Navy to Play Utah in Bowl Game

The Navy Midshipmen (8-4) will meet the Utah Utes (8-4) in the Sand Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl on December 20th in a matchup which will once again feature the Nation's top ranked rushing attack with a member of the Mountain West Conference.

Utah is an interesting team in that they started out the season at 1-3 but rallied to win seven of the last eight games, including games against Louisville, New Mexico, and TCU. The Utes also took a a very good BYU team down to the wire two weeks ago, but let the game slip away on a busted coverage late in the game. The Utes have played decently on offense this year, but it's their defense which has been the real story over the course of the season. The Ute's are 15th in total defense, and 38th in rush defense.

So far, Ute fans seem for the most part confident in their chances, much like the New Mexico fans in 2004 and Colorado State fans in 2005. I don't doubt that Utah is a good team and that this game looks evenly matched on paper, but once again I remind you that we have heard this talk before in respect to Mountain West teams. Utah may be better than the 2004 New Mexico Lobos or the 2005 Rams, but Navy has been traditionally very good given the extra time to practice before bowl games. So what are your thoughts on Utah? Do you like the matchup? Navy's chance? Leave your thoughts below.

Army-Navy Post Game Coverage

Ok, here's the deal. As you know, Navy just won it's sixth consecutive game over the Black Knights of the Hudson yesterday afternoon, as the Midshipmen piled on 38 points and (this is the big part) held Army to an amazing three points in a defensive effort I think we can all agree was the best of the season. Also as you also know (probably far too well by now) a host of rumors swirl around Coach Johnson, specifically in regards to the Head Coaching position at SMU. I've got to level with you in that I have no idea what's going on right now in respect to these rumors, and probably won't until after this week. For this and other (ie. finals) reasons, I'm going to be blogging at the pace of a one-legged turtle for this week, and probably won't get around to any comprehensive coverage of the actual Army-Navy game. For this I apologize, although I swear one of these days (and by that I mean within the next two weeks) I'm going to bust out a post of pure literary merit and write something somewhat meaningful on the rivalry itself. In the meantime, here are all the Amy-Navy articles I've managed to find in the course of the many "snack breaks" I've taken between writing papers today. Blogging will resume (albeit at the aforementioned pace) on Tuesday.

Print Media

Campbell Leads The Way As Navy Routs Army (Bill Wagner, Annapolis Capital)
Army Antics, Chatter Irritate Mids (Bill Wagner, Annapolis Capital)
Campbell Directs Mids To Victory (Bill Wagner, Annapolis Capital)

Big Plays Vault Mids Past Rivals (Bill Wagner, Annapolis Capital)

Navy's D Rises to Occasion (Bob Hough, Annapolis Capital)
Navy Takes The Sixth (Ron Snyder, Baltimore Examiner)
Right In Step (Sandra McKee, Baltimore Sun)
Bullen Gets A Good Bounce (Sandra McKee, Baltimore Sun)
Campbell Commands Centers Stage For Navy (David Steele, Baltimore Sun)
Campbell Conducts Himself Perfectly (Christian Swezey, Washington Post)

Photo Galleries

Washington Post
Baltimore Sun
CSTV

38-3

Reggie was electric. The defense played with purpose and emotion. And at the end of the day, Navy had set a new precedent in the 108th meeting of America's most storied football rivalry.

And yet we brace for the week ahead, left wondering whether or not everything we've been denying to this point could really be true.

Talk to you all on Tuesday.

Stolen Goats

Must be Youtube day over ath Pitch Right. This tells the whole story...

1989 Army-Navy Game: The Winning Kick

Often times youngins like myself don't remember games from our early years. Thank God for ESPN Classic, which just finished showing the 1989 Army-Navy game this afternoon. Was this necessarily a smart time of year to take an afternoon off from papers and studying? No, but for a finish like this it was worth it.

Thursday Notes

Some notes for Thursday evening...

You may have noticed that I've been conspicuously quiet when it comes to all the Paul Johnson coaching rumors that are going on. This is partially due to the busy nature of schedule, but also because I don't think such speculation is very fair during the season, much less Army week. We can talk about valid scenarios once the season if over, but all we're hearing right now is internet rumormongering, and frankly that's not worthy of our time. Secondly, if you haven't heard Navy's very own Zerbin Singleton will be awarded the Disney's Wide World of Sports Spirit Award during the ESPNU College Football Awards on December 6th, an event which you'll be able to catch on ESPN from 7:30-9:30. In addition to winning this award, Singleton has been named Brigade Commander for the second semester. Both of these are terrific achievements, and if you've ever met Zerb you can attest to the fact that there is no more deserving person for such an honor than he is. Lastly, if you haven't been checking out the articles leading up to Saturday's game, you may want to get on that. I've particularly enjoyed a recent article on the up-and-down career of Greg Thrasher, who had a huge game against Northern Illinois a few weeks ago. Lastly, and most importantly of course, BEAT ARMY!

Ominous Words from Bill Wagner

Via his Navy Sports Blog...

Kaheaku-Enhada, who sat out the home finale against Northern Illinois, seemed to be moving quite well in practice this week so perhaps this is much adieu about nothing. However, don't be shocked if he undergoes surgery during the offseason.

Personally, I'm worried. I don't want this to sound like a shot at him, but it seems like Coach Johnson always under-reports the injuries to the media. I know he's doing his job, but ever since that whole DeJuan Price fiasco a year ago I tend to take "week to week" to mean "out indefinitely." Am I just being cynical, or has anyone else noticed this?

Despite 3-9 Record, Army No "Gimme"

For the past five seasons the majority of Navy fans have penciled in the final regular season game of each year as a "W." Oh don't tell me you haven't done it at least once, after all we can talk about the greatness of the rivalry and all it symbolizes all day long (and certainly with good reason) but when it comes to the Army-Navy games of late, Paul Johnson and the Midshipmen have dominated. In fact, from the years 2002-2005 Navy outscored Army 176-54 in a series of games that for all intensive purposes were not even close. That was until last year when, in Robby Ross' final game, the Black Knights put on an inspired first half performance and came within several late offensive miscues of beating the Midshipmen. This year Navy once again comes in with a winning record and having already cliched a bowl game, while Army limps in with only three win on the year. Like last year, however, Army will be no "gimme" for the Midshipmen, who are looking to extend their winning streak over the Black Knights at six games.

Army is not a very good football team, but on Saturday they will be an extremely motivated football team, and when you couple that with their ability to at least be competitive this year with Navy's defensive struggles, you get a recipe for a closer than expected game, if not an outright upset. It's cliche, but it's true; you have to throw out the records in a game like this, and when you don't you risk overlooking an opponent with a lot to play for. And with a group of seniors who have never beaten Navy and the eyes of the nation upon them, I'd say that Coach Brock's group has a lot to play for.

Maybe Paul Johnson's "coach speak" is starting to wear off on me, but after what we saw last year I'm nervous about this game. Remember, last season Navy came into this game at 8-3, fresh off poundings of Eastern Michigan and Temple. The triple option was unstoppable, and it looked like Navy would coast to another big win over Army, just as the Mids had done each of the past four seasons. After all, Army limped into the game at a paltry 3-8, having dropped six straight and smack in the middle of what many fans would tell you was a football program in crisis. It made perfect sense then that for three quarters the team remained, for all intensive purposes anyway, deadlocked, in a game which probably resembled by-gone days in which each program was in it's glory or in it's misery, mostly depending on who you talked to in the stands. If last year wasn't a reminder to us that anything can happen when it comes to a rivalry like this, I don't know what is.

It's disconcerting to say the least if you're a Navy fan, especially considering the success Army had against the triple option last year, and the glaring fact that it was Navy's defense which won the game for the Midshipmen. That defense is of course long since gone, and despite an offense which is supposedly much better, the concern most Navy fans seem to be feeling today is whether or not Navy's defense can bail the offense out if Army's defense can effectively brickwall the triple option as it did last year. It's an interesting question, and on which I'm really not too sure about. On one hand you have to believe the offense will find a way to keep on doing what it's been doing, but with Kaipo-Noa not having played in three weeks you wonder if he'll be as sharp as he looked in the first half against North Texas. But, unfortunately for us, the problem may not be caused by Navy's offensive play, as when you take a look back at the tape last year it's clear that Army's defense just flat out out-played Navy in the first half last year. Some people have suggested Kaipo's nerves may have gotten the better of him in his first Army-Navy game last year, but to tell you the truth I think that's a cop-out. The reality is that Army's defensive line did a good job stringing out the triple option, and this begins with the play of the defensive end and the disruption of the initial read. In fact, if we look at stopping the triple option in terms of experience, then Army should have an advantage on most of Navy's 2007 opponents.

Once again, as I've found myself saying all season long, Navy "should" beat Army. Army has had some valiant games this season, but they're still 115th in the country in total offense, and 114th in the country against the run. Usually these are the kinds of numbers that jump out at you, but keep in mind the Black Knights are in a similar statistical situation as they were last year, and that didn't stop them from containing the triple option for much of the game. Who knows, Navy may come out guns a blazing and put up numbers reminiscent of 2002 or 2003, but if last year was any indicator, this game will likely start out slowly with both team's getting a feel for one another. Yet if Navy's offense can't get on track by the beginning of the first quarter, the Midshipmen endanger their chances by putting too much pressure on the defense, which, despite the favorable matchups against Army, is still susceptible to giving up big yards. Like last year, the Mids will have to play fundamentally sound defense, and not give up the big play to guys like Jeremy Trimble in the passing game. If the Midshipmen can do that and limit the time of Army's possessions, the offense, slow starting or not, should be able to carry the game. Anyway you look at it though, this game is far from a "gimme."

Breaking News: Army-Navy Still the Best Rivalry in College Football

If you've watched any college football over the past four days (and if you haven't may I be the first to say what the hell is wrong with you?) you've probably heard the word "rivalry" thrown around quite often. It was after all Rivalry "week," a weekend in which teams from around the country squared off against their cross state or traditional antagonist in games which, depending on the rivalry and the stakes at hand, made or broke those teams' seasons. Curiously lost in the discussion of border wars and iron bowls was Army-Navy, a game which, very simply, transcends the bonds of collegiate athletics with ease, and commands the attention and rooting interests of a Nation in an actual war for survival. It is a game that means much more than two universities or institutions, and embodies the highest examples of mutual respect, sportsmanship, and competition. It is, even in today's age of big time money making machines and conference championships, the Nation's rivalry, and one of the last vestiges of an event which I can only describe as absolutely American.

Yet not everyone feels the same way. Last year I penned a piece for the Fan House in which I asserted that the Army-Navy game was not only the best rivalry in college football, but arguably the best rivalry in sports. Period. Since that time I've heard plenty of chatter regarding what truly is the "best" rivalry in sports, with irate fans from Michigan and Ohio claiming their own cross state rivalry, as well as a fair share on snooty and condescending cosmopolitan types who inevitably claim that we jingoistic Americans neglect to feature the finest rivalries of premier league "futbol" or whatever they are calling soccer these days. Yet, even in the face of these arguments (some better than others) many of us are undeterred, and continue to point to that first Saturday in December as the most platonic example of what a rivalry should be.

With each team being some half a century removed from being in the National Title picture, it's not difficult to see why there are doubters in the conversation. Yet for as much is made about Michigan-Ohio State or Alabama-Auburn, at the end of the day those local rivalries are just that, local. Don't get me wrong, I'm not naive enough to think that people from around the country don't have rooting interests in those games, and by no means am I suggesting that such rivalries don't often have major implications on the college football postseason. But what happens when your not a fan of either of those schools, and when you couldn't care less about the implications of those games? The great thing about Army-Navy is that everyone has some kind of connection to the game, even if your not a graduate of one of the institutions or have some other proximal affiliation with the schools. With personnel from the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps stationed around the world and often in areas of danger, I don't need to tell anyone that this game is anything but localized, and despite the certain fact that the eyes of the college football universe won't be trained on M&T Bank Stadium exclusively, it doesn't diminish the importance the game holds for the teams and their fan bases.

Later in the week we'll get to breaking down the matchups of this game, and sometime following the game I'll get around to writing a somewhat lengthy and long overdue post about myself and my own personal, albeit limited, experience with the rivalry, as well as where I plan to go with the blog itself in the coming months.

Until then (as if I had to tell you): BEAT ARMY

Fact or Fiction

Where have I been the past few days? Well, aside from trying to install a spread option offense for a six man, er, person football team that may or may not play a game on Thanksgiving, mostly I've just been hitting the books and taking some time off before we hit Army week in the coming days. Nevertheless, I found some time to steal a page from ESPN's notebook for a quick game of Navy football fact or fiction.

Northern Illinois's Offense Had As Much to Do With Navy's Defensive Improvement as the Defense Itself

Fact. This is a tough call to make because either way you slice it I think it's apparent that we saw improvement from the defense on Saturday. That being said it should be obvious by this point of the season that Navy's defense plays much better when it's against teams that play a more conservative style of offense, which the Huskies did on Saturday. Northern Illinois ran the ball 44 times against Navy, on an average of 3.4 yards per carry. As we all know, Navy's biggest defensive porblems have come against the pass, but NIU completed only 20 passes against the Midshipmen. So what does all this mean? It means that Northern Illinois ran the ball, and they did so in fairly predictable situations. For as bad as Navy's defense has been all year, they actually have played decently against inside rushing games (think Notre Dame) and that's exactly what we saw on Saturday. Of course it took some great efforts like Ross Pospsil's 20 taclkle day, but for one of the only times all season Navy's defense was simplified partially due to the nature of the offense the Mids were playing. Navy's defense played better on Saturday, that's a fact, but they did so largely because they were playing a team in which the matchups were much more favorable.

At leasts one Navy "senior" will be back next season


Fact. We learned late last week that both safety Corey Johnson and wide receiver Greg Sudderth are being extended academically through the Fall 2008 semester, while the status of FS Jeff Deliz still appears to be up in the air. Johnson is a guy who has a year of eligibility left, while the Mids will have go to the NCAA regarding Deliz and Sudderth, both of whom should be able to get an extra year of eligibility if indeed that's what they decide they want to do. In any case, I think it's fair to say that at least one of these "seniors" will be back next year, which, football-wise anyway, is a good thing.

Jarod Bryant is a More Decisive Runner than Kaipo-Noa

Fiction. This was one of those points that Scott Zolak was really trying to hammer down during the broadcast, but one which probably doesn't ring true. I say "probably" because you've got to realize that the two quarterbacks have different running styles, and that Jarod's is more conducive to called plays that don't feature as many option or read elements. Phelix did a great job breaking this down in his postgame over at the Bird Dog, and as his research shows 40% of the plays Navy ran were predetermined runs, while another 40% were one-read option plays that included a number of midline options (option to give or follow the fullback inside.) With 80% of the plays being called involving one read or less (as well as 9% of plays being pass attempts) it's easy to see why Jarod would look a lot more "decisive" at quarterback. This isn't to say that Jarod is not a decisive runner, because he is. He's quicker than Kaipo between the tackles and arguably has better vision inside, and used these assets en route to a 139 yard day on the ground. However when we're talking about being purely "decisive" it's apples and oranges because of the different strengths and weaknesses of each quarterback and the now prevalent fact that the offense does take on a different look and feel with Jarod at the helm. It's easy to say that Kaipo is less "decisive" than Jarod, but you have to remember he usually has an extra one or two reads when he's in the ballgame. So no, I don't think Jarod is necessarily a more "decisive" runner than Kaipo, but I also don't think that diminishes the job he's done in relief all season.

Hope everyone has a happy and restful Thanksgiving and enjoys some very exciting college football action over the next few days.

AAR: NIU at Navy

I spent the better part of two days trying to think of something insightful to say about this game, and actually even started to write the same old after action report that you've undoubtedly seen in every paper and Internet report you've read since Sunday morning. Basically, Jarod was efficient, the defense didn't suck as much as usual, and God gave Ross Posposil the virtue of hitting people. Hard. Let's just leave it at that, shall we?

Zerbin Singleton for President in 2008

Quite honestly. If Zerb isn't elected President some point down the road then we have all failed as Americans.

Talking NIU

I wish I had more time this week because I really would like to go into some details about Saturday's Navy-Northern Illinois game. Not only should it be another high scoring affair, but it will be senior day a hopefully a chance to reward for some of the hard working seniors who've helped to turn this program into a consistent winner. Unfortunately I won't be in attendance on Saturday, and I haven't had much time this week to write on the many plots coming into the game. That all being said, I'm not going to leave you totally in the dark, and thanks to Breezy from Red and Black Attack, we've got your NIU preview. I shot Breezy some questions the other day, and he's been kind enough to talk a little about his team and his thoughts for the game. As usual, there will be ample postgame coverage on Sunday and Monday. Until then, here's some thoughts to mull over....

Q: When this game first came out on Navy's schedule, a lot of Midshipmen fans thought it would be a good "measuring stick" game against what has been one of the MAC's best teams over the last several years. Yet the Huskie's have been down this year, and at 2-8have fallen to the bottom of the conference. In as many or as little words as you like, can you "fill us in" so to speak on what's gone wrong for the Huskies?

A: There are a lot of places to go with this question. First of all,there have been more injuries this year than any year Joe Novak has been coaching. He's said repeatedly in interviews that he's seen nothing like what has happened this year. We've had 13+ season-ending injuries and our defensive line has been hit the most, with 6 guys out for the season. Secondly, we almost have a non-existent senior class this year. All 4 of our captains are juniors and there are only 4seniors on the 2-deep, including our backup FS and the Kicker. It's clear to see that this team is very inexperienced and lacks veteran leadership. One thing representative of this is turning the ball over, and we have kept doing this consistently, as we rank 117th in the nation in turnover margin with a -14. It also doesn't help that we have a new offensive coordinator in Roy Wittke from ASU and it didn't seem like everybody was on the right page until last week's win vs Kent State.



Q: You mentioned the other day on your blog that Northern Illinois has experienced a plethora of injuries at the running back position, with leading rusher rusher Justin Anderson listed as "questionable" with a bum knee. QB Dan Nicholson also had to leave the game early last week after suffering a concussion. Will both of these players play, and what impact, if any, will their loss have on the tam if they don't?


A: I fully expect both Justin Anderson & David Bryant to play in this game. They have been dealing with injuries like these for a while now. I am more worried about Justin Anderson because of his punishing running style. He is more likely to get banged up early and have the speed back Bryant relieve him just like what happened in the last game. If they don't play, then there's nothing left in the cupboard,because all we have left is guys that haven't received a carry this season. With Dan Nicholson, he has gotten rocked a few times this semester and he consistently comes back and plays decent. Honestly,he can't get any worse with his 9-14 TD-INT ratio, and it seems the WRs are finally getting in rhythm with him at QB. God forbid our backup QB Ryan Morris comes in and plays. All he will do is hand the ball off over and over again, as he is a former walk-on with considerably less talent. Novak says Nicholson has a 75% chance he's going to play Saturday.



Q: Navy has been notoriously bad on defense this year, especially against teams which run more "spread" oriented offenses. Can you tell us a little about the Northern Illinois offense, including who the playmakers are and what kind of looks the offense gives?



A: Yeah, we don't run the spread so you can be a little less worried.We pretty much run a one-back balanced attack. We use a run-first orientated mentality and that has always been the case with Joe Novak as head ball coach. There's a lot of pre-snap motion and it seems like we are trying to get our TEs involved a lot more involved in the offense. Our huge playmaker right now on offense is WR Matt Simon.He always is consistently good and comes through with huge plays. One other player to look for (other than RB Justin Anderson of course),would be WR Britt Davis. He has been inconsistent all season, but has tremendous athletic ability and can make the tough catch. Also, look for RB Justin Anderson to come out of the backfield a lot and make some catches. Also our offensive line looked like a freaking bulldozer last Saturday so I would watch out. Those guys are hungry.



Q: Gearing up for Navy's offense can be a touch task for a team which doesn't face it on a yearly basis. What is Head Coach Joe Novak getting his team prepared, and do you expect the Huskies to have any success against Navy's offense?



A: All week HC Joe Novak's been saying that nobody is going to stop Navy's offense, and the best that we can do is slow it down, by controlling the ball on offense and obviously scoring a lot on that end too. That's what he has been preaching. The defense has been working hard on their assignments for defending Navy's offense. I doubt we stop you guys at all really. Well, we do have really good linebackers, so I'm pretty confident that we can stop your offense a few times. And you don't throw the ball, so our "Huskie Prevent D"isn't going to consistently give up yardage and let you guys come back if we take the lead early.


Q: I'm not sure if you're a prediction guy, but how do you think this game will play out?

A: I believe that the new-found confidence after a win at home will travel to Annapolis and the Huskies will get this win in a shoot-out,41-38, barring any significant injuries on our offense.

Jarod Bryant Will Start Vs. Northern Illinois

...via report on Bill Wagner's blog.

Wednesday Linkage

NIU Coverage:

Coach Johnson Weekly Presser (Navysports.com)
Northern Illinois Poses Potent Threat For Mids (Bill Wagner, The Capital)
NIU Weekly Press Conference (NIUHuskies.com)
NIU Game Press Release (NIUHuskies.com)

Senior Day Coverage:

No Beating Around the Bush: Reggie Campbell (Bob Socci, Navysports.com)
Navy Profits from Slots (Bill Wagner, The Capital)

Also, for all our future scholars out there. Actually go to your classes, that way you don't hear about having a ten page paper due a whopping whole day before it's due.

EDIT: Also learn how to spell "Wednesday"

New Poll: Your Thoughts Wanted

I'm reconsidering my "the sky is falling" position when it comes to Navy's defense. As you know, there are two schools of thought when it comes to the present state of affairs, and I realize I've been on the side that's been very critical of both the players and coaches. I still think there is more than good reason to view the defense as a colossal disaster, but my question to you is whether or not you think my analysis of the defense has failed to take into account all the factors which have led us to this point, and if perhaps I've overlooked the most obvious factor that we are in fact dealing with a very young defense at a service academy. I could sit here and give you my reasons why I still think the defense should still be performing better than what we're seeing, but I thought it more productive to engage in a conversation about something which has at one point or another left us all searching for answers to a weekly question. Please leave your thoughts below, and yes, it's all for your reason to be that I'm just a blogger who has no idea what he's talking about.

Navy-North Texas: The Aftermath

First and foremost, obligatory reference to the insane final game statistics.

Speechless. Ridiculous. The Sky is Falling. OMG. What. The. Hell. Dude...

These are only a few mong the many printable sentiments echoed by fans during Navy's 73-62 victory last night over the North Texas Mean Green in a game which saw the highest combined point total by two teams in the modern era. Basically, If you like offense this game was like Christmas, and if you like defense you've probably already died of shame.

Emotionally speaking this game probably drove you absolutely crazy and most likely to the verge of rational incapacitation. My emotions watching this game went as followed:

Annoyed - Mad- Pissed - Somewhat relieved - WTF?!? - OMG - This is actually kinda funny- Hysterical - Violently Hysterical - Is this actually happening? - Relieved- Jaded- LOL and so on...

You get the point. Watching this game was like watching someone walk off a plank into shark infested waters only to jump back up on ship and do it again like ten more times. No wonder Paul Johnson looked noticeably shaken up after the game.

Fighting On

We'll get to the doom and gloom stuff in a second, but I don't think you can say enough about Navy's offense, in particular the mindset of the players. The word resilient certainly comes to mind, but at this point the Midshipmen offense is beyond resilient. It's not just a matter of scoring 74 points almost at will, but of doing so with the clear knowledge that anything less is a recipe to lose the game. The fact that Kaipo-Noa and the offense can keep a collective nerve with that knowledge is nothing short of incredible.

The numbers themselves are overwhelming; 680 yards of total offense, 572 yards on the ground, six different ballcarriers finishing with over 50 yards on the ground, and a whopping 10 yards a pop on the ground. For as good as Navy's offense has been in the past, these are really unprecedented numbers in terms of what Navy has done under Johnson.

But any discussion of record setting numbers has got to start with the offensive line. This was by far the best combined performance by the line all year, and in my opinion one of the best performances by an offensive line since Johnson has been here. If you get a chance I'd recommend going back and taking a look at the achieved feed, and you'll get a first hand account of what we mean when we talk about getting blockers to the second level. Antron had a particular awesome game, and got to the second level so quickly I nearly thought about writing Paul Johnson and requesting Antron be moved to slotback.

Speaking of slotbacks, how about the performances of Shun White and Zerbin Singleton? The two combined for 234 yards and four touchdowns, and that's not even factoring in Reggie Campbell, who, despite being banged up scored a touchdown on the ground and took a free kick back 73 yards for another score. Ok, on to the bad news...

"We've got to do something. We've got to make some changes...We've got to do something."
-Paul Johnson

There is very little I can even attempt to say about the defense, and even if there were anything to say, I don't even know where we'd begin. I, like Paul Johnson, am bordering on speechlessness, which to be frank is a difficult and alien position for a blogger like myself to be in. It's as if we held a convention on all the defensive struggles this year, and to kick it off we let a freshmen quarterback and what is essentially a high school coaching staff run up and down the field in one of those early basketball season exhibitions that features some D-I school beating up on a D-III school. Obviously we knew Navy would struggle with the spread, but I at least didn't expect the Mids to have that much trouble. It was, in many respects, the same old story. Missed tackles, guys out of position, and guys playing slow. Mostly though, guys just looked confused (especially the corners) and as easy as it is to say "we need to make a change" I'm really not sure how you go about doing that. For years we've prided Navy's defense on, at the very least, not allowing the big play, but all it took was watching one North Texas drive to see that wide receivers were running past the entire defense.

Yes, there is consolation in the fact that the defense only gave up 13 second half points, or the fact that they intercepted two passes, but let's be real here folks, the mere phrase "we gave up 46 first half points" does not bode well for a college basketball team, much less a football team. During the game I noticed a lot of fans calling for the head of Buddy Green, and as much as I think such speculation is premature, you can't help but look to him at times like these. We've all been saying the same thing again and again; nobody expects the defense to find the solution, but we should be expecting at least some improvement. That's what I think what makes this most recent performance so hard to digest, because after holding Notre Dame to 28 points in regulation last week, Navy's defense appeared to take a major step back against what is, by conventional wisdom anyway, a lesser team. Time will tell if this North Texas team is for real, but it goes without saying that this game had as much to do with Navy's defense just flat out not playing well as it did with North Texas playing their best offensive game ever. As far as Buddy Green in concerned I think you have got to give him another year, but if the defense can't make noticable improvements by next season, his job could be in trouble. And, for the record, it's not as if I'm the only one with these sentiments.

Turning Point

The turning point of the game came just before the half, when Navy scored with 1:16 left in the first half to cut the North Texas lead from 18 to 11. Navy’s defense then came up with a huge stop, forcing North Texas to punt the ball with only 24 seconds left. After a solid punt return Navy got the ball at midfield, and Kaipo-Noa proceeded to throw a fly pattern to Reggie Campbell, who caught the ball and ran out of bounds at the North Texas three. On the very next play Zerb took an option pitch and went into the endzone to cut the lead to only four points. Within the final two minutes of the half, Navy effectively canceled out North Texas’ earlier onside kick, and with the score right after the half the Midshipmen were able to take the lead. Fantastic game management by Paul Johnson and clutch play by both the Navy offense and defense.

This And That

I give credit to Todd Dodge and his offense, and to tell you the truth had Navy not been on the other end it probably would have been fun to watch his offense at work. Like Adam Ballard said in the postgame, this North Texas program may very well be something of a sleeping giant, and one has to think that in a couple of years Dodge will have this team back in bowl games and at the top of the Sun Belt standings. That being said, I think Dodge had a better defense at Southlake Carroll, and I'm not even joking on that one...Just when you thought Navy couldn't possibly play any more people on defense, we actually saw Jordan Reagan in the secondary yesterday. I just thought it was kind of funny, especially because when I asked him during the summer if he thought he'd see any playing time this year he was quick to reply "nope." He's a Carrollton guy, so at least the one time he did get to play it was in his home state. To bad he couldn’t come down with what looked like a sure interception just before the end of the first half. Irv Spencer is a legitimate beast and perhaps the only consistent bright spot on Navy's defense...Kaipo bruised his knee during the game, but Jarod Bryant came in to play most of the second half and did a fine job, rushing for 57 yards and a touchdown. Coach Johnson indicated in the postgame that Kaipo should be back next week...Speaking of Kaipo, the guy was money on all his throws (4-5 for 108 yards and a TD) and did an excellent job inviting the hit on the option and getting rid of the ball…Freshman defensive back Emmett Merchent returned two kicks, one going for 57 yards, in yesterday's game...Oh yea, Shun White is fast, Adam Ballard is a beast, and technically we still don't have the worst defense in the country…And did I mention we’re GOING TO THE Poinsettia Bowl!

Navy 74, North Texas 62

Holy crap that was weird.

The Weirdest Freaking Game You've Ever Seen Second Half Open Thread

Let's laugh our way to our highest offensive output to the season, and toast a glass to the worst defense since Cumberland allowed 222 to Georgia Tech in 1916. Leave comments below.

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