Army, Navy will face their mirror images
It’s been a good year for service academy football. So good, in fact, that if Army upsets Navy, all three will be in bowl games in the same year for the first time in history.
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The secret of their success? The triple-option offense.
Saturday in Philadelphia, when Army (5-6) meets Navy (8-4) for the 110th time, it will be their turn to try to stop the confounding schemes their offenses run. Both teams faced the same challenge when they played Air Force earlier this year. While Navy needed to go to overtime to beat Air Force, 13-10, Army lost to the Falcons 35-7.
“Every opportunity we have, we watch Navy play,” said Army coach Rich Ellerson, who installed the triple-option when he took over at Army this year. “We try to see how people try to defend it. We try to see what kind of answers people are coming up with along the way. We all have a little different spin on it — we all have different assets to play with.”
Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field, Navy will have the ultimate asset in junior Ricky Dobbs, who has tied an NCAA record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in a season with 23. To stop the option, Army must clog the middle and force Dobbs outside, a difficult feat, especially without top tackler, inside linebacker Steve Anderson (Damascus), who is done for the season with a knee injury.
“Against the option, you have to have your eyes on your assignment,” said Army defensive end Marcus Hilton. “It’s just playing perfect football on the defensive side of the ball, that’s the key.”
With seven straight Commander-in-Chief trophies, Navy has been the foremost practitioner of the triple-option this decade. Paul Johnson brought the offense to Navy in 2002. The following year, the Midshipmen began their streak of 14 straight wins over service academy teams. While Johnson has taken his scheme to Georgia Tech and thrived with it, his successor, Ken Niumatalolo, has used the same offense to keep Navy’s service academy dominance intact.
While Navy has made the offense an art form, leading the nation in rushing the last four years and ranking third this season, Army has had mixed results with the scheme, ranking No. 112 in scoring offense (14.6 points per game). The Black Knights’ improvement, after 12 straight losing seasons, has been more attributable to their defense, which ranks No. 17 (309.9 ypg), up from No. 48 in 2008.
“The challenge is going to be to keep up with them from an adjustment standpoint,” said Ellerson. “They’ll understand what we are trying to do, and they’ll know where they need to go. The same thing is true on our part.”
