First, the good news for the Navy football team: The Midshipmen have the chance to start the season 3-0 for the second time in three years if they win Saturday at Stanford.
Now, the bad news: Navy has to execute better on offense if it has hopes of knocking off a team that beat them, 40-38, a year ago. The Mids are comingoff a week in which they fumbled seven times and committed four turnovers in a 21-20 win over Massachusetts.
“That?s not a good thing,” Navy coach Paul Johnson said of the fumbles and turnovers. “We have to cut that out. We just have to execute and cut that out. You aren?t going to beat many people if you put the ball on the ground seven times.”
Stanford enters Saturday?s game at 0-2 after losing to Oregon, 48-10, and to San Jose State, 35-34. At the same time, Johnson knows not to take the Cardinal lightly. They have a number of threats on offense, including quarterback Trent Edwards and wide receiver Evan Moore. Edwards has completed 61 percent of his passes for 457 yards, five touchdowns and one interception, while Moore averages 18.2 yards per catch to go with his two scores.
The Edwards-to-Moore combination could be even more of a threat to Navy because of the Midshipmen?s injuries in its secondary. Most notably is senior safety DuJuan Price, who injured his leg after coming up with an interception against UMass.
“We have a couple of different routes we can go, depending on who is in the game,” Johnson said of the secondary. “We can play Jeremy McGown at safety and [Rashawn] King at corner, or we can play Jeremy Miles at safety. There?s a bunch of different things we can do.”
Navy quarterback Brian Hampton is putting pressure on himself to improve his direction of the offense. He knows if he doesn?t perform, he could be replaced again by Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada or even by third-string quarterback Jarod Bryant.
At the same time, Navy?s defense is ready to come up with big plays if the offense struggles again this week.
“This is the biggest game of the year we?ve had so far,” Navy linebacker Rob Caldwell said. “Everyone on the defense knows what their responsibilities are, and we won?t have anyone second-guessing themselves against a Pac-10 team like Stanford.”
Navy-Stanford notes
» Kickoff for Saturday?s game in Palo, Alto, Calif., is set for 10 p.m. EST.
» The series is tied at 1-1-1.
» Before this week, Navy?s last regular-season West Coast game came in 1997, when San Diego State won, 45-31, in the visiting Midshipmen?s season opener. However, Navy has played out west the last two seasons, when it played in the Emerald Bowl two years ago and the Poinsetta Bowl last year.
