Notre Dame Football: Does Navy Have the Irish's Number?

The military academies are all about respect.

From honor codes to inhuman effort, it is impossible not to respect our men in uniform, on the battlefield or on the football field.

For football buffs, Notre Dame and Navy is all about tradition, with a series that has played annually since 1927, when Joe Paterno was only in his 30th year of coaching.

Contrary to popular belief, Navy is not on the schedule to ensure an annual cupcake (see SEC Scheduling 101).  For those that don't know, the US Navy made Notre Dame a training center and paid enough for usage of the facilities to keep the university afloat when it faced severe financial difficulties during World War II.

Notre Dame has since extended an open invitation for Navy to play the Fighting Irish in football and considers the game annual repayment on a debt of honor.

With undersized personnel, the most restrictive recruiting conditions in the country, and an academic regimen that is often literally rocket science, military academies must often do with execution and effort what others do with great athletes and suspect recruiting practices.

I personally love the academies and the discipline they bring to the game, but as history tells us, discipline does not always make for the best Saturday viewing. 

 A Tale of Two Eras

 1963-2006

For almost half a century, the best thing about the Notre Dame/Navy game was that it was easy to get tickets for your friends.

While one would have to be a complete jackass not to respect the off-field honor and tradition, on the field, Notre Dame disrespected Navy 43 times in a row from 1964 to 2006. ND is 71-12-1 against the Midshipmen all-time—clearly not what one would label a competitive rivalry.

In 1963, Navy needed a 21-year-old Roger Staubach to beat ND, and the six-time All-Pro and first-ballot Hall of Famer would be 65 before Navy would put up another W against the Irish.

If you think ND has been down for a while, think about Staubach. After downing his first legal beer to celebrate beating ND, he bought the next one with his social security money.  The domination was as bad as it sounds; Navy had 36 double-digit losses during their losing streak.

As an '81 ND graduate, I had little respect for a Navy football program that every few years would lose by less than a touchdown and a field goal when Notre Dame was having a down year and head back to Annapolis happy with a moral victory. 

2007-2010

In 2007, the country's finest sailors needed a perfect storm and a stop at the one to win by two in three overtimes against a hapless 3-9 squad with Charlie Weis' college coaching inexperience and questionable conditioning program trying to get by with the sorry remnants of Ty Willingham's modest efforts at recruiting talent between rounds of golf.

The win was considered a fluke by the ND faithful.

Then the 2008 ND squad dominated, up 27-7 with less than two minutes left before a meltdown that almost handed the game to Navy, with ND surviving numerous fourth-quarter defensive breakdowns and two late onside kicks to hold on 27-21.

The Irish held the Midshipmen to a season-low 178 yards on the ground, Navy's lowest rushing total since October 2006.

Despite the close call, no message about the resurgence of Navy football had been sent. For most of the Notre Dame faithful, Navy was back on its way to another 43 losses in a row.

So in 2009, Jimmy Clausen lit up the Navy secondary for 452 yards passing and 32 first downs, ND's defense held Navy to 20 points and all was right with Irish football again.

Except that ND's defense gave up 348 yards rushing, the offense gave up a safety and the Irish lost 22-20.

So along comes 2010, and the Middies have really pissed us off.  We're so mad we get rung up for 367 yards on the ground, 210 straight up the middle by the @!!#!!! FULLBACK.  An ordinary Navy defense makes Dayne Christ and his 178 passing yards, one touchdown and two interceptions look just as ordinary.

After losing three out of the last four, I am no longer looking at Navy as a fluke.  I'm looking to see if it's going to continue, or get worse, and here's what I came up with.

The Problem

It is no government secret that, when playing a military academy, you are playing the most intelligent and disciplined group of athletes on a college football field every year.  They will make very few mistakes, and will rarely tire.  They will also be doing something called the triple option.

The triple option is a run-based offense.  Navy passes less than Woody Hayes on a rainy Saturday without a 3rd-and-long.

The triple option is not the new-wave Rich Rodriguez-type "spread" attack and it has zero similarity to the pro-style attack run by a majority of college teams.

Few teams run it, and therefore, defenses have little familiarity with or preparation for triple-option teams.  That's why it's called a "gimmick" offense even though various versions have been around since the 1960s.

Navy calls their attack the spread option because they are trying to spread the field and make the defense cover the entire field, using quickness and execution to overcome a lack of size and overall speed.  Split-second decision-making fuels the triple-option's success.  Linemen cut-block and backs hit holes with precision timing so there is no need to maintain blocks.

Navy is in the top five in the country in rushing every year, but you will never see a Navy tailback sweeping left from eight yards deep behind three or four pulling O-linemen that eat at a local stable, ala USC.

Their base spread formation is two split ends split 17 yards from the tackles.  They line up two slotbacks, each one yard behind and one yard outside of the offensive tackles.

Their fullback is aligned directly behind the QB, only a few yards from the line of scrimmage, with the QB under center.  The QB has the option every play to dive his fullback, fake and follow if the fullback opens a hole or head down the line and read the DE or OLB depending on the blocking scheme.

On the outside, the QB can keep it if the OLB plays the pitch, or pitch if the OLB tries to hammer the QB.

With the slotbacks so close to the line of scrimmage, this gives Navy four receivers, two on each side.  These slots and wideouts are excellent at blocking in space to keep corners and weak-side defenders from getting to the play.

Rather than pass to keep the defense honest, the spread will use a variety of blocking schemes and a counter or misdirection play to keep the defense off-balance. Passing is a weapon of last resort.

Opposing secondaries cannot become so concerned with defending the option that they begin to disregard the four quick receivers.  Although they don’t do it much, Navy is always a threat to throw the football and defenses must honor this threat.

To complicate matters, depending on the play and the defensive alignment, Navy may have a dozen different blocking schemes to block the same formation.

If run properly, an option offense should be able to gain two to three yards before the linebackers and defensive backs can identify who has the football and make a tackle.  The only true defense is to play in space and tackle everybody, every play.  That kind of defense takes tremendous discipline and patience, and therein lies the problem.

How They Beat You

Navy is patient; they will beat you with a 12-minute drive during which they'll go for it on 4th-and-1 three-bazillion times.

When a defense gets frustrated and tries to overload an area, or run blitz to blow it up, a disciplined option team will recognize it on the fly and create big plays (see 2010 ND-Navy game).

Eight to 10 times a game they will start the option and back up and pass, catching an aggressive secondary with their shorts down around their ankles at least two or three times a game.

When Navy does have a QB that has a modest ability to throw (see Ricky Dobbs), it is usually with disastrous consequences for the defense.

The Navy defense is nothing special, but it will slow you down, play disciplined football and hope you get antsy and make a mistake.  If your offense is far superior, they will gamble on big plays to try to get a turnover and then watch your offense get more frustrated while their offense grinds out another three yards a pop for the next quarter of a century.

When it's all over, they'll have 100 yards passing on four or five catches, 300 yards rushing, 30 points and dominate time of possession, and you go home wondering how you outweighed a team by 70 pounds per man and got dominated in the trenches.

Notre Dame isn't the only big-time school that gets this lesson.  Since 2007, Navy has beaten Pittsburgh, Blaine Gabbert's Missouri Tigers and lost to Utah in the final seconds.

In 2009, they had a two-point conversion fail in an attempt to tie an 11-2 Rose Bowl champion Ohio State with three minutes left at OSU.

Navy has won 35 games over the last four years.  They are a sound team that is well coached, and that doesn't change in 2011.

What's in Store for 2011

Navy Offense in 2011 is Business as Usual

Navy’s offense was extremely productive last season, ranking sixth in the country in rushing with an average of 285 yards per game.  QB Ricky Dobbs accounted for 2,500 yards of total offense and 27 touchdowns.  

Replacing Dobbs is senior Kris Proctor who did run for 200 yards in a late-season victory over Central Michigan when Dobbs was out with an injury.  While he is not going to put up pretty passing numbers, Navy was only 117th in the entire country throwing the ball with Dobbs running the show.  In reality, an aerial decrease under Proctor will mean very little to Navy's master plan.

Proctor will have plenty of support from Navy’s other runner, as senior fullback Alex Teich (860 yards, five touchdowns in ‘10, 210 yards against ND) and junior wing G.G. Greene (490 yards, five TDs) are both productive and experienced options.

With a senior-laden O-line that returns four starters, expect to see the same punishing ground-based offense in 2011.  

Navy Defense in 2011 Will Flat-Out Suck 

There are some serious questions on this year's defense for Navy, like: Who the hell will tackle anybody?  And, has anyone here ever seen a football?  Only three starters from last year’s defense return as six of the top eight tacklers are now active members of the United States Navy.

The lone returning starter on the D-line is senior defensive end Jabaree Tuani (72 tackles, 5.5 sacks), a four-year starter on the Naval three-man front.  He is an extremely disruptive player in a line that will feature no further disruptions.

The Middies have some news at linebacker.  The good news is that senior starting linebacker Max Blue is returning with his 58 tackles and the most awesome name for a cadet in Naval Academy history.

Although returning the greatest naval moniker of all time, the bad news is they lose three of their top four lesser-named tacklers in linebackers Tyler Simmons (131 tackles), Aaron McCauley (82 tackles) and Jerry Hauberger (73 tackles).  The rest of their linebacking crew outside of Max Blue has a total of 11 starts between them, all in 2010.

The defensive backs situation is an even bigger train wreck in the making as senior cornerback Kwesi Mitchell (48 tackles, one interception) is the only returning starter.  The Middies struggled against the pass in 2010 as they allowed opponents to complete over 68 percent of their pass attempts.

With an even less experienced line and a new linebacking corp in front of them, my 89-year-old mom could drop 300 yards on Navy's secondary without getting out of her signature housecoat.

Last year, Navy's senior-laden defense gave up a very respectable 23.3 points per game, however, the last time Navy returned three or fewer starters on defense was 2007 (36.5 points per game allowed).  That team gave up 44 to an offensively challenged ND squad led by Notre Dame QB legend Evan Sharpley.

That same Irish squad was shut out by UM and USC, put up three big ones against Georgia Tech and pushed 10 points past Penn State in some of the ugliest offensive football in Notre Dame history.

When you add it all up, you get a disciplined Navy offense and a defense that will sink faster than Snookie in a hot tub.

2011 Navy is going to try to beat you by never letting your offense see the ball.

The Solution

Short Term

Last year, Diaco's defense was struggling early to find itself and Dayne Christ had the worst start of a young career.  Both Michael Floyd and Theo Riddick were out.

A senior Navy QB with a veteran line and a defense with eight seniors exploited an ND offense, defense and coaching staff that had barely unpacked.

For 2011, despite all the worries that Navy has figured Notre Dame out, Navy is still Navy.

By the end of 2010, Notre Dame was already showing the discipline and patience needed to stop the triple option, stopping Army's ninth-ranked triple-option rushing game dead in its tracks (174 total yards) and playing far better defense across the board.

The 2011 Irish are bigger, faster and more experienced on both sides of the ball, and the coaching staff knows what they're up against.

Navy has a new QB and a defense that couldn't stop a determined puppy.

ND will dominate Navy in 2011.

Long Term

Navy is a military academy.  They will be undersized and slightly slower at the skill positions, but they are going to be in better shape, they are going to be smarter and they are going to be more disciplined.  They are also going to run a gimmick offense because you have the least practice time and it puts the most pressure on your team to use their brains and not their muscles.

Navy will always bring a well-crafted game plan and they will always put forth a superior effort.  But Navy has been doing that since 1963 and they lost 43 times in a row.

To beat Navy year in and year out, you don't out-think them. You don't out-hustle them. You have to do what Notre Dame did for 43 years: You out-talent them.

Ty Willingham's extended recruiting vacation killed the lifeline of Notre Dame football, and probably contributed more to Charlie Weis' exit than Charlie Weis.

While Weis' recruiting made strides on the offensive side of the ball, with a few notable exceptions (see Manti Teo), his defensive units were good but lacked the athletes necessary to dominate at the college level.  Coupled with Charlie's inability to develop his players, ND teams were simply not as physically competitive as in years past.

Notre Dame must continue to recruit and develop superior athletes on the defensive side of the ball that are bigger and faster that can wear down a smaller line, fill gaps without getting lost in traffic and contain the triple option on the edge.

If a decent coaching staff has those advantages, they will win no matter how efficient the Navy offense is.

Offensively, ND must continue to get skilled backs that can use their larger line to exploit gaps and receivers that overpower and outrun smaller, slower defensive backs.  Our linemen must be better conditioned and more athletic to take advantage of their leverage.

Navy's defenses are always going to be pedestrian, even in the best years.  The coaching staff must be aggressive to take advantage of defensive weaknesses, not try to win a time-of-possession battle once they get a lead.

Yes, Navy's coaching staff is smart and will get what they can out of their men, but in the end, X's and O's don't block—people do.

If Kelly continues to get the kind of recruits he had last year, his staff and system will restore the time-honored tradition of beating Navy every year.