The Navy football team currently boasts two of the program?s top-three all-time sacks leaders on its roster. Linebackers David Mahoney and Tyler Tidwell have taken down opposing quarterbacks a combined26 times in their careers.
However, Navy coach Paul Johnson would like to get more of a pass rush out of his defensive unit, which is averaging one sack per game. The defense has recorded one sack for every 36.5 pass attempts.
Johnson said the lack of a pass rush, along with playing against a number of pass-first offenses with quality quarterbacks, has played a role in Navy?s low pass defense ranking, which is currently 110th among 119 Division I-A teams. The Midshipmen (3-1) are allowing an average of 256.2 passing yards per game. Last weekend, Tulsa quarterback Paul Smith threw for 285 yards and three touchdowns in the Golden Hurricanes? 24-23 overtime victory at Navy.
“We just have to beat some blocks occasionally, and we will have to look at sending enough to get there, I guess,” Johnson said. “We?ve tried a lot of different things. We?ve rushed anywhere from two to probably six.”
Senior defensive lineman John Chan, who has three of Navy?s sacks, said the entire defensive line, including himself, needs to do more to get past opposing linemen, who almost always significantly outweigh them. Saturday?s game at Connecticut is no exception ? the Huskies? starting offensive linemen average 302 pounds, compared to Navy?s 251-pound average among its starting defensive linemen.
“Part of it is just following the schemes and blitz packages and keeping the offensive line guessing,” Chan said. “But a lot of it is simply playing tough and hard up front.”
Tidwell said the defense is getting to the quarterback, but not soon enough. He added that Navy?s pass rush must still improve to help a Midshipmen secondary that is dealing with injuries to senior safety DuJuan Price and sophomore safety Ketric Buffin. Price (quadriceps) is doubtful for the Connecticut game, while Buffin (ankle) is questionable.
“The secondary has done a tremendous job with so many young players having to go out there and perform,” Tidwell said. “But we have to do more to get to the quarterback to take some of the stress off them.”
NAVY NOTES
» The Midshipmen have fared much better defending the run than the pass this season. Opponents are averaging 104.5 yards a contest on the ground. This ranks Navy 38th in the country.
» Tulsa racked up 444 yards on offense Saturday at Navy, the most given up by the Midshipmen this year and the most since Colorado State ran up 572 yards in its 51-30 loss in last season?s Poinsettia Bowl.
