One of the proudest traditions of Notre Dame Football is the annual game with Navy. Notre Dame and the United States Naval Academy share a unique bond, and, as much as anything, this game is a celebration of that bond. We’ve long held the opinion that, no matter what tinkering is done with the Notre Dame Football schedule, only 2 games are an absolute must, and one of them is with Navy. It’s also an absolute must-see for the fans. If you’ve never been to a Notre Dame/Navy game, you should get around to changing that real soon.
1) At ND, as with most colleges, if you’re a football player, you tend to have far fewer problems attracting the ladies. Is that the case in Annapolis, or do the women just flock to the uniforms of the midshipmen anyway?
Considering the extensive scientific research done on the issue, I think it’s safe to say that while women generally flock to men in uniform, being a football player at the Academy certainly has its advantages. I’ve been around some of these guys both at and away from the stadium and I can assure you that the young women they roll with are very attractive.
2) Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of midshipmen doing push-ups. How many push-ups would you guess the average Navy football player has to do outside of football? Or is there some sort of exemption for PT for football players?
Well, last I checked there was no tackling test on the physical fitness test (although maybe there should be this year) so there really isn’t any kind of exemption. Pushups are a staple of military life though, so why don’t we just ballpark the figure at “a lot.”
3) If you were the Notre Dame Defensive Coordinator, how would you go about defending the Navy offense? Do you think ND’s current defense has the guys to work such a scheme? Do you see guys on the ND roster who might have some problems with the triple-option?
Notre Dame has struggled over the last few years with the triple option (271 rush yards allowed LY, 239 rush yards allowed in 2005), and despite getting an extra week to prepare for the option I don’t see the Irish having much success against Navy’s offense. To start out with Notre Dame is 93 rd in the country against the run, and most of that has come against more conventional style offenses. Factor in that this has been the most explosive offense under Paul Johnson, and you’ve got to give the match-up advantage to Navy.
If I was Corwin Brown, the one thing I would do is to tell my guys to take chances. Obviously the key to defending the option if to play disciplined, assignment football and all that stuff but that is a helluva lot harder than it sounds when you actually go against it full speed. Basically, you’re not going to stop Navy from what they do without creating turnovers, and considering how bad Navy’s defense is all you’re going to need is to get one big play to potentially put the Irish in the drivers seat. One thing people need to begin understand about this year’s Navy offense is that it is truly is one of the best in the country (currently ranked 16 th), and stopping it goes beyond having good players or even a good coach for that matter. The teams which have held Navy this year (Rutgers and Wake Forest) have each forced three turnovers. If Navy turns the ball over more than once, we lose; it’s as simple as that.
As much as I like him as a player, Tom Zbikowski was out of position and just looked lost against Navy last year. Maybe that’s because he got fat and had a bad shoulder, but he’s always looked slow reading his assignments to me. I’ve also seen some sloppy tackling out of the secondary players this season, and question if some of these younger linebackers and defensive lineman for the Irish have the ability to step in and play their assignments against Navy. We’ll have to see though. You guys probably know better than I as to how the Irish are going to line up on Saturday, and I think it’s a big mystery to everyone how a guy like Corwin Brown, coming from an NFL background no less, will handle an offense that he’s really never seen before.
4) A lot of programs are keeping an eye on Paul Johnson these days. Do you think a program like Nebraska might sweep in and take him away from Annapolis? If they did, how would you feel about it? Is Johnson as highly respected within the Navy circles as he seems to be around the country?
I get asked this question all the time, and to tell you truth I really have no idea. Aside from knowing next to nothing about the current state of affairs in Lincoln, getting a handle on Coach’s thoughts with regards to any future career move is not exactly a “consult the dictionary” type situation. There was a big stink over all of this last year and maybe we’ll start hearing a lot about it again in a month, but for the short term I think Johnson stays put. He renegotiated his contract last season and let’s face it the guy has a really good deal here, so unless he’s dead set on winning a National Championship tomorrow he’s not going to bolt.
Obviously if he left I’d be pissed, because to tell you the truth I don’t know if anyone else could continue to hold the program up at such a high level. The one thing about Coach Johnson is that he needs his staff, and if he ever did go his staff would likely go with him. Johnson is untouchable in Navy circles, as mere mortal fans like myself hold him to be the best college football coach in the country. Keep in mind, that’s the best, not one of the best. Basically, if you’re a Navy fan and you think the Mids could do better with someone not named Johnson you’re liable to be sent to Antarctica or some such.
5) As awesome as we think it is that the young men who play for Navy have made a commitment to their country, every once in a while we’re even more awed by the Navy player who could probably play for a lot of other D1 teams, if not start; A few fullbacks come to mind. Which guys on the 2007 squad could “play for anybody?”
Good question. I think to often we as fans assign all the credit to a system like the triple option, and have a tendency to sometimes gloss over the individual parts. I don’t know if anyone on this current Navy team could “play for anybody” but there are a number of guys who could probably see significant playing time at some very good schools around the country.
I think Reggie Campbell is one of those guys. Here was a dude who at 5′6 was told that he was too small to play Division I-A football, and came to the Naval Academy because it was his only option to do just that. While here, Reggie has shown that he’s an amazing athlete ( 4.39/40, unbelievable strength) and that has big play ability both as a runner, a receiver, and a return man. The guy is a straight up stud, which is basically what Steve Kragthorpe said last season when he was quoted in a press conference as saying Reggie could play for anyone in the country.
Eric Kettani is another guy who could play for a number of other teams, and actually has the physical tools to be a feature back in a conventional offense. He runs a 4.53/40 and benches 400 pounds, and has shown great vision and quickness this season. Kettani can cut and hit holes better than any other fullback who has been here, and is in my mind the best pro prospect on the team.
Fullback Adam Ballard and linebacker Irv Spencer are guys who have been visited by pro scouts in the off-season, while the underutilized WR Greg Sudderth was a highly sought after linebacker out of high school who was offered by most teams in the ACC. Both QBs Kaipo-Noa and Jarod Bryant had offers to play defensive back from BCS conference schools, but chose Navy because it gave them their only opportunity to play quarterback at the Division I-A level. Whether or not these guys could play for USC or Florida is highly doubtful, but more and more we’re starting to get away from the idea that in terms of talent, Navy has guys who could only play for Service Academies. That being said, in terms of pure talent Navy is probably in the Bottom 30 (some would argue much lower) of I-A teams.
