Week 2 Position Grades

Quarterback: D

This one is pretty self-explanatory. Even though other factors went into his three interceptions (ie. Meek blew a block on the first) it was still Kaipo-Noa who threw all three of them. I can understand the speed of Rutgers' defense probably made him feel like he had to get the ball out faster, but he needs to show better recognition in the passing game. He also made some poor reads on a few plays, and was inconsistent with his decision making in terms of when to keep. Despite the fumble, I thought Jarod made the most of his possession, but let's get one thing straight. Kaipo is still the number one guy, and unless he plays poorly over the next two or three games, we shouldn't even get into this nonsense about replacing him. Hampton bounced back in the third game against Stanford last year, and I expect Kaipo to do the same against Ball State.

Slotbacks: C+

Reggie, Zerb, and Shun combined for just under 100 yards, but didn't provide the big play that Navy could of really used in this game. Reggie was fairly active in the pass game, and did a good job bringing down the first quarter touchdown pass. Just as a wishful fan, I'd like to see Reggie get his hands on the ball more, but the ability of he and the other slotbacks making big plays is dependent on the perimeter blocking and the reads of the quarterback, which both need to get better.

Fullbacks: B

Considering Navy couldn't establish the fullback at all last year, I thought Adam and Eric did a good job teaming up for nearly a hundred yards. It's obvious at this point that Eric hits the hole faster than Adam and runs more like a "true" running back. Adam is probably tougher to bring down and a better blocker, and did a decent job grinding out some tough yards against a very stout middle of the Rutgers defense. I think we're going to see The Kettani-Ballard combination continue, and I think we're going to grow to like it.

Wide Receivers: C

Perimeter blocking was no good. Greg Sudderth has ability at wideout if we can get him the ball, but otherwise a quiet day as far catching the ball goes.

Offensive Line: C

It's the same story for the rest of the team, this unit just needs to find a way to get better. To be fair, it's very difficult to block Rutgers' athletic defensive line, which obviously led to numerous problems getting the option establish established Friday night. They weren't horrible in pass coverage (allowing one sack) but the unit didn't do anything great either. This probably would of been an acceptable performance against any other team on the schedule, but Rutgers' defense is another story.

Defensive Line: D

We don't ask a ton of penetration from our defensive line, but the coaching staff does expect gap responsibility and control, something that the line did none of on Friday night. Nate Frazier did basically nothing, while outside of Bookout's big hit I can't remember anyone getting their named called. Thank God the rest of the schedule doesn't have an offensive line like Rutgers.

Linebackers: D+

Things went from bad to worse with the loss of Clint Sovie, and you could tell that this unit just never recovered. Matt Humiston, who I've been high on all offseason, had trouble tackling Rice in the open field, while Irv Spencer was out of position on occasion. More than anything else, these guys were just getting blocked and weren't putting themselves in good position to make tackles.

Secondary: C-

Outmatched from the beginning. Tackling was not very good, and the lack of pressure on Teel really left this unit out to dry. With no pressure on Teel the zones expanded as the receivers got downfield, and Navy's defenders just aren't athletic enough to run with these guys all game. There is no reason Greg Thrasher should ever be matched up on man coverage with anyone on a fly pattern.

I Refuse to Implode Over This

Friday night sucked. We can all agree on this. If you were smart, like me, you probably found something fun to do while taping the game at home. This would have saved you a considerable amount of frustration and probably staved off the deducting of several months from your life expectancy. But, more than anything else, it would have given you the opportunity to see this game in perspective, which I think is the most important thing we can take out of Friday night.

Navy did not play well against Rutgers, that is unless you define "playing well" as turning the ball over three times on interceptions, giving up 476 yards of defense, and losing by seventeen points. Other than that, things were peachy. The o-line looked out of sync, tackling was conspicuously absent at times, and Kaipo was less than impressive throwing the football to the guys in the white jerseys. Not only that, our head coach, who many have long viewed as completely infallible, has gone on record of saying that he made a poor play call on a pass that was intercepted in the end zone. I also realize that the Mids lost two of their top defenders on defense early in the game, and turned the ball over in key circumstances. Kaipo-Noa's two interceptions in the endzone may not have cost the game for Navy, but they certainly made the game look a lot more ugly than it would have otherwise been. That's at least six points for Navy had those interception not occurred, and that's not even factoring in the the pick Kaipo threw deep m in his own territory. But as upset I am over Navy's performance Friday night and as disappointed I am for the players and the coaching staff, I realize that Navy lost this game to a legitimate Top 15 team.

There is no denying this. I've gone on record numerous times saying that Rutgers is overrated, a point which I am now retracting. Don't get me wrong, I still absolutely cannot stand their players, coaches, or fans, but I'm no longer letting my emotions cloud my perception of the team's standing in the college football rankings. The simple fact is that Navy fell to a much better team the other night, and had the Midshipmen played as well as they were capable of playing on offense (ie no turnovers) then we would all be gushing over the great effort of the team and how close we are to whatever indefinable quality we subject our expectations to.

I refuse to implode over this loss, and refuse to call the entire outlook of the season into question. We are still only two games in, and after a less than impressive beginning to the season we're about to learn a whole lot about this team. After playing away on Friday nights the past two weeks, the Midshipmen will finally return home for the next three weeks to face Ball State, Duke, and Air Force. While none of these games are" gimmes" they are nevertheless winnable, and will likely determine the course of the rest of the season.

Schiano and the Late Touchdown

I'm sorta torn on how I feel about Schiano going for the late touchdown with about two minutes left. Rutgers was up 34-17 at the time, and any objective individual would have deemed the extra points unnecessary, even with a late Navy touchdown engineered by Jarod Bryant. I don't like Shciano, but my reasons for this are complicated and often politically incorrect, so I won't get into them here. But even considering my intense dislike for the man and his program, I recognize that this is college football, and although it may be classy to take a knee and center the ball, it's not always expected. I think Craig James and Chris Spielman were trying to allude to this in the broadcast, and also mentioned that Schiano was trying to reward Rice. This is the part I have some trouble buying, as Rice was a little hobbled at this point and sticking him in there was just a cheap move to pad his numbers for the Heisman race. If Schiano was so insistent on getting a touchdown, he should of given it to his third string fullback or some such and let a kid who works his ass off in practice get a freaking chance.

Injuries

From what I understand Jeff Deliz and Clint Sovie are both doubtfull for next week. This is going to hit us hard, especially considering how well Jeff was playing against Rutgers before he went down the other night. I like the freshman Wyatt Middleton at safety a lot, but I'm not so sure that Pospisil and Haberer can fill in opposite Irv Spencer. Speaking of Irv, this now becomes his defense with the loss of Deliz and Sovie. Irv is an emotional guy with a lot of ability, and it now falls on his shoulders to make sure the defense can bounce back on the field next week.

Bad Cal

I didn't see this whole game due to some taping difficulties, but the penalty on Reggie Campbell for illegal motion or whatever was one of the dumbest calls I've ever seen. As coach Johnson later said, the referee who made the call had no idea what he was doing, and just panicked because he didn't recognize the formation. It was complete and utter nonsense.

I'll have more up later this evening.