<p>Mids brace for match with Rutgers : Big test looms for Navy</p>
<p>Published in today's Annapolis Capital:</p>
<p>
[quote]
This is a big weekend for the Naval Academy football program.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Every weekend is big for Navy foorball. :) Either Navy or Rutgers will become bowl eligible after this Saturday's game.</p>
<p>Gannett News Service
By KEITH SARGEANT
Gannett New Jersey</p>
<p>PISCATAWAY -- Fact No. 1: Navy's offense ranks first nationally in rushing, averaging more than 350 yards per game on the ground.</p>
<p>Fact No. 2: Only a couple of other teams in the country want to run Navy's triple-option attack.</p>
<p>Navy coach Paul Johnson has heard all the excuses why his offense is being imitated by so few. It's too complicated to learn. Top-flight recruits don't want to play in it. And most of all: It's too much of a dinosaur.</p>
<p>"There's all kinds of reasons," Johnson said, "but a lot of people don't understand it in all honesty. It's not the vogue thing right now. People say, 'Well, you can't recruit and you can't do this,' but I don't know if that's true or not. We recruit differently here, but we never had trouble finding guys at Hawaii or Georgia Southern or any other place I coached."</p>
<p>The belief that top recruits won't play for Navy is just that, Johnson said.</p>
<p>"I think there's a (perception) out there that you're not going to get the five-star recruits," he said, "and in reality there's only about 10 or 12 schools in the country that get those guys anyway no matter what they're doing (offensively)."</p>
<p>So in other words, Navy's complicated dinosaur of an offense suits Johnson just fine, thank you.</p>
<p>"I think there's a misconception that it's three yards and a cloud of dust," said Johnson, whose Midshipmen are off to just their second 5-1 start in the past 10 seasons thanks to a ground attack that baffles opponents on a weekly basis.</p>
<p>Navy's offense is a game of guess-who-has-the-ball, or as Rutgers coach Greg Schiano says, it's a system predicated on "deception" and 'illusion."</p>
<p>"To run that offense you have to be very disciplined," Schiano said. "It's a rule-oriented offense. 'They do this, and we'll make them do this.' It's a very organized, systematic offense."</p>
<p>While several schools run hybrids, Navy is one of the few that exclusively runs the triple-option.</p>
<p>"It's getting more popular," Johnson said. "You'll see guys like West Virginia and Florida doing it out of the (shotgun). It's not any different than what we're doing."</p>
<p>Already this season, Rutgers has had to prepare for teams using some variation of an option attack, including Illinois and Ohio. But no one does it quite like Navy, which rushed for a season-high 464 yards in a 41-17 rout of Connecticut two weeks ago.</p>
<p>The Midshipmen are doing it with a first-year quarterback (Brian Hampton, ranks 13th nationally with 107.5 yards per game), a no-name fullback (Adam Bellard, ranks 23rd with 95.7) and an undersized offensive line.</p>
<p>"The quarterback has a real good grasp of what they're trying to do offensively and he gets better every week," Schiano said. "And it's no secret, but their style of offense is so different and hard to defend."</p>
<p>Which, of course, begs the question of why Rutgers doesn't implement some variation of it.</p>
<p>"It's hard to recruit top players if they don't believe the experience they're going to have is going to ready them for the NFL," Schiano said. "There are some guys from the Navy offense playing in the NFL. I'm not saying it's never happening. But maybe not as much as some other styles of offense because the NFL is not inclined to do that.</p>
<p>"If a lot of guys were going from that offense to the NFL, then everybody would be running it."</p>
<p>
[quote]
Navy's offense ranks first nationally in rushing, averaging more than 350 yards per game on the ground.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>
[quote]
To run that offense you have to be very disciplined," Schiano said. "It's a rule-oriented offense. 'They do this, and we'll make them do this.' It's a very organized, systematic offense."
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Says a lot for our boy, Brian Hampton (and the rest of the team of course), doesn't it? Unfortunately, we haven't been able to watch the games (yet!). Has he been taking a lot of hits? (It's my understanding that the option offense is much riskier for the QB and that's why more teams don't use it).</p>
<p>Published in today's BS:</p>
<p>
[quote]
The last time Navy faced a defense that predominantly lined up in an eight-man front, the Midshipmen destroyed Connecticut, 41-17. Navy amassed 605 yards, including 464 on the ground. Before that humbling game 11 days ago, UConn had the fourth-ranked rushing defense in the country.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Hopefully, Navy will be able to do the same thing to Rutgers this Saturday. :)</p>
<p>Published in today's Trenton Times:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Add in a defense that employs almost every formation known to man, a strong kicking game, plus an overflow Homecoming Day crowd, and it's not hard to see why the Middies are a three-point favorite. Forget the polls, where they're unranked and Rutgers is No. 24. If last week was what Schiano called, a "good bye week" as his team used the time off to get healthy and begin work on Navy, this one just might be "goodbye week" as it was two years ago when Navy won the annual battle at home, 54-21.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Navy a three-point favorite -- that's what I like to hear.</p>
<p>When we win, I'm going to look up my beloved High School Calculus and Physics teacher.</p>
<p>She went to Rutgers. :D</p>
<p>Published in today's Washington Times:</p>
<p>Published in today's Newark Star-Ledger:</p>
<p>"When we win, I'm going to look up my beloved High School Calculus and Physics teacher."</p>
<p>Z ... beware on this one. He/She may be looking for you. Let's hope not.</p>
<p>If she is, I hope she finds me. She was one of my favorites, and I one of hers.</p>
<p>I still remember the look on her face when I brought her my USNA recommendation packet for her to fill out. She looked at me with a stunned look and said, "You're actually serious about this, aren't you?"</p>
<p>"More serious than anything in my life."</p>
<p>The look was priceless. She wrote me a very nice recommendation. I know because I got to read it five years later. :)</p>
<p>Cool! </p>
<p>Horatio A. has nothing on the Zman. ;)</p>
<p>Thank God ... for goodness and grace. We all need it even if we merit it not.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Thank God ... for goodness and grace. We all need it even if we merit it not.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Amen, brother! Preach it! :)</p>
<p>Z - how did you get to read her rec.? Will the kids one day get to see their admissions packets?</p>
<p>FOIA . . .you can always request your own file. I saw my file after I left the government. Interesting reading when they went to the old neighborhood. Some names were redacted but you could tell who was saying what.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Z - how did you get to read her rec.? Will the kids one day get to see their admissions packets?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I wanted to invite my BGO to my graduation. Unfortunately, we could not remember his name, nor could we find any contact information at home. So, I went down to the Administration building and explained my situation. They walked me back to the room with all the filing cabinets, pulled out my application file, handed it to me, and showed me a place to sit down and go through it.</p>
<p>It was the first time I had seen any of the recommendations and letters that had been sent by my teachers or anyone else. It was an eye-opening hour or so.</p>
<p>I did find my BGO and did invite him. He had since retired from the USMC, but was unable to make it.</p>
<p>That's cool - I've wondered what the recs said. I don't think DS is as curious as I am tho'! :)</p>
<p>In any case, I guess they were good enough to get him in! :)</p>
<p>Hey, how 'bout those smilies!</p>
<p>:) :) :) </p>
<p>This is fun!<br>
(I dare anyone to bust my chops for too many smilies!).
Too beautiful of a day not to add them to my posts!</p>
<p>Hope EVERYONE out there feels like smilin' too!
:)</p>
<p>T-minus 20 minutes and counting, then I'll be a smilin' fool! :D</p>
<p>(Careful on any comments coming from that statement! ;) )</p>
<p>Just movin' from one screen to another, right Z? ;) :) :p</p>
<p>INCOMING!! :o</p>
<p>Well, sort of.... :o</p>