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Mids Need to Overcome Penalties

Discipline, needless to say, is something of a hallmark at a military academy. Yet you wouldn't know it by watching a tape of Navy's 41-17 win over UConn on Saturday. The Midshipmen, who routinely finish amongst the least penalized teams in the country, committed a staggering 12 penalties for 110 yards. That's more penalty yards then the Mids had in the first four games of the season combined (101), which in and of itself was already fairly high by Navy standards. So what's going on here? Head Coach Paul Johnson didn't even need to be asked about the issue after Saturday's game, skipping right to the problem in his opening statement.

Continue Reading (Navy Fan House)

BlogPoll Week 5

Don't worry, it's that time of the week again.


RankTeamDelta
1Ohio State--
2Auburn 1
3Southern Cal 1
4Florida--
5Michigan 3
6Boise State 8
7Louisville 1
8West Virginia 4
9Notre Dame 1
10Texas 5
11Georgia 2
12Georgia Tech 14
13Oklahoma 2
14Oregon 2
15Louisiana State 6
16Iowa 1
17Rutgers 4
18Nebraska 7
19Purdue 4
20Boston College 6
21Brigham Young 5
22Wake Forest 3
23Missouri 3
24Arkansas 2
25Navy 1



Dropped Out: TCU (#7), Virginia Tech (#18), Clemson (#19), Tennessee (#20), Tulsa (#24).
God what a beautiful poll. Just a preliminary guess, but I may be in the running for Mr. Bold, although Brian always has some weird crap going on.

Several Explanations:

Auburn and Southern Cal flip-flop. Mostly because I hate Southern Cal.

Michigan moves up three. I'm not a fan of the school, but they have a damn good football team.

Boise St. gets the nod at #6, which is most likely to draw a collective WTF from my fellow BlogPollers (although this genius knows what I'm saying.) The Broncos just beat up on a good Utah team this week, and only have Nevada and Fresno St. (1-3) standing in the way of an unbeaten season. I'm a mid-major kind of guy, so it makes sense that I go with the Nation's premier Mid-Major team.

Notre Dame is ninth. What can I say, I'm Catholic.

Georgia Tech is a good team. I don't know why I left them out for so long.

Oklahoma is still better then Oregon.

Rutgers gets the 17th spot off of this very simple form of reasoning: Rutgers Beat Up on Illinois. Illinois defeated Michigan State. Michigan State should have easily beat Notre Dame. Hence Rutgers should have beaten Notre Dame. The Enlightenment at its finest people.

Why I had Nebraska so high last week, I'm not really sure. I figured I should bring them back down to earth.

Boston College moves up five spots after beating Maine. There is no good explanation for this, except that i dislike a certain university hailing from Berkley, California.

BYU was sick against TCU. Mad Props to the Mormons.

After shellacking UConn, Navy makes it back into the Top 25. If this team executes the way they did Saturday, Rutgers is in for a rude awakening.

Games I Watched:
BYU at TCU
Auburn at South Carolina
Rutgers at South Florida (taped of course, I do have a life)
Navy at UConn
Purdue at Notre Dame
Boise State and Utah (more or less)
USC at Washington State
Houston at Miami

Monday, October 02, 2006

Big East Fans Debate Navy's Success

I love message board chatter, especially when it's coming from a Big East message boards. Shortly after Navy's 41-17 shellacking of UConn yesterday, the Big East message boards erupted in debate about how bad UConn is, which inevitably led to some discussion of how good Navy really is. So far, the results are mixed...

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Vote Brian Hampton "Player of the Week"

Navy doesn't get a whole heck of a lot of attention from the the big media sources, but somebody must have noticed what Brian Hampton did to the UConn defense yesterday. That's because "a panel of ESPN college football analysts" have selected Brian Hampton as a nominee for the Cingular All-American Player of the Week after Navy's 41-17 win over the Huskies. Who's on this panel I can only guess, but it was nice to see Mark May of all people sporting Hampton's praise on lat night's College Football Final. And why shouldn't he? Hampton was magnificent in yesterday's win, leading the offense to over 600 total yards. He ran 182 yards and three touchdowns while passing for 142 and a touchdown, all en route to Navy's most dominating performance of the season.

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Navy Offense Rolls

A 77-yard Brian Hampton touchdown pass to Reggie Campbell from the first play of scrimmage set the tone. On the play, Coach Johnson had Hampton make a "dummy check" for a pitch play to the motioning slotback. Picking up on what they presumed to be a genuine audible, the UConn defenders jumped the fake, allowing Reggie Campbell to get behind the safety. Hampton made a reverse pivot to freeze the defense, then gunned the ball downfield to Campbell, who made a great cut and picked up a block from Jason Tomlinson to get to the outside and score.

Continue Reading
(Photo By Bob Child, AP)

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

The Most Important Games

If you would have told me back in July that Navy would have started 3-1 over the first four games of the season, I probably would have been happy. Heck, I think most fans would have seen it as definite progress. Considering we thought ECU, Stanford, and Tulsa would be Bowl teams, (and the jury is still out on the Pirates and Golden Hurricane, although we can safely say the Cardinal is an abomination to the Pac-10), taking two out of three of those games would have seemed a step forward.

Continue Reading

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Blog Poll Ballot

For obviouse reasons, I hate Cal. Explanations when I get a chance.


Rank

TeamDelta
1Ohio State--
2Southern Cal 1
3Auburn 1
4Florida 1
5Texas 1
6Louisville--
7TCU 2
8Michigan 1
9Louisiana State 2
10Notre Dame 2
11Nebraska 7
12West Virginia 2
13Georgia--
14Boise State 3
15Oklahoma 1
16Oregon 4
17Iowa 1
18Virginia Tech 3
19Clemson 2
20Tennessee 1
21Rutgers 2
22Arkansas 4
23Purdue 3
24Tulsa 2
25Wake Forest 1



Dropped Out: Boston College (#12), Michigan State (#22), Arizona State (#24), Navy (#25).