Navy's 2010 Gridiron Schedule

2010 Navy Football Schedule
Date Opponent Location
Sept. 4 vs. Maryland Baltimore, Md.
Sept. 11 Georgia Southern Annapolis, Md.
Sept. 18 at Louisiana Tech Ruston, La.
Oct. 2 at Air Force Colorado Springs, Colo.
Oct. 9 at Wake Forest Winston-Salem, N.C.
Oct. 16 SMU Annapolis, Md.
Oct. 23 vs. Notre Dame East Rutherford, N.J.
Oct. 30 Duke (Homecoming) Annapolis, Md.
Nov. 6 at East Carolina Greenville, N.C.
Nov. 13 Central Michigan Annapolis, Md.
Nov. 20 Arkansas State Annapolis, Md.
Dec. 11 vs. Army Philadelphia, Pa.

College Football's Longest Drive (Ours :) ) - a WSJ article of 12/20/09

Our winning Emerald Bowl team of 2004 has the informal record for "the longest drive in College Football".
No West Coast Offense - here!

Kudos to our warrior graduates in Afghanistan that won on the playing fields of Navy.

"By TOM FLYNN

The Navy Midshipmen take to the field Thursday in the Texas Bowl against Missouri. The game isn't a factor in deciding a BCS champion, nor was the game Navy played five years ago, the Emerald Bowl of 2004. That matchup, a 34-19 Navy win over the New Mexico Lobos, was played before fewer than 29,000 fans on a rainy day in San Francisco's SBC Park.


Associated Press
Navy quarterback Aaron Polanco jumps over a New Mexico defender during the Middies' epic second-half drive in the 2004 Emerald Bowl, in San Francisco.
Ask even a diehard college-football fan what was memorable about that Dec. 30, 2004, game, and they'd have a hard time coming up with anything. But that game is indeed in the record books, because of a Navy drive that could have been measured by an hourglass: a 26-play, 14 minute-26 second epic that took just over 32 minutes in real time. It was college football's most time-consuming drive ever, and it didn't even produce a touchdown—on the drive's last play, Navy kicked a field goal to go up by 15. The drive started with 1:41 left in the third quarter with Navy leading 31-19 and having just thwarted a New Mexico touchdown plunge by inches. When the drive was over, just 2:15 was left in the game, and the Lobos' fate was all but sealed.

Great marches down the field are the stuff of football lore. There's The Drive, John Elway's signature 98-yard trudge at the old Municipal Stadium in Cleveland in the 1987 AFC Championship game against the Browns. The Joe Montana-led 92-yard drive to beat the Bengals in Super Bowl XXIII stands as the Super Bowl standard for longevity in the clutch. In college, a record for the longest drive was only deemed worthy of the official NCAA record book after the Emerald Bowl drive. Every record has a first entry, and on the back of the Navy drive, "Longest Drive in a Game" wedged its way into the 2005 NCAA Division I FBS record book for the first time. There hasn't been a longer drive in the NFL, by either number of plays or by time elapsed, in at least the past 15 years.

"It was pretty frustrating sitting there watching the game tick by, getting stiff, getting cold," New Mexico quarterback Kole McKamey said afterwards. "I was pretty amazed. I've never heard of that before. I've never seen that before."

SBC Park, now AT&T Park, was hosting its third Emerald Bowl. The baseball home of the Giants had played only occasional host to football games, and its dimensions provided for some quirks: The end zone in left field was equal parts grass and warning track, and the outfield wall loomed menacingly close to the backline. The right-field wall did little to shield December's wind gusts off the bay.

The WSJ's BCS Rundown

Click on the graphic to check out analysis of all five BCS games and vote on which team you think will win.


The Middies, who entered the game as slight underdogs at 9-2, were powered that season by Coach Paul Johnson's triple-option offense. Senior quarterback Aaron Polanco led an attack that was built around 1,000+ bruising yards from fullback Kyle Eckel, also a senior. Navy got off to a quick start that afternoon after spotting the 7-4 Lobos an early touchdown. Two Polanco TD runs and a 61-yard pass to wide receiver Corey Dryden led to a 21-7 Navy lead barely a quarter into the game.

The Lobos, led by double-threat Mr. McKamey, the sophomore QB, had their own 1,000 yard rusher in junior DonTrell Moore, and the team answered back to make the game a contest. Mr. McKamey hit Hank Baskett, a 6'4" junior wide receiver now with the Indianapolis Colts, on a 53-yard gainer to aid a second Lobos TD drive. A Navy field goal was followed by a McKamey touchdown run, and the halftime score stood at 24-19, Navy.

Mr. Polanco tallied his third rushing TD in the third, this one a 27-yard jaunt into the muddy left-field end zone. The Lobos needed to once again keep pace. Mr. McKamey, the New Mexico QB, again led the way downfield, breaking loose for a 30-yard scamper to the Navy six-yard line. With first-and-goal from the 6, the Mids' defense stiffened, and on fourth-and-goal from the 1 pushed Lobos senior tailback D.D. Cox out of bounds at the one-foot mark.

In these tight quarters the Navy offense was forced to set up shop.

As the Midshipmen trotted out onto the sloppy field under darkening skies, they were faced with the daunting task of simply getting away from their end zone without yielding a safety. "We were so far back our huddle was nearly out of the end zone, and they were one of the top rushing defenses in the country; they were athletic guys," says Navy left tackle Tyson Stahl, now a Marine 1st Lieutenant at North Carolina's Camp Lejeune. "We were just pounding it to get us on a good position on the field where we could start to do our thing."

Clock Killer

See a chart on how to use a quarter of the game to score three points

After a couple rushing plays, the Middies faced third-and-five from their 6. Mr. Polanco dropped back and overthrew senior slotback Frank Divis. The drive had stalled out all of five yards and 74 seconds in. But an offside penalty on the Lobos got the Mids just the distance they needed to continue.

Methodically, the Mids moved down the field, and after 12 plays (14 including penalties) and more than six minutes, they broke the midfield stripe. Fatigue wore on both the Lobos and the crew of ESPN, which was televising the game. Following an Eckel dive for a first-down, ESPN failed to move the computer-generated first down marker, and it appeared to the TV viewer that Navy was awarded a first-and-one. The Lobos began to roll off the Navy ball carriers more slowly, extending the time to place the ball to set and restart the play clock.

In a precisely executed play that epitomized the drive by gaining just enough to keep it alive, Mr. Polanco ran an option left on third-and-five on the New Mexico 41. Three Lobos tacklers closed inside toward Mr. Eckel. Mr. Stahl, the left tackle, after calling out the defensive formation to his side, kicked out on defensive end Evroy Thompson. Slotbacks Marco Nelson and Eric Roberts closed inside Mr. Stahl, blocking down on standout linebacker and future NFL-er Nick Speegle. Mr. Polanco found the gap and six yards for a first down.

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On fourth-and-three at the Lobos' 28, Mr. Polanco pitched to Mr. Divis, who'd gone in motion left to right. Mr. Divis took several strides and tossed back across the field to Mr. Polanco who'd drifted left past the New Mexico defenders and was open four yards upfield. By the drive's standards it was a big gainer at six yards, and it was the second time the Mids ran the play successfully that day. "We had practiced it all year long and I swear every time we did it I would trip or the ball would hit me in the face or bounce right off my hands," says Mr. Polanco, now a captain with the Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 367 in Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. "So we always had it in the aresenal, just never ran it."

As the drive wore on, the Navy sideline, at least parts of it, got restless. "Our defense was starting to get mad at us," says Mr. Eckel, the fullback. "For a lot of the seniors it was their last time playing football and here we were spending the whole time on the field."

ESPN's Eric Collins, who was doing play-by-play, and broadcast partner Andre Ware increasingly sensed that history was being made. By play 23, Mr. Collins said, "the producer and statistician were scrambling for the record and we just couldn't come up with anything."

Navy's march ultimately ended on fourth-and-goal at New Mexico's 5-yard-line. Kicker Geoff Blumenfeld trotted out with only 22 yards between him and the goalpost, but with the weight of a 14-minute drive on his shoulders. The snap, the hold, and three more seconds ran off the clock as the kick sailed through and Navy closed in on its first 10-win season in 99 years. Time was left for just seven more plays from scrimmage before the game, and the drive, were in the books."

What a Gridiron Season!

Click on the link to read John Feinstein's tribute to Navy Football.
10-4 and a huge statement game vs. Missouri.

Wow.


What a great ending to 2009 for Navy, Air Force
By
John Feinstein


If 2010 turns out to be as enjoyable as the last day of 2009, I am really looking forward to the New Year.

I got all my work done yesterday by noon, built a fire in my office fireplace (best thing about this house) and sat down to watch Air Force-Houston followed by Navy-Missouri.

You may ask why I wasn’t in Houston with Navy doing the game on radio. Believe me, there’s part of me that would have loved being there. But, as I’ve said before, I really despise the entire flying experience and that ratchets up during a holiday week. I could have flown down with Navy but they left last Saturday and I really didn’t want to spend six days in Houston during the holidays—especially when I had a family trip planned—and then fly back home on New Year’s Eve, landing sometime after midnight.

So, I stayed here and watched on TV.

Let me explain first how I feel about Air Force. I root against the Falcons twice a year: when they play Navy and when they play Army. In every other game I’m an Air Force fan. Obviously I’m closer to the programs at Army and Navy because of “A Civil War,” and my years now doing Navy on radio (13) and my close association with Army. This past September I was honored when I was asked to MC Army’s Hall of Fame banquet when Mike Krzyzewski was inducted. Plus, I have all those boyhood memories of going to games at West Point.

That said, I have great respect for Air Force and like the people I know there very much. Even though the Army and Navy people insist that life at Air Force isn’t as tough as at their schools—they call it, “the country club academy,”--I know that being a cadet at Air Force is about 100 times harder than going to any civilian school. I always respected Fisher DeBerry and I feel the same way about Troy Calhoun, who has done a remarkable job reviving the program the last three years. What’s more, his No. 1 lieutenant, Tim DeRuyter—also an Air Force grad—was at Navy for four years and became a friend so there’s an extra bit of personal connection for me.

So it was that I watched with both surprise and happiness as Air Force absolutely crushed Houston. The Falcons were up 14-0 in the blink of an eye and, although Houston threatened for a while, eventually pulled away to win 47-20. Wow. This was a Houston team that won at Oklahoma State and was 10-2 going into the Conference-USA championship game. Case Keenum was considered a Heisman candidate at one point during the season. Not yesterday: he threw six interceptions—the most in a bowl game since a guy named Bruce Lee threw six for Arizona in the 1968 Sun Bowl.

Keenum had written, “Jesus Saves,” on his eye black for the game. For some reason as the Falcons picked off one pass after another I thought about a famous billboard in Boston years ago when Phil Esposito was setting goal-scoring records for the Bruins. It said: “Jesus Saves….But Espo puts in the rebound!”

There was one disappointment at the end of the game: Instead of staying in Fort Worth for an extra 90 seconds to watch the Air Force players stand at attention for their alma mater, ESPN just HAD to throw it back to the studio so we could hear Lou Holtz and Mark May blather for a few extra minutes. It scares me a little that I actually agree with Holtz on something: he said the Mountain West should get an automatic BCS bid. Of course it should. My God, is there anyone out there who thinks the ACC is as good a league as The Mountain West right now? Or, for that matter, The Big Ten? How did Oregon State, which almost won the Pac-10, look against Brigham Young in the Las Vegas Bowl? Anyway, May, who is always scripted to disagree with Holtz tried to say the bottom of the league was weak. Really? How about the bottom of the ACC Mark? The Big Ten? Or, for that matter the Pac-10 and The Big 12? If TCU beats Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl the Mountain West will be 5-0 in bowl games this season. That’s a pretty deep league if you ask me.

Anyway, I digress.

Just as Navy-Missouri was kicking off, the plumber who had come to the house to fix a broken toilet came in to announce he was finished and—surprise—would like to be paid. I walked into the kitchen, wrote him a check, wished him a Happy New Year and came back in to find Navy trailing 7-0. Whoo boy, this might be a long afternoon. I later saw the replay of Danario Alexander’s 58 yard catch-and-run touchdown.

Then Ricky Dobbs fumbled on Missouri’s 20-yard line on Navy’s first series. I can think negative thoughts faster than almost anyone alive: Missouri was going to score again, make it 14-0 and it was going to get bad. I cursed the bowl system which sent Missouri to the Texas Bowl even though it had finished ahead of both Iowa State and Texas A+M in The Big 12. This was a big-time team, with a future pro quarterback…

I forgot two things: I forgot that the kids playing for Navy are a lot tougher than I am and NEVER think negative thoughts and I forgot about Buddy Green.

ESPN—more on them later—focused about 99 percent of its attention during the telecast on Dobbs. That’s fine. He’s a terrific player and a wonderful kid. Bob Davie did manage to give some credit to the slotbacks and at the very end of the telecast mentioned Green. With all due respect to everyone else at Navy, I’m not sure the MVP of this team wasn’t Green.

Two years ago, his defense, torn up by injuries and wracked by inexperience, got hammered week after week. It gave up 62 points in a WIN against North Texas State. Joe Flacco and Delaware sliced it and diced it for 59 points. There were freshmen all over the field and Paul Johnson even started spending time on the defensive practice field which you know didn’t make Green happy at all.

He never complained, never whined about the injuries or the inexperience. He just kept saying, “Hey, it’s our job to keep coaching them every week and hope they get better.”

They did. Last year the defense was solid. It made plays when it had to—a late interception to seal a game against Rutgers; an amazing fumble recovery in the final minute to steal a game from Temple. It finished the regular season with back-to-back shutouts.

This year though would be harder. Two weeks before the season began, Nate Frazier, by far the team’s best defensive player, a guy who had to be double-teamed on every play at nose tackle, was separated from the academy on an academic honors charge. There’s no messing around at the academies with stuff like that. There was no stalling until after the season; no one game suspension—he was gone.

The schedule was brutal: at Ohio State; at Pittsburgh; Wake Forest; Temple (which won 9 games); at SMU; at Notre Dame; Air Force; at Hawaii. Plus there was the matter of playing 11 weeks in a row without a bye with a team that is always smaller than every civilian opponent it plays.

Every week the defense made key plays. It gave up yardage—Green knows he can’t attack on every play so he sets the opposition up to make mistakes. Notre Dame never punted—but Navy kept stopping it inside the red zone and won the game. In a driving rainstorm with Dobbs hurt, Navy didn’t throw a single pass against Wake Forest—and won the game because the defense made plays. Did you see Air Force roll up more than 500 yards in offense against Houston? That same offense didn’t score a touchdown against Navy’s defense.

Yesterday, facing a team that he knew wanted to throw on every down, Green came out with two down linemen on most plays. Davie was literally open-mouthed. (He also kept referring to Navy’s legal cut blocks as chop blocks, which are illegal. Was that a little bit of the old Notre Damer coming out?) And Missouri kept falling into Green’s trap. It moved up and down the field almost at will but couldn’t score inside the red zone. In fact, Alexander’s touchdown—30 seconds in—was the only touchdown the Tigers scored all day. Final: Navy-35, Missouri-13.

“We’re like 11 hyenas out there,” Niamatalolo said. “Sooner or later we’re going to bring an elephant down.”

Naturally, ESPN didn’t stick around for the playing of the alma mater. It had to show its bowl week promo for the thousandth time. It was also ill-prepared for the broadcast: both Mark Jones and Davie kept mis-pronouncing names and confusing players—without every getting corrected by the truck apparently. It was annoying but didn’t matter.

A word about Niamatalolo: He’s an amazing guy. He’s as genuine as he appears on TV and he stepped into a brutally difficult situation following Johnson, who had become a legend in Annapolis. He’s now 18-10—playing tougher schedules than Johnson did—in two seasons, with a 4-0 record against Air Force and Army, a win over Notre Dame and a bowl win. He’s had to use five different quarterbacks during the two seasons because of injuries.

And he never complains about anything. You see, that’s not the way they do it the academies. I may complain but the players and coaches don’t. You want to talk about the best and the brightest, go talk to some of those young men (they’re not kids) and the men who coach them.

Like I said, it was a great day. Happy New Year to all."