Navy streak is at seven against rival Air Force
Navy won 10 games last year, but its finest moment might have come in defeat. Its 31-27 loss at Ohio State was a clinic in offensive execution — the smaller, slower Midshipmen moving the ball at will against the Buckeyes.
This year, Air Force had a similar ah-ha moment in defeat. It came in a 27-24 loss at then-No. 10 Oklahoma. Running the same triple-option offense as the Mids, the Falcons rolled up 351 yards rushing, the most allowed by the Sooners in coach Bob Stoops’ 12 seasons.
“I never want to see this kind of offense again,” Oklahoma linebacker Travis Lewis told reporters after the game.
When Navy (2-1) plays at Air Force (3-1) on Saturday, the Mids hope the Oklahoma game doesn’t have the same catapult effect for the Falcons as the Ohio State game had for them in 2009.
“You can never say you benefited from a loss,” Navy quarterback Ricky Dobbs said. “But looking back on it, I think we gained a lot from that game, our confidence, our belief.”
The Ohio State game vaulted Dobbs into the national spotlight and helped make him a preseason Heisman Trophy candidate this year. Air Force quarterback Tim Jefferson received similar recognition from his performance at Oklahoma, where he passed for 107 yards, rushed for 96 yards and even punted twice, with both landing inside Oklahoma 20-yard line.
The 6-foot, 200-pound junior possesses many of the same attributes as Dobbs (6-1, 203). Both have the power to run between the tackles and the speed to take it outside. Both present a threat with their ability to throw.
Both also are from Atlanta, and their competition dates to high school, when they played football and basketball at rival schools — Jefferson at Woodward Academy and Dobbs at Douglas County.
Just as Dobbs had the advantage in their high school meetings, it continued last year when they started against each other for the first time in college. Navy emerged 16-13 in overtime to extend its winning streak over Air Force to seven games.
All of the victories, however, have been close. The combined margin of Navy’s wins in the streak is 36 points.
“We’ve been very fortunate to come out with some victories,” Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo said. “We know to win one or two straight against your rival is tough. To win that many against a rival is really hard.”
This year the odds-makers agree, installing Air Force as a 10-point favorite — likely as a result of the Falcons’ play against Oklahoma, the improvement of Jefferson and their lead in the NCAA rushing statistics. In a category led by Navy from 2005 to 2008, Air Force is averaging 394 yards a game, 63 more than any other team.
“They are playing very, very well right now,” Niumatalolo said. “We know we better be ready to go because this is one of the better Air Force teams we’ve played.”
