This has been a rough week for the Navy football team — a cold trip in the dark each morning for practice at 5:45 a.m., followed by exams.
But everything changes next week. The only examination left will be on the football field. Navy (9-3) plays San Diego State (8-4) in the Poinsettia Bowl on Thursday. The Midshipmen arrive in dreamy San Diego on Sunday afternoon.
“I look at this as more of a reward,” coach Ken Niumatalolo said. “We want to find a way to prepare because we want to get No. 10. But we want our guys to enjoy this.”
Among the items on the agenda are a go-cart race (Miramar Grand Prix) on Monday, a trip to Sea World on Tuesday and a luncheon and pep rally on the USS Midway on Wednesday. Practice each day will begin at a much more civilized hour, 11 a.m., and will be over by noon.
Niumatalolo took the same approach last year, letting the Mids enjoy their time at the Texas Bowl. Navy was a touchdown underdog but blasted Missouri 35-13.
“These guys are different,” Niumatalolo said. “For them this is it — our senior class. So I want them to enjoy it. We don’t want it to be another summer camp.”
Going to bowl games has become an annual rite for the Midshipmen. This is their eighth straight. Players from this year’s senior class are bookending their career with bowl trips to San Diego. The Mids lost to Utah in the 2007 Poinsettia Bowl 35-32.
“We’re looking forward to it — especially the warm weather,” senior linebacker Tyler Simmons said. “Bowl games are always kind of a celebration of the year. If you make a bowl game, you’ve earned that right.”
Military Bowl sales ‘brisk’
Both Maryland and East Carolina are close to selling out their allotment of 10,000 tickets each for the Military Bowl. The game will be played Dec. 29 at RFK Stadium.
More than 35,000 tickets have been sold, according to Steve Beck, the bowl’s executive director.
“Sales are brisk,” Beck said. “But I want to make it clear that good seats are still available.”
Beck added that more than 5,000 tickets have been sold to a pregame tailgate event at the D.C. Armory, which also will host a postgame party.
The crowd for the game will far exceed that for the first two EagleBank Bowls at RFK. Navy and Wake Forest played on a cold and gloomy day with a 11 a.m. start in 2008, drawing 28,777 fans. Last year, Temple and UCLA, playing with a 4:30 p.m. start on a colder day, drew 23,072. This year’s game kicks off at 2:30 p.m.
Franklin close?
The ongoing saga of Maryland offensive coordinator James Franklin becoming the next coach at Vanderbilt appears to be coming to a close. A report Thursday night in Nashville’s Tennessean included a search committee member saying the matter is coming to resolution.
Vanderbilt countered with a statement to the contrary, however.
“Administrators will not make an official statement tonight on the status of Vanderbilt’s search for its football head coach,” the school announced via e-mail.
