Reef Points is an INFORMAL web logging site for your Naval Academy musings, Salty Sam recollections, sea stories and whatever comes to mind.

Go Navy - Beat Army and Air Force!

While San Diego Chapter members of the USNA Alumni Association are the Reef Point cadre - we welcome comments of anyone whom likes to log about the Sea Services, the Academy or haze grey and underway.

Disclaimer mouseprint: This site is NOT an official Naval Academy site.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Last Call - a '75 classmate

I just received a note from our Class of '75 Class President that a classmate is on the Last Call register.

 May Chuck Sellers rest in peace, and his survivors celebrate his professional and personal lives well-lived.

Saturday, December 08, 2012

Oh the Goat is old and gnarly (part 2)...

But he can take the bacon from the worn-out Army Mule!
Bill the Goat(s)

Monday, December 03, 2012

Oh the Goat is old and gnarly . . .

And he's never been to school , but our CNO's warfighting tenet is that Bill will readily feed on Army Mule Saturday night :
Bill '71 is Ready! Go Goats.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Anchormen and Goats - Exclusivity!


Click on this link to review a  fine WSJ article for Anchormen and Goats:
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424127887324352004578131262893535452-lMyQjAxMTAyMDIwNzEyNDcyWj.html?mod=wsj_valettop_email

Go Navy!

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Extend our Decade of Dominance - with great looking uniforms!

Check out the "Whites" for our soon-to-be-victorious Football Team:
https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/271027944292487168/photo/1

Go Navy - Win that CinC trophy.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Please check out "In the Shadow of Greatness"

You will be inspired by this Class of 2002 literary effort that Tom Brokaw labeled "a must read for all Americans".

You can buy on amazon.com.  Click over to http://shadowofgreatness.com/ for details about this new LA Times bestseller.

Be a part of the Veteran's Week (November 12-18, 2012) cited at that link. I will!



All proceeds of book sales go to Veterans' causes.  Thank you.


Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Quote for a Day - like Go Navy!


ThinkExist Dynamic daily quotation

Friday, February 19, 2010

It's Not about the War - IT'S ABOUT the WARRIORS!



This performance isn't the USNA Glee Club - yet it's still a good show by Trace Atkins and the other Glee Club.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Our Tax Dollars at work-Snowball Ballistics on T-Court

Enjoy the First and Second Regiments' epic snowball battle on this youtube video link:

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

'89 Army-Navy Game made Jim Nantz' top 25 Memorables (#20)

FRom Jim Nantz' most memorable moments for him as a broadcaster - #20:
December 9, 1989: Navy defeats Army on Frank Schenk's FG with 11 seconds remaining.
"It was a classic college football game," Nantz says. "But more than that was the remarkable 'purity of sport' among these athletes who weren't going on to the NFL; they were going into harm's way to defend their country." After the game-winning kick, a Midshipman's hat, tossed in jubilation, flew into the CBS broadcast booth at the Meadowlands. "Midshipman Mackowitz, if you're out there, I now have your hat," Nantz said on the air.

Thursday, January 07, 2010

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.

Saturday, January 02, 2010

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.

More on College Football

Build your own college football playoffs
The latest college football bowl news
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."

Monday, December 14, 2009

Army-Navy Game Slide Show (12/12/2009)

Please click on the hot-linked title line to see a slideshow of THE GAME.

On to Houston and the Texas Bowl game vs. Missouri.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Pentgagon Reports- Go Navy!

Click on the title hotlink to view a Pentago Reports video of the GAME.

Roll Up the Score NAVY!

Monday, December 07, 2009

An Army Navy classic article by John Feinstein

Though dated December, 2002 - most of Feinstein's gouge is spot-on (except for that comment about " two bad teams" that is) . . . click on the hotlink title line to see the entire article on-line.

in part:
"All great rivalries for different reasons with differing traditions. But Army-Navy is unique because as much as the players want to win the game--and they want desperately to win it, believe me--theirs is a bond between them that simply doesn't exist in other rivalries.

But for this one day, the records simply don't matter. They will matter again soon, but not on this day, not during this game. Bob Sutton, who coached at Army for 17 years--eight as an assistant, nine as the head coach--explained Army-Navy best. "Other games are played for today," he said. "Army-Navy is played for forever."

Go Navy!

Texas Hospitality, Navy Spirit and great Football action.

Clipart





Navy will play the University of Missouri Tigers in the 4th Annual Texas Bowl, December 31 in Houston. The Tigers finished their season with an 8-4 record and finished second in the Big 12 North.

But First …
GO NAVY! BEAT ARMY!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Navy is 8-3 - woohoo!

Dobbs carries Navy past Delaware, 35-18.
The Associated Press
Saturday, November 14, 2009; 9:35 PM

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Ricky Dobbs bulled into the Navy record book, breaking a mark that had stood since 1917.

The Midshipmen quarterback broke the school record for touchdowns in a season, running for five in Navy's 35-18 victory against Delaware on Saturday.

Dobbs leads the nation with 22 touchdowns and needs one more rushing score to tie the record held by Florida's Tim Tebow (2007) and Air Force's Chance Harridge (2002). His final TD broke Bill Ingram's Navy record of 21 set in 1917.

Dobbs missed most of two games with a knee injury before returning to lead Navy to a 23-21 victory at Notre Dame.

"The kid is amazing," Navy coach Ken Niumatolo said. "His injury should have made him done for the year. To come back and play the way he has, I couldn't be more proud of him."

Jon Striefsky kicked a school-record four field goals for Delaware (6-4).

Navy (8-3), which has already accepted a bid to the Texas Bowl, scored 21 points in the fourth quarter, including the final TD with 46 seconds left.

Dobbs, who set up his third score with a career-long 46-yard run, finished with 100 yards on 26 carries. He also completed 4 of 6 passes for 78 yards, setting up two scores through the air.

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Fourteen of Dobbs' touchdowns have been 3 yards or less.

"I feel guilty (about the short TDs) because people on the outside don't know what it takes to get there," Dobbs said. "Team success is the most important record. This record belongs to the offensive line and the fullbacks that block. The plays that get us there are just as important as the scores."

After gaining just 105 yards on 22 first-half plays and trailing 9-7 at the break, Navy had 215 yards in the second half. The Midshipmen ran 51 times for 242 yards for the game.

"We had some opportunities that we didn't take advantage of. We need to get more sevens, not threes," Delaware coach K.C. Keeler said. "We played well enough on both sides of the ball. I thought the offense did a phenomenal job of playing defense."

The Blue Hens held the ball for more than 18 minutes in the first half.

Alexander Teich, subbing for starting fullback Vince Murray, set up Dobbs' fourth score with a 22-yard run and finished with 57 yards on seven carries.

Delaware moved the ball well on offense, outgaining the Mids 370-320 with 22 first downs to their 16, but couldn't do any better than Striefsky's four field goals until a late fourth-quarter touchdown.

Pat Devlin completed 17 of 29 passes for 194 yards, but had no completion longer than 22 yards. The Blue Hens' only score came on Jerry Butler's 1-yard run with 6:29 left.

"When we get down in the red zone, we have to score," Devlin said. "We can't come away with field goals. When you make mistakes like a pass interference that brings you back, that never helps either."

Striefsky converted field goals of 47, 39 and 25 yards in the first half, the last coming on the final play of the half, to give the Hens a 9-7 lead.

"The defense played well in the first half and our offense came back in the second half and got things going," said Niumatolo.

Navy opened the second half with the ball and drove 64 yards to a 1-yard score by Dobbs for a 14-9 lead.

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Delaware followed with a drive inside the Navy 10, but settled for Striefsky's 25-yard field goal. The kick gave Striefsky a school and stadium record, the Hens still trailed 14-12 with 3:33 left in the period.

"Give them all the credit in the world," Keeler said. "We're not upset about that score at the end. It is what it is."

Saturday, November 07, 2009

Sweet Victory over the Irish and Bowl-bound!

For: Immediate Release
Sent: Nov. 7, 2009
Contact: Scott Strasemeier (410) 293-8775

Naval Academy Accepts Bid To Texas BowlTickets on sale now at www.navysports.com

ANNAPOLIS, Md.- Naval Academy Director of Athletics Chet Gladchuk announced after Saturday's victory over Notre Dame that the Naval Academy has formally accepted an invitation to play in the Texas Bowl on Thursday, Dec. 31 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas against a projected opponent from the Big 12. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN and the game time is set for 3:30 ET, 2:30 in Houston.

For more information about Navy's bowl acceptance to the Texas Bowl, log on to http://www.navysports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/110709aaa.html


### Go Navy###




Stacie Michaud
Associate Sports Information Director
United States Naval Academy
www.NavySports.com
w: 410-293-8773
f: 410-293-8954

Sunday, November 01, 2009

After a Century - Chapel renovations

After a century - the USNA Chapel gets a facelift.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

John Feinstein's Blog for the Navy win vs. Wake Forest

"One last thing on a happier note: Someone wrote a post yesterday wondering why I didn’t write about Navy’s win over Wake Forest Saturday. To be honest, I don’t want to make every Monday, ‘Navy post,’ day just because I do the games on radio. But he’s right, to beat Wake Forest in one of the worst rainstorms I’ve ever seen at a football game without starting quarterback Ricky Dobbs and without leading rusher and receiver Marcus Curry, was about one step short of miraculous.

The Mids are now 6-2, one win from clinching a seventh straight bowl bid. They are a remarkable bunch led by a wonderful coach, Ken Niumatalolo. Dobbs won’t play again this week against Temple, which is coming to town on a five game win streak (with the Philly papers predicting the Owls will win out and go 10-2) and badly wanting to get even after blowing a 27-7 fourth quarter lead in Annapolis last year. That will be a tough out. But being associated with Navy and this team (like every year) even in the smallest possible way is something I greatly enjoy. I’m proud to have had the chance to do it for the past 13 years.

Okay, writing about Navy put me in a better mood. But it’s still raining."

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Whom will be QB for the Wake Forest game?

Jasper: Proctor has a lot of Kaipo Qualities (gomidshipmen.com)
Wed, October 21, 2009 3:46:45 PMFrom: Scott Strasemeier Add to Contacts
To: NAAA-FOOTBALL@lists.usna.edu


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Support Navy football coverage on gomidshipmen.com by clicking on this link:
http://navy.scout.com/2/911503.html

Jasper: Proctor has a lot of Kaipo Qualities

By David Ausiello



Navy offensive coordinator Ivin Jasper isn’t really known (at least not by me) to throw around compliments like candy on Halloween. It takes a lot to impress the Navy play-caller. His standards are extremely high. So when I asked yesterday about his thoughts on sophomore quarterback Kriss Proctor , who has played in only one college football game, I expected to hear similar sentiments to those he uttered last October about Dobbs .
With starter Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada out with an injury, I asked Jasper if he would consider inserting Ricky Dobbs into the 2008 Air Force game if Jarod Bryant struggled – specifically, I wanted to know if there was a big drop-off from Bryant to Dobbs?

His response: “Oh yeah, without a doubt - [Dobbs] is way off,” said Jasper. “He still makes the little mistakes. He’s getting a lot of reps [in practice but] from a mental standpoint – from a trust standpoint, he is a way’s off.”

So when I asked yesterday about the separation between Dobbs, who leads the country in scoring, and Proctor, who has been on the field for about 13 minutes of game-time, I expected to hear Jasper say there was a big difference. He didn’t. In fact, Jasper believes that if Dobbs is unable to practice, he should not play.

“If Kriss practices all week and gets all the reps, he needs to start,” said the second-year offensive coordinator. “That’s not fair to the kid – if (Kriss) practices all week, he deserves to start.”

Jasper’s strong statement is a testament to a practice structure that is ideal for an option offense in which its quarterback takes a hit after nearly every snap when Navy has the ball.

“We rep two quarterbacks all week long. We have two huddles. It’s not the starter gets 80 percent of the snaps. One huddle goes, two huddle goes. Same play, back-to-back. For me it has always been, the back-up quarterback may not play in the game, but he always gets the same amount of reps. To me, in a sense, he plays. He sees all the looks he is going to get. He’s going through full-speed. The kid isn’t sitting all week long watching,” explained Jasper.

Of course allowing Proctor to get some playing time against Rice two weeks ago helped build Jasper’s confidence in the sophomore. And in that game, Jasper said that he didn’t hold back in what he asked the Big Bear City, California native to do.

“Kriss came in against Rice and played great. He was running the same stuff we were running all game long. He did great with his reads. He came in and had three touchdowns. I am very confident in Kriss,” said Jasper.

But what is the difference between Proctor and Dobbs – there must be a significant gap – similar to the one between Bryant and Dobbs last season, right?

“The only difference between (Kriss) and Ricky may be throwing the football. But as for the option, the kid ran it in high school. To me, that’s a big advantage. It gave him an edge as far as understanding the language of it,” said Jasper.

“Kriss is a natural option quarterback. He’s the same as Kaipo was coming out of high school. He was coached by a guy who has been with the option for a long time. I can’t coach a lot when it comes to option football. It’s all about instincts. You have to have a feel about where a (defender) is going to go. Kaipo was real good at it. Ricky is getting better at it, and hopefully, if Kriss starts, you will see how good he is at it,” continued Jasper.

The comparisons to Kaipo continued.

“Kaipo was fast when he got going, but Kriss is quick – he can get going real fast. He is built the same. Now will he get to the point where he is an option wizard where he just a feel for it like Kaipo, it remains to be seen, but he’s pretty far ahead.”

When asked if Proctor has progressed since the spring, Jasper didn’t hesitate.

“Oh yeah, he’s gotten better. We’re going to go out and run our offense. We can’t say if Ricky is not going to play we have to trash our playbook and go to something else. We are going to run our stuff.”

Of course, plan A is having Dobbs behind center, a decision Jasper said would most likely come on Thursday. Jasper said if the junior is held out of practice then, Proctor would start.

“(Ricky) needs to practice in order to play. Hopefully he can go on Thursday.”

But isn’t Dobbs good enough to just play without practicing?

“I’ve had one kid that I’ve seen who could do that and he’s in the NFL right now,” said Jasper. “Adrian Peterson (of the Chicago Bears ) – he is the only kid that I saw that didn’t practice and could play on Saturday. Ricky is not at that point yet. He needs to practice.”

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

More Fleet Experience for Mids

Midshipmen Experience
Fri, 18 Sep 2009 10:00:19 -0500
The United States Naval Academy is trying to get its midshipmen more experience before heading to the fleet as leaders.

Click on the hotlinked tritle to access the post.

Go Navy!