“In the Navy, come on protect the Motherland. In the Navy, come on and join your fellow man.” In the Navy, at least in the college football program, you can also run the triple option, a very fun offense if you don’t care much about passing. Hey, it works though.
Just bear in mind when they play their traditional showcase rivalry game with Army that the number of total passes will be on par with a Decatur Staleys-Canton Bulldogs contest from the 1920s.
On a side note, television broadcasts of Navy Midshipmen games need to tone way down the military-industrial complex infomercial component. I was all excited when Navy S.E.A.L. Team 6 executed Osama bin Laden too, but the mainstream sports media is so in bed with the service academies that it severely detracts from the simple joy of watching college football.
2010 was: As high-spirited and rousing as their fight song “Anchors Aweigh.” The military hymn is one of the best you’ll hear on the college gridiron But it was also BORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRING as they ran an offense that fits right in with the program glory days of Roger Staubach. The Middies finished 117th/120 in passing offense. Running their triple-option, the need to pass didn’t come up very much. Wait, didn’t I write this exact team season preview nine days ago?
BMOCs: QB Kriss Proctor. To quote the villainous Captain Harris in Police Academy calling for his sidekick…”Where is PROCTOR?” This Proctor He’s the senior signal caller has run the offense like a smooth operator when he’s been called upon to do. Now he’s the full time starter, and don’t expect the offense to miss a beat. When he’s not rushing it himself, he can hand it off to fullback Alexander Teich, an 800 yard rusher in 2010. The Navy Midshipmen also rotate a cadre of talented slotbacks, led by Gee Gee Greene, what a fun name that is to say.
2011 will be fruitful if: They actually pass more than 33 times the entire season. Ken Niumatalolo is a smart guy and he runs a system that works well for his talent, but this year the schedule gets tougher. They’ll need to pass more in order to keep opponents off balance from stopping their sixth ranked rushing attack.
If Annapolis, MD reaches six wins, they have a Notre Dame style automatic bowl tie-in, this one to the Military Bowl right down the road in D.C. (Some bowls are just as in bed with the military-industrial complex as the mainstream media is)
The ideal season would see them land in a bowl much better than this one. Last year they played San Diego St in a bowl game in San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium. Given the tremendous Naval presence in that area, it was likely the first dual home team bowl in history
2011 will be awful if: Opponents stack the line, put nine men in the box and the Middies fail to adjust. It would also behoove them to win at least two of their rivalry games -Notre Dame, Army, Air Force. As they took two out of three last year, and like Meatloaf said that “ain’t bad.”
Bottom Line: How is this not the exact same team as Army again? Navy should keep their impressive bowl eligibility streak alive, have a winning season but probably won’t be as good as they were last year. And maybe I need to be more grateful and learn to “SUPPORT THE TROOPS!”
I am such an ungracious bastard.
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Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports You can follow him on Twitter