Navy linebacker Irv Spencer calmly has taken the podium for news conferences after each of his team?s past two losses and did not leave until he answered every question regarding his struggling defense.
It?s role he never envisioned on a team filled with vocal players, but Spencer has been thrust into the role as the unit?s spokesman after the already a very inexperience unit continues to be decimated by injuries to key players. With safety Jeff Deliz, the team’s defensive captain, and linebacker Clint Sovie out for the year after suffering injuries during a loss to Rutgers on Sept. 7, the Midshipmen are relying on the 6-foot, 238-pounder increasingly every week.
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Spencer has a team-high 59 tackles ? 6.5 for a loss ? and a sack entering this afternoon?s game at 3:30 against Notre Dame (1-7) in South Bend, Ind., when Navy (4-4) looks to end a 43-game losing streak to the Fighting Irish dating to 1963. If Navy is to earn its first victory over Notre Dame since the John F. Kennedy administration and “Cleopatra” ruled the box office, it must play much better than when it allowed Delaware to amass 581 yards of total offense in a 59-52 loss.
“I don’t know what to say [about the defensive struggles],” Spencer said. “We just have to get better across the board.”
And playing Notre Dame might be exactly what Navy needs. The Fighting Irish have the worst offense in the country statistically, as they are last among 119 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in rushing yards (34.1) and total offense (187.6) per game, and second-to-last in average points per game (10).
But Navy has already allowed 305 points through eight games after allowing 261 yards in 13 games last season. Also, opposing quarterbacks have had career games against the Midshipmen, completing 71 percent of their passes for 19 touchdowns and 6 interceptions, as opponents have capitalized on Navy?s weak secondary that has faltered in Deliz?s absence.
“They say football is a game of inches,” Spencer said. “If we’re lined up wrong at the start of the play we are already behind. Injuries don’t help, but we all practice to go in when needed.”
Navy coach Paul Johnson said he is surprised by the inconsistent play on defense, which he attributed to injuries, lack of confidence and inexperience. Still, Johnson claims his players are a lot more talented than the ones he inherited when he took over the program in 2002.
” I will still say that these guys are more athletic than the guys that played before, but they aren’t playing football as well as the group that played before them,” Johnson said. “Those guys were seasoned and they were heady. If one guy didn’t get lined up right, somebody would correct him.
“There is no question that losing Sovie and Deliz hurt us, because they knew where everybody was supposed to line up and they would move guys into the right position if they lined up wrong. I’m sure some of them know what to do, but they are afraid to tell somebody else to move because they are afraid they aren’t right.”
