Mid-Week Injury Report

Apparently I did a rather poor job on my injury report last week, so I thought I'd take some time to get this one right. If you remember correctly there was no injury report last week, mostly because I was under the impression everyone was good to go. Well, silly me, that wasn't the case, and when we all saw Matt Harmon kicking a ultra-importante fourth quarter field goal (which he missed), the collective eyes of every fan in the stadium fell on me with a sort of "Uh, what was that" expression. Not really, but hey, that would have actually been kinda cool. Here's a list of banged up Navy players for this week...

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Reggie Campbell=Amazing

Was it just me, or did anyone else notice how 5'6 junior practically won the game on his own for Navy last Saturday against UMass? While his rushing stats weren't anything to grin about (2 carries for 24 yards), it was Campbell's special team and defensive play that really saved the day for the Mids.

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PJ Presser

Ah, the Paul Johnson press conference. Does it get any better? Apparently not, especially after today's was released. The 5th-year Navy Football coach was frank as usual today, and would like you to know that just because his team had a bad game last Saturday, it doesn't mean they can't have success this week. You can read the entire transcript hyah, but I've taken the liberty of highlighting the stuff I find especially interesting...

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Heisman Top 10

CSTV.com has partnered with the world-renowned Heisman Pundit to create a "Blogger Heisman Poll." HP was gracious enough to invite me to be one of the nine bloggers who will submit a Top 10 every week, which should be published by Thursday on the main site. In the meantime, you can enjoy my Top Ten.

1. Brady Quinn, Notre Dame- Torching a good Penn Sate defense for 287 yards and 3 TDs bodes nearly as well as the media hype surrounding Notre Dame’s savior.

2. Troy Smith, Ohio State- As if getting out of Austin with a win wasn’t impressive enough; Smith struck a pose with 269 passing yards and 2 TDs against the Lonhorns.

3. Adrian Peterson, Oklahoma- He didn’t get a whole lot of attention against Washington, but put up some great numbers while running strong in the fourth quarter to put his team in the win column.

4. Chris Leak, Florida- The Florida Quarterback put up some excellent numbers against Central Florida (352 yards, 4 TDs), but still has a difficult schedule to weather in the coming weeks.

5. Brian Brohm, Louisville- As long as Louisville continues to win, and as long as he can put up good-looking numbers, Brohm is going to hover around this number five spot.

6. Ted Ginn, Ohio State- It’s not going to be easy to continue, but the Ohio State WR/KR proved he still belongs on the list with an electrifying performance against Texas.

7. Kenny Irons, Auburn- Did anyone else notice that he only had 69 yards (3.3 avg) rushing against Mississippi St? Another performance like that and he’s done for.

8. Garret Wolfe, Northern Illinois- I’ll be honest, even I didn’t catch his game against Ohio, but 196 yards rushing sounds good no matter who you’re playing.

9. Steve Slaton, West Virginia- There’s no doubt he’s got some great looking numbers, but c’mon, even I could put up 100 yards on the ground against Eastern Washington.

10. Eric Ainge, Tennessee- Big day against Air Force, but just how good is Tennessee? Let’s see how he does against the SEC teams before moving him any higher.

Monday's UMass Coverage

I apologize that I'm not writing any of my articles over here. I promise it's only temporary, but because of some serious time constraints, I'd rather write my posts over at the FanHouse, where I'm actually compensated for my efforts. (It's all about the money boys!)

Here's What You've Missed:

Johnson talks about Inept Offense (FanHouse)

Defense Comes Up Big (FanHouse)

QB controversy Bound to Ensue (FanHouse)

Sunday Morning Post-Game

Well, that Was Almost a Disaster: Navy Football FanHouse

The Good, The Bad, and the Really, Really, Ugly: Navy Football FanHouse

Navy Stands and Delivers Win: Baltimore Sun

NavyAlmost Drops the Ball Against UMass: Washington Post

Air Show Doesn't Include Navy: Washington Times

Mids Overcome Minutemn: Washinton Times

Friday Night UMass Coverage

Sorry about not getting much coverage up here this week. There is however plenty to read over at the Navy Football FanHouse...

Focus Not an Issue: AOL Sports College Football FanHouse

Navy Moving Up In Rankings: AOL Sports College Football FanHouse

Navy Offense Vs. Umass Defense: AOL Sports College Football FanHouse

Navy's O-Line: Mules?: AOL Sports College Football FanHouse

Steve Baylark = Adrain Peterson?: AOL Sports College Football FanHouse

Roundtable Times Dos

Bruce Ciskie hosts the latest edition of the BlogPoll Roundtable, which I've decided to jump in on at the last moment possible.

What team best met your overall expectations of them in their opener?

Louisville. Despite the loss of Bush, the Cardinals rolled over Kentucky in the opener. They have a fairly easy schedule and should be able to do this to a lot of teams this year. With an experienced offensive line and a talented group of running backs taking center stage, look for Brohm and the Cardinals to possibly go 11-1 in the regular season.

What team jumped off the map and surprised you the most? (Bonus points to anyone who can make an argument for someone besides Tennessee.)

Montana State, but I guess I'm going to have to give you a I-A team, won’t I? In that case I'll go with UCLA. Maybe it's just because I jumped on the Ute bandwagon so early (he made me), but I really thought that Utah was going to pull the upset against UCLA. But the Bruins not only won, they dominated what I thought was going to be a great Utah offense.

What team best moved themselves into a position to surprisingly contend for a national title?

If there was another clear answer besides Tennessee, believe me, I'd go with that team. I don't know whether it was a matter of Cal just being that bad, or if Fulmer actually knows what the hell he's doing again, but for the a team to make that big of a statement week one is impressive. I also think you can look at Florida State, who despite winning in incredibly ugly fashion, beat a top ranked school to start the season. And I'm also going to go with Notre Dame, for no other reason that they survived a trap game on the road in which most of you (the blogging community) picked them to lose.

There is no Line for UMass

I've noticed a good number of incoming hits to this blog off searches for the spread for the UMass game on Saturday. Guys, there is no point spread when playing a Division 1-AA team. However, if you want one, I'll just give you my most reasonable guess. Navy is a 14 point favorite. There you have it.

Also, I've noticed that quite a few answers to the poll questions have been "Navy will lose to UMass." Are these Navy fans voting this way or just UMass fans coming over from the UMass Football Fanzone?

Roundtable Later in the Day, don't forget to check the FanHouse. That is All.

UMass Scares Me and Other Stuff

Well, the AOL College Football Fan House is just about set for launch. For the next few weeks the majority of my Navy posts will be taking place over there. Does that make me a sellout? Probably, but at least I'll be posting my thoughts everyday as opposed to only a couple times a week. So, do me a favor and bookmark the Navy FanHouse, but keep checking back here for Random Thoughts and BlogPoll related issues. Speaking of which, I'll get the new Roundtable up ASAP.

This Week's Top 25

Well, here it is. My poll for Week 2 of the College Football BlogPoll.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Notre Dame	--
2	Ohio State	--
3	Southern Cal	1
4	Texas	1
5	Auburn	2
6	Florida State	3
7	Louisville	1
8	Florida	--
9	Tennessee	17
10	Iowa	--
11	West Virginia	--
12	Nebraska	4
13	Miami (Florida)	8
14	Georgia	1
15	Virginia Tech	1
16	Michigan	1
17	Oregon	9
18	Louisiana State	--
19	Texas Tech	3
20	Purdue	3
21	Oklahoma	1
22	Cal	10
23	UCLA	3
24	TCU	1
25	Navy	4

Dropped Out: Arizona State (#15), Utah (#19), Boston College (#24).

Observations and Explanations

• Notre Dame played the toughest team of any of the top five schools this weekend, and that's why I have them #1 again. Sorry Phil Steele fans, Arkansas was far from a Top 25 team when USC dismantled them. Ohio State had a decent win over NIU, while Texas pummled a helpless North Texas squad. For nothing else then having the balls to schedule a difficult team on the road in a trap game, I'm sticking with the Irish at #1 until they lose.
• Because Arkansas is better then North Texas, I'm going to give USC the edge. Considering I hate USC this was not an easy decision.
• Auburn and FSU move up after wins, although some more impressive then others. Just because FSU upended a highly ranked Miami team doesn't mean they will be contending for a national title, for for the time being I'll have them up there.
• Louisville look awesome in their blowout of Kentucky, but the loss of Michael Bush puts them a spot down nonetheless. I still think they beat WVU though, considering the backups look very fast and very elusive.
• Iowa, WVU, and Florida all won decent games against bad-decent teams. Thus they will stay in their positions and await further review.
• I still don't know what to make of Tennessee. The View from Rocky Top must look pretty good, but something tells me Cal was just that bad, and that the Vols will have their share of disappointments again this year. Proving I'm a complete tool of ESPN, I have them at #9.
• Why is Nebraska so high? To be perfectly honest I have no idea, but we'll see what happens.
• Miami falls, despite putting on a strong defensive showing. Wright just lost whatever Heisman bid he might have had.
• Georgia is at 14. Those wondering why can go visit Dawg Sports and have Kyle tell you why, because I'm still not sure if I get it.
• Michigan looked sub-par against Vandy, and despite my particular dislike for the state and university of Oregon, I thought they posted an impressive win over a good Stanford team.
• LSU dismantled a Sun Belt team. Sorry, but I can't move them up.
• Purdue could have scored 100 points against Indiana State if Tiller let them. Watch out, this is a very potent offense.
• Cal sucks, I don't know what else to say. Lee Corso proves that he knows very little about college football.
• I dislike the Pac-10, but UCLA gets the nod with a win over Utah.
• NAVY is at 25, dropping 3 spaces from my preseason sympathy vote. Don't badger me about how people like me are arrogant fans who have put Navy in a position where they don't belong. Last time I checked we beat a fairly talented East Carolina team and that college football blogging was for fun, so lighten up.
• Why wasn't I able to plug in Montana State?

That is all.

Brian Hampton will Get Better

While Hampton ran like an Abrams Tank all night long (149 yards), he obviously struggled on some of his pass attempts in Saturday's win. His two completions for six yards on six attempts doesn't look so hot, but even more worrisome were the three long, sure-fire touchdown passes he overthrew. Keeping in mind this was only the first game though, and that a little rust, nerves, or even the wind may have had something to do with it, I don't think it's time to start worrying. Coincidentally, Coach Johnson highlighted that point in his post-game press conference...

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The Importance of the ECU Win

For most teams, beating a middle-of-the-pack Conference USA Team isn't a big deal. But for this year's Navy team, it's huge. Why? Well, all one has to do is look at Navy's schedule to see the importance. With six very difficult upcoming games, Navy can't afford to lose this early and put it's Bowl aspirations on the line. Once more, if East Carolina goes on to win 5, 6, 7 or more games this year (as some have predicted), it'll prove to the skeptics that Navy can win against decent programs.

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"D" Holds Our for the Win

It wasn't always pretty, but the Navy Defense came up with the stops when it had to in last night's 28-23 win over the East Carolina Pirates. Holding the Pirates high powered passing offense to just twenty three points was no small task, especially after two Navy turnovers in the third quarter looked to give Skip Holtz's offense a spark. Yet after a day of timely and physical defense, I guess it was no surprise when, in spite of Navy's offensive miscues, the defense held out in the second half to deliver the win.

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(AP Photo, as seen on GoMids.com)

Navy's Offense too Much for ECU

Well, we won. And while our 28-23 performance wasn't exactly executed with midseason form, it was nevertheless a great start for the 2006 season. More thoughts to come later today, but here's the morning write-up from the Fan House.

Skip Holtz still has some work do.

After months of anticipation, Navy and East Carolina finally squared off yesterday, and as I predicted, the Midshipmen came out on top, winning a thrilling 28-23 contest that came down to the last drive. While not as pretty as I think many of us Navy fans would have liked to see, a win is a win, and their certainly were many positives Coach Johnson can take into the season.

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AP Photo

I'm off to the game, which starts at 5:30 EST (CSTV) in case you needed a reminder. I'll be back tonight with my thoughts, and tomorrow will get some photos up.

You can read my prediction hyah...

GO NAVY

BEAT ECU

Navy Pass Offense Vs. ECU Pass Defense

Because of the nature of Navy's offense, this is by no means an assessment of talent or ability, which is often the case when talking about passing game scenarios. East Carolina's corners and safeties should have their hands full trying to dissect the option, and will likely be be susceptible to play-action and option pass plays. This should give the Navy receivers and slotbacks the ability to draw one or (as we saw in the Poinsettia Bowl) no-man coverage.

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Navy Rushing Offense vs. ECU Rush Defense

Last season Navy lead the Nation in rushing while Easy Carolina finished an abysmal 112th against the run. As you would expect, East Carolina Head Coach Skip Holtz has taken steps to address this issue during the off-season. One of his main actions was to bring in three highly touted JUCO linebackers, including Orlando Farrow, Fred Wilson, and Quentin Cotton. The question here will be whether or not the changes made by Holtz and his staff will be able to effectively counter this veteran Navy offense. The short answer is simple; they will not.

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Observations

Here are some more random observations from last night's games.

• Toledo nearly showed the Nation it had the ability to opened a mid-level BCS team in Iowa State. The Cyclones, who arguably have the best skill position players in the Big 12 North, survived the scare 45-43 in triple overtime. If they wouldn't have waiting to pass the ball to Todd Blythe until overtime, I think all this pointless drama could have been avoided.
• You're probably wondering how Navy's future opponents did last night? The short answer, quite well in fact (although I've already sicussed Temple) as UConn destroyed Rhode Island 52-7 and Tulsa beat Stephan F. Austin 45-7. I'll have more on this later.
• Good to see Northwestern win in their first game back. Horrible to see Michael Wilbon in the jersey on PTI however.
• New Mexico State won against SE Louisiana, keeping their National Title hopes alive.
• Central Michigan will win the MAC this year after an impressive performance against Boston College. Mark my words.
• Why does Steve Spurrier smile when he's mad?

Wow. Like, wow

Pardon me, but I'm still fighting off the excitement from last night. The Buffalo Bulls, a perennial bottom five team, just spanked the Temple owl's, a perennial bottom two team. In this battle of 117 vs. 118, this colossal struggle of heavyweights , it seemed only fit that the two teams fight it out in overtime. Sure enough, they did. And get this, Buffalo won! As a lifelong Bills fan, and someone who's entire extended family lives/has lived in Western New York, this was a good thing. As a Navy fan though who desperately needed Temple to at least win one friggin game this year for SoS reasons, this didn't please me. Nevertheless, here are some observations I made.

• Temple's defense sucks. They don't tackle well, the linebackers are slow, the linemen are fat, and all they got going for them is that the University of Buffalo looks way too similar to the Buffalo Bills in the redzone.
• Buffalo's got some athletes. QB Drew Willy has some nice moves and has an absolute cannon. Too bad this is the worst pass blocking offensive line I've ever seen.
• Temple's offense looks almost exactly the same as last years. Short, underneath in-routes and play action to the tight end, very predictable stuff for an armchair defensive coordinator like me. I was screaming for the DBs to jump just one route, and when the dude finally listened to me, he dropped a sure interception for a touchdown return.
• Temple can't tackle, except when they get their 700 hundred pound linemen to sit on people.
• James Starks is either really fast or Temple defense is really slow or really tired.
• Buffalo can't make a field goal. Images of Scott Norwood are brutally and painfully repressed inside of my soul.

It should be known that I viewed this game over the Miss. St/South Carolina game. Why watch two mediocre SEC teams play when you could just watch two God-awful teams play? I'm not the kind of fan who believes his team can beat anyone easily, but let's just say that after Temple lost last night, I'm not going to lose much sleep when it comes to Navy's showdown with the Owl's in November.