OJ Washington, Greg Sudderth, and Tyree Barnes all got into the action on Saturday, with Washington catching a touchdown pass as well as catching a two-point conversation. Sudderth did an excellent job hauling in his touchdown, while Barnes had a nice catch coming back to the ball and nearly taking it to the endzone. If nothing else, these guys proved that they have athletic ability and sure hands, and that they're more than capable of making plays in the offense.
Offensive Line: B+
I thought the offensive line struggled early in the run game, although played well in pass protection and helped give Kaipo all kinds of time in the first half. As the defensive line started to wear down the offensive line came alive, and did a good job getting guys to the ground at the point of attack and on the second level.
Defensive Line: C-
In an attempt to cover this somewhat chronologically, I'm going to start off by saying what a good job Navy's defense did on the first series of the game. The only question I have is what the hell happened after that?...
...Speaking of "what the hell" kind of moments, have we gotten to the bottom of Duke's first touchdown yet? I've heard a lot about how the coverage was bad all day, but Darius Terry actually had great position on the ball and should have prevented the Duke wide receiver from making the play. Obviously the guy ran two or three yards out of bounce, but the call on the field was that he was forced out. From the replay it looked like he probably started out before Terry's back made contact with him, and even in that situation I don't know how you can say he was forced out when Terry is playing the ball. A dumb call and a fluke play but at least it gives the defense a lesson in never quiting on the play...
...Kaipo-Noa did a very good job throwing the ball around early, largely due to very good pass protection from the O-line. I was for the most part really impressed with Kaipo's accuracy, which we knew coming into the season was much better than it was last season. The interception he threw though was horrible, contrary to the belief of the fan in front of me, who placed the blame on Reggie Campbell. Anytime you stare down a 5'6 receiver who is double covered your asking for trouble, and that interception is definitely on you. Kaipo-Noa struggled with reads early and didn't gain much running the ball, but he did do a good job in the second quarter of making something out of nothing. He didn't have the amazing make ten people miss run Jarod had later in the game, but give Kaipo credit. He's not exactly a dear in the headlights out there...
...I think we're seeing a transition from Ballard to Kettani at the fullback position. That's not to say both won't still get carries, but with Kettani's speed and first step it just makes more sense to have Eric in there. One thing he does need to do better is work on picking his legs up as he hits the hole. I saw him stumble on one to many arm tackles during the game. Other than that the guy is a beast, as is Ballard, who still maintains his status as a legitimate badass...
...I've been telling everyone and their mother about Greg Sudderth's sick nasty athletic ability, and on Saturday we finally saw it as he climbed the latter between two defenders to pull down a long grab at the Duke two yard line. Sudderth has ideal size and body control which make him perfect for the wide receiver position, it's just a shame it took the coaching staff so long to realize he couldn't tackle. On a related note, OJ Washington and Tyree Barnes also made plays in the pass game, only confirming the fact that this is the best group of Navy wideouts in a long time.
...A number of people have been asking what's been going on with Reggie Campbell. I don't think he's in any kind of a "funk" so much much as he's just not getting the ball enough. I say this with a degree of reluctance, because I know how fast Navy fans are quick to jump on the "get the ball to the slots" argument that has become the stuff of "Ask the AD" legend. Still, Reggie has looked good when he has gotten the ball on the outside, and I have to say I was very much surprised to see him not get the ball more against Duke, especially with Shun White out. I know we tell ourselves that we're an offense of interchangeable parts, and as much truth as there is in that we all realize that Campbell's is on another level athletically than much of team. Not to incur the wraith of Paul Johnson, but this only semi-knowledgeable blogger would like to see Reggie get the ball more...
...Defensively we played about 50 people on Saturday. That's probably not an accurate number, but you get what I mean. Anytime you see Ram Vela on the field at nickelback, you know Coach Green is reaching down deep (not a shot at Ram, who should be a starter by the time he's a senior.) This is both a good and bad sign. On the negative side of things, you realize that guys weren't getting the job done. Yet by the same token you have to realize it was a very humid day and Coach Green had to try to keep guys fresh. Our defense is bad, I know, but more specifically we're not getting good play out of our defensive ends and our second cornerback. I use the term second cornerback to denote whoever is opposite Rashawn King, who is money against the run and pass. I know Terry had a great game against Ball State and had some good coverage even against Duke (In which he was burned for a couple of touchdowns), but between him and Greg Thrasher we don't have a lot of vertical speed. This is a concern this year with the simplified defense and the new safety package, which is putting a lot of stress on the corners to keep the wide receiver in front of them. As far as our ends go, we're just not keeping containment, which is honestly all they have to do. We did see some ability from Blake Carter (against the run) and Nate Frazier, who despite being doubled most of the game got good penetration and even recorded a sack on a stunt in which he came all the way around the tackle...
...Irv Spencer had two chances at turnovers, but dropped a second quarter interception and inexplicably lost a fumble recovery. Not getting the fumble recovery maybe almost cost us the game, as Duke would go on to score before the half before Kaipo's interception in which they would go on to score again. Had he recovered that fumble, it's probable that Navy goes into the half with a ten point lead. A similar thing happened last week against Ball. We're just not catching the breaks this year...
...I refuse to talk about the quarterback situation in terms of a controversy. It doesn't matter how much I like Jarod or whether or not I think he could do a better job than Kaipo, it's not my call and I realize that the coaching staff has a much better grasp on this than anyone else. I will say that I hope Jarod can be integrated more into the offense, because as he showed on Saturday, he's a gifted and versatile athlete who can do any number of things for your football team. All for putting him back there with Reggie of kickoffs say "I..."
...From what I'm hearing Shun White just suffering a sprain and should be back and ready to go this week. Speaking of slotbacks, how about Bobby Doyle? Between him, Greg Shinego, and Scott Oswald we are solid as far as the three deep goes...
...September 22nd is hereby Joey Bullen Day. Honestly, if he's not the clutch Navy performer of the decade, I don't know who is. Props to coach Johnson for going with him even though he hasn't been great in practice...
...We need a horse collar rule in college football...
...How big was Navy's win? Well, as Bill Wagner claims today in the Capital, it just may have saved the season.
..I guess the fans in section 30 should not have laughed our collective butts off when Peter Vaas told his guys before the half that "it ain't even close to being over" before a silenced Navy-Marine Corps stadium. I guess he was right...
(Photo courtesy of Paul W. Gillespie of the Annapolis Capital)
But even without forcing a ton of turnovers, Navy's defense could be playing better than it currently is. Case in point, take a look at the 2005 season, in which an inexperienced Navy team went -6 in the turnover department and still went 8-4 with a bowl victory over Colorado State. So, if forcing turnovers aren't the issue, what's so different about this year's defense that has caused all the panic?
Obviously, the answer at this point is Navy's run defense, which let's face it, sucks. But it's not like this has been a reoccurring problem, at leats not in the recent past. Let's go back again to last season and explore this facet of the game. Last year the Mids ranked 32nd in the country against the run, due largely to two separate dynamics. The first, or the cynics view as I like to say, has to do with the relative ranking of the pass defense (the aforementioned 100th in the country, leading other team's to throw more.) The other reason, however, has to do with how Navy's personnel understood the scheme and executed their proper assignments. This is the part where I throw out terms that make me look like I know what I'm talking about, namely gap responsibility and containment, something that the Midshipmen excelled at last year and struggle with this year.
So, what exactly is the problem this year which has caused Navy's defense to give up large amounts of rushing yards and fail to do the things last year's defense did? Obviously, we have to start with personnel, even though I'm usually not huge on emphasising the role of individual players. The reality is that this year to date, we have seen a considerable drop-off in ability at the linebacker position, specifically the outside backer position that was vacated by David Mahoney and Tyler Tidwell after the Care Car Bowl. I don't know if this is so much a referendum on how good the Matt's are (Humiston, Wimsatt, Nechak) so much as it demonstrates just how special David Mahoney and Tyler Tidwell were. Dave was seriously one of the most dynamic defensive players to ever play at the Academy, and just had the raw athletic ability and omnipresent football sense to come off blocks and fly to the ballcarrier. Tyler had similar ability, although not to the level Mahoney had, but most importantly these guys were smart and understood their roles. When I see the defense missing tackles in the backfield and failing to bring down the quarterback in blitz situations, I can't help but think that Mahoney or Tidwell would have made at least some of those plays. This was especially a problem against Ball State and Temple, as we saw Nate Davis and Adam DiMichele extend drives by using their feet to either buy time or rush for the first down in third down situations.
The other main problem has to do with defensive alignment. I could try to explain what exactly is going wrong, but because I'm no expert on the subject and because Phelix already has it covered, I'm going to refer you to the Bird Dog for a more thorough explanation. Below, Phelix takes over for Bill Wagner when discussing defense alignment:
PJ is referring to how the defensive line and down linebackers are supposed to line up across from the offensive line. These assignments are the fundamentals of pass rushing and gap control in the running game. For example, in the five technique that PJ is talking about, the lineman/LB is lined up on the outside eye of the tackle . His responsibility would be the C gap, between the tackle and tight end. In the nine technique, the lineman/LB is lined up on the outside eye of the tight end and is responsible for outside containment. Now, multiply missed assignments like this by each down lineman or LB and it’s obvious how there can be such wide running lanes for opposing RBs, and why opposing offensive lines have no problem handling our pass rush.
So there you have it. In a nutshell Navy's defensive lineman and linebackers are not keeping gap responsibility, and because of this are getting blown up on running plays and basically taking themselves out of plays because of where they are lined up pre-snap. This is largely due, I presume, to the loss of Clint Sovie at the middle linebacker position, a point which has forced Coach Green and Coach Johnson to try to simplify the defensive shceme. What I don't understand is why exactly Irv Spencer couldn't make the calls, and despite the question being brought up in a previous presser, I don't remember hearing a straight answer (anyone?) In any case, this may be slow and trying process, but at some point this year either Pospisil or Haberer are going to have to step up and take responsibility for lining up the defense. This concept also goes hand in hand with the personnel argument, and if we explore the issue we can see how last year's defensive linemen understood their gap responsibilities and for the most part were where they needed to be. John Chan was especially disciplined in this regard, as well as being an underrated player against the run. While the Midshipmen defense last year may not have been as fast as this year's, they were more often in position to make plays because they had been groomed in the scheme and understood their responsibilities, something Navy's young defense this year has struggled to do without the likes of Clint Sovie and Jeff Deliz. This is why it drives me crazy to hear the talking heads on ESPN and the like go on all day talking about size, speed, etc, because at the basic core of defensive football, you're not going to succeed if you don't play smart and know your assignments.
I genuinely believe that our offense is good enough this year to score on everyone we play, but obviously that's the least of the team's concerns right now. Still, if the defense can find something of an identity and perhaps correct some of these problems with alignment and scheme, Navy will still have a good shot at the postseason, and could be well on the way to achieving the ultimate goal of the CINC trophy.
Via NavySports.com...
Wagner: Can I ask you something without making you mad?
Johnson: Maybe. I don't know.
Wagner: I was talking to a Navy fan and he said he follows the coverage and that he noticed something and I'm just going to put it to you. He says that it seems like when Navy loses you blame the players, ie we can't execute fundamental plays, but that the success of the team the last four years has been attributed to brilliant coaching. How do you respond to that?
Johnson: Whatever he thinks. I don't go down to McDonald's and start second-guessing his job so he ought to leave me alone.
Wagner: But do you feel like it can't be both ways?
Johnson: You know what? I could care less. I'm old enough where I could give a crap what the fans think or what you think to put it in a nutshell.
Wagner: Wins and losses are evenly distributed as far as credit and blame, right?
Johnson: If you could ever find one time that I said we won the game because of brilliant strategy I will kiss your butt at city dock and give you two days to draw a crowd. Find it and bring it to me. Tell that guy that if he wants to talk to me I live at (address given but deleted for the transcript) I will be right there. Come ring my doorbell and I will be glad to talk to him.
For those of you thinking I'm going to laud Coach Johnson for another fine and witty response, well, I'm not going to. Johnson has made quotes like this in the past but this is one of the few times I can remember that he seemed to get really defensive about the whole notion of how he does his job. It's not without reason, but in a way it seems to speak to where the team, and the program, are after last week's loss.
As for the question itself, I think the fan probably misinterpreted Paul Johnson's response after games. I think what he/she meant to say was that it seems like Johnson is not overly positive after a win in regards to praising individual players, and seems to come down on the whole lot after a loss. This is a much more accurate depiction of the post game scenario than the idea that Coach Johnson sits around and says that everyone sucks and he's the only thing going for the team. In fact, I would argue that's what a number of Navy fans do (myself NOT included.) The question at this point is irrelevant, and for the moment I'd like to address the reaciton to "the question" by Navy fans.
I think this blaming Bill Wagner stuff is nonsense. I've seen a number of Navy fans question why a veteran like Wagner would incur the wraith of Coach Johnson, to which I only say, "why not?" News flash, the guy is a reporter, he's not the Sports Information Director. I know we have a very supportive local media contingent, but what do you expect him to do, just go with the flow and be Paul Johnson's yes man? It doesn't matter if you think it was a stupid question, the point was that it elicited a response, and had it not been asked we wouldn't be sitting here talking about it. As Mr. Wagner said in a followup blog post, if the team is underperforming it's his job as a reporter to try to understand why that is. In hindsight, yes, he probably should not have asked that particular question, but that doesn't mean he should never ask a question not dissimilar to the one he asked. After all, it is his job.
Paul Johnson is who he is. He's an excellent coach and has a personality some people like and others don't. I guess the point I'm trying to get at here is that you can be someone who is uncomfortable with his personality without claiming that he's not doing a good job with the program. You should, as a fan, be able to say "I don't like the way Coach handled that question" without people accusing you of not understanding Navy football or Coach Johnson. Just so long as you recognize how successful Navy has been under Johnson and how he is the foundation for that success, you should be able to think whatever you want about his personality. And now, back to our regularly scheduled "what the hell is wrong with our defense" coverage.
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LSU | -- |
| 2 | Southern Cal | -- |
| 3 | Oklahoma | -- |
| 4 | Florida |  1 |
| 5 | Texas | 4 |
| 6 | West Virginia |  2 |
| 7 | Boston College | 4 |
| 8 | Ohio State | 7 |
| 9 | California | 1 |
| 10 | Texas A&M | 8 |
| 11 | Kentucky | 15 |
| 12 | Penn State | 6 |
| 13 | Wisconsin | 4 |
| 14 | Rutgers | 2 |
| 15 | Oregon | 4 |
| 16 | South Carolina | 4 |
| 17 | South Florida | 1 |
| 18 | Alabama | 8 |
| 19 | Louisville | 9 |
| 20 | Clemson | 2 |
| 21 | Nebraska | 8 |
| 22 | Hawaii | 4 |
| 23 | Cincinnati | 1 |
| 24 | Purdue | 2 |
| 25 | Air Force | 1 |
Maybe the only "good" news we'll hear all week. The Annapolis Capital is reporting that both starting quarterback Kaipo-Noa and linebacker Irv Spencer should be ready to go for Saturday's home game against the Duke Blue Devils, who snapped a 22 game losing streak on Saturday by beating Northwestern. Duke, contrary to popular belief around the Navy fan community, is really not that good. But then again neither are we at this point, so I guess that's not much conciliation.
Games like this kill your week. You spend your entire week looking forward to Saturday, putting up with the drudgery of everyday life, only to see your college team put itself in a position to win before abruptly failing to execute on two consecutive plays and give the game to the opposition. You feel robbed, like all the anticipation you put into the week was for naught, and, as your team sits a 1-2 with several daunting opponents looming, you approach an ill-defined mind-set we affectionately call "the ledge." I can't even begin to speculate on how the players feel...
Hyperbole, kinda.
When discussion the merits (or formally lack there of) of Ball State football, it had been common practice to invoke a witty comment about the “ball” portion of Ball State, or to proclaim, as if in originality, the fact that David Letterman attended the university. For our collective sanity, however, I will forgo these observations, and move straight to the point. This ain’t your daddy’s Ball State football team.
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LSU | 1 |
| 2 | Southern Cal | 1 |
| 3 | Oklahoma | 6 |
| 4 | West Virginia | 1 |
| 5 | Florida | 1 |
| 6 | Penn State | 8 |
| 7 | UCLA | 14 |
| 8 | California | 1 |
| 9 | Texas | 13 |
| 10 | Louisville | 5 |
| 11 | Boston College | 2 |
| 12 | Rutgers | 11 |
| 13 | Nebraska | 2 |
| 14 | Georgia Tech | 3 |
| 15 | Ohio State | 3 |
| 16 | South Florida | 10 |
| 17 | Texas A&M | 7 |
| 18 | Oregon | 8 |
| 19 | South Carolina | 7 |
| 20 | Arizona State | 1 |
| 21 | Clemson | 5 |
| 22 | Brigham Young | 3 |
| 23 | TCU | 12 |
| 24 | Kansas | 2 |
| 25 | Cincinnati | 1 |
