I watch Navy every chance I get & saw most of Cincy & Tulsa

The QB is big so not as elusive but can run over people and, as indicated by the OP, is not as nifty as previous Navy QBs. Bo Bauer should get some hits on this guy, as well as Foskey & a couple of others. Also he makes mistakes with decisions that his predecessors never seemed to make

The other problem they seem to be having us the FB is getting stoned a lot - maybe due to the interior OL not getting a good initial cut or bad reads (as noted above)


Vs Tulsa, they made most of their yards going wide
Tulsa had them 3rd & long several times & they either made the FD or 4th & very short

In the last ten years we played them ('10-'19) their average rank in that category was 12.3 and never worse than 32nd in any single year. This is nothing close to the Navy offenses we've seen and there is no excuse for them to be able to string together lengthy clock killing drives as in the past.

and cut blocks that these service academies still manage to be mediocre at football.

And our defense has neither. Freeman's defense gives the DLs and LBs the freedom to do whatever they want to create "havoc." As a result, big holes are opened up and we get gashed for huge gains(especially with 3-down).

That doesn't mean that they wont implement gap and assignment defense. I'd like to see us go with a 4-4-3 defense, given that Navy only throws the ball 5 times a game or fewer. But, we haven't played that way all year.

Iron Eagle 3 is attracting a lot of guys to AFA, fwiw

It does seem they’ve improved in recent weeks but they’re still awful.

While we should “never” lose to Navy, we should never ever ever lose to this version.

Midline--this is the play that killed us in 1996 vs AFA (the announcers kept calling it a "duck" play). Qb reads the first DL outside shade of the guard out (usually a 3 technique, but it could be a 4i, 4 or 5--inside shade to outside shade of the tackle). If the DL stays home, qb gives to the fullback. If the DL crashes on the dive, qb keeps and then "ducks" up the midline, off guard.

it is a double option play, no pitch option. You also can just run speed option, which involves no dive key (and which Nebraska used to run all the time with Crouch, and the play that set up their play action passes to Winstrom the TE). Most of the qb's I worked with when we ran this offense hate this one, because they're exposed to a hit from a crashing OLB right NOW! However, it puts a lot of stress on the defense, and I know Holtz loved it (believe McDougal ran it for a long TD vs Michigan in 1993). We would have qb's however who hated the exposure and would just check to triple option and not even read the dive key. In essence, it was the same play but just with different blocking; on the true triple option, you leave 2 guys unblocked as your read keys--first DL outside shade of the Guard out and end man on the line of scrimmage (dive/pitch respectively). On the speed option, you either leave just the end man on the LOS unblocked or you can "load option" and lead on him and try and option the second level (which can lead to huge plays, but you need a really good qb who can read that pitch key on the fly down the field).

I enjoy your x's and o's posts.

I enjoy all your posts!

mk

It was one of my favorite plays looking back. He’d pull the guard and have him block #1 and then either have a receiver crash and block #2 or have that wing back arc block. Both Tony and Kevin were great at getting around edge and executing that play.

he ran that shit with Powlus and Ron was just too slow.

I can't remember the year, but they had success with midline at least once in the last decade.

I'd be stunned if it isn't one of the first things installed in the spring when they put the offense in.

They might run it more in certain years, depending on personnel, but there is no question that it's a core part of the veer offense.

Also, Michigan sucks

a couple of my brothers and a few friends.

We were sitting near the last row of Veterans Stadium and I swear Stufflebeem's punts went higher than where we were.

The Irish scored early in the 4th quarter after starting at the Navy 27 to make the score 7-6.

The game was still in doubt until Randy Harrison made an interception for a touchdown with less than 4 minutes left in the game. Irish 14 Navy 6.

Ara has said that after that game he made up his mind to call it quits after that season.

I was in the south end zone watching the Navy dude coming towards us. We came thisclose to losing. Bob Davie got bailed out by Allen Rossum.

The Navy football players were apparently so annoyed at the results of that play that they disrupted the ND Band postgame show. I was a senior trumpet player.

We marched from the sideline onto the field playing "Down The Line" as usual. When we were done with that I heard a noise that sounded like it might be another flyover and I was confused until I realized it was the crowd booing. We just stood there for a while with our instruments still up. The band didn't have a horns-down signal, but after a bit the drum major kind of made one up on the spot by doing the horns-up motions in reverse order. As a trumpet player I was in the front part and couldn't see what was happening, but I later heard.

The Navy players had been roughly pushing along through the rear ranks of the Band, mostly consisting of piccolos and clarinets, and therefore majority women. I later talked to some clarinet players who said they'd been quite roughly handled. I heard that the State Police on the field showed up and requested that the Navy players leave.

The Navy coach later said that they'd only been trying to do what they always did, and go to midfield to pray after the game, and "we've never been booed before for praying". The problems with that were: 1. ND and Navy had played every year since 1927 and this wasn't something we were used to them doing ; 2. for the same reasons, they would have been well aware that the ND Band would be on the field at the time ; 3. a clarinet player I later dated said she's never yet heard a prayer that included the words "F*** you! Get the f*** out of my way!"

The ND Band office was subsequently inundated with e-mails from Navy students, officers, and retirees expressing regret for the actions of their team and their coach.

A postscript to it was that when Army visited the following year, they politely asked the Band to hold off for a few minutes on the postgame show so they could do their own Alma Mater and then run down the field to the tunnel. The ND Band waited as requested and all went smoothly.

My viewpoint was from the corner where the flag pole was situated. Yes, the booing first, then I realized what was occurring. The Color Guard was magnificent that day as an order was given and they marched toward midfield to confront the Naval players. That wouldn't be remotely possible with their current personnel.

with the play clock when the other team has timeouts...

Same dumb shit he did against lsu the next year that lost Jackson for the USC game while taking an intentional safety...

That Navy losing bastard

He got bailed out by a favorable spot on a 4th and 10 play

how Navy got screwed on the spot

I was at the 1988 game. It was my second ND game I attended with the first being the 1986 game also in Baltimore. I was a senior in high school and had just finished my ND application. I remember being incredibly disappointed in the game, but had fun sneaking beers while tailgating.

Driving home, we learned that UCLA had lost, and that ND would probably jump from #2 to #1 despite the underwhelming performance.

Back to Saturday’s game- I think it will be a slow start, but I think we will win by double digits. I just don’t see Navy having the talent to compete. I am worried the offense will start slow as we will get cute with our play falling but then we will get into a groove. And bear in mind, I am a natural pessimist and typically expect to lose.