Navy coach Paul Johnson often credits the academy?s Class of 2007 for being the group that reversed the long-suffering fortunes of the football team.
Now, Navy?s current crop of seniors has a chance to set the bar even higher. The 26 players in the Class of 2008 enter this season with 27 wins over the last three years ? eight short of the 35 wins from the previous class. The school?s all-time record is 36, set by the Class of 1909.
Johnson said he expects this year?s seniors to set standards, including extending Navy?s eight-game winning streak over Army and Air Force and going to a fifth straight bowl game.
“If they can put together an outstanding season they can have the most wins of any class in a four-year history,” Johnson said. “That?s what we hope for. The younger classes who are supporting that will then have their turn to break that record when they are seniors because they are all part of it. When you build a program that?s kind of the way it works. Year after year the next class has a chance to get where the previous one was or surpass them.”
How far Navy can heighten its expectations remains to be seen. The Midshipmen have not had a winning decade since the 1950s. Navy is 38-45 in the current decade, but is 37-25 since Johnson arrived in 2002.
“It?s certainly harder each year because you have to win more games, but I don?t know if [the margin for improvement] is getting smaller because if you?ve been a part of the previous three years you have more wins to start with,” Johnson said. “This is something that is kind of new to the program. There are a lot of things we can find to play for. A lot of things.”
Navy senior fullback Adam Ballard said there is a lot he still wants to accomplish before he graduates, including beating Notre Dame for the first time since 1963 in addition pulling off another upset along the way.
“Hopefully we can put a damper on some team?s season,” Ballard said. “Maybe we can get someone when they?re not looking. It should be fun.”
