Navy (0-0) vs. No. 6 Ohio State (0-0)

Date: Saturday, September 5
Time: 12:00 PM ET
Place: Ohio Stadium – capacity 102,329
TV: ESPN will televise the game with Dave Pasch, Chris Spielman and Bob Griese.
Radio: WBNS-AM 1460 The Fan in Columbus is the flagship station for the 73-station Ohio State Radio Network. The Jim Tressel Pregame Show airs 30 minutes prior to kickoff. “Big Daddy” Paul Keels will call the play-by-play and will be assisted by former Buckeye Jim Lachey in the booth and Marty Bannister on the sidelines.
From AccuWeather.com: Sunny skies and a game time temperature of 79 degrees.
Latest Line: Ohio State is an 21 1/2-point favorite. The Over & Under is 47.
Series History: This is the fourth meeting between the two programs. Ohio State owns a 3-0 record against Navy.
Last Meeting: Ohio State won 31-28 in the 1981 Liberty Bowl.

The day has finally arrived. It’s game day. Now it’s time to see what the 2009 Ohio State Buckeyes bring to the table. Who will step up? Who will make an impact? Will Terrelle Pryor live up to his expectations as the preseason Big Ten offensive player of the year? Who is Terrelle going to feel comfortable throwing the ball to most? Which running back will be most effective carrying the mail? How well will the offensive line do?

Those are just the questions we will find out the answers to this afternoon on offense. But what about the defense? How well will they be able to stop Navy’s triple-option offense? Who’s going to step up and make plays?

Matt’s Prediction: Ohio State 34, Navy 17

Tags: Football by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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Right: Quarterback Ricky Dobbs, a 6-foot-1, 194-pound junior, returns after playing in seven games last year for the Midshipmen.
(AP Photo)

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that when Navy visits Ohio Stadium to play the Buckeyes on Saturday, they are going to run the ball, a lot.

That’s really not a stretch considering that the Midshipmen led the nation in rushing in 2008, averaging 292.4 yards per game. In fact, Navy has had the top ground game four years running, no pun intended. But the Midshipmen were 118th in passing during the 2008 campaign, averaging a mere 60.2 yards through the air.

Head coach Ken Niumatalolo enters his second season after leading the Midshipmen to an 8-6 record last season while earning Navy’s six-straight bowl invite.

The Mids played just two teams that were ranked during the 2008 campaign, defeating Wake Forest 24-17, but lost to Pittsburgh 42-21. Navy and Wake Forest later met in the EagleBank Bowl in Washington D.C., with the Demon Deacons avenging their loss during the regular season by defeating the Midshipmen 29-19.

Coach Niumatalolo’s base offense is the triple option out of a spread formation using two wideouts, two slotbacks, a fullback, and no tight end. Navy returns just four starters on the offensive side of the ball, though junior quarterback Ricky Dobbs played in seven games, making one start last season.

Dobbs is Navy’s top returning rusher after gaining 495 yards on 106 carries (4.7 avg.) and eight touchdowns, but he only threw the ball 16 times, completing nine of his passes for 212 yards with one TD and one INT.

During the course of a 13-game schedule, Navy attempted just 93 passes all season while running the ball 715 times. Simple math will tell you that the Midshipmen tote the rock 88.5 percent of the time.

Needless to say, Navy’s top returning receivers have very few catches. Junior Mario Washington tops that list and he had just three receptions for 56 yards. For the most part, Navy’s wideouts are more blockers than pass-catchers.

The Midshipmen did lose four of their top five rushers from a year ago. Others who will get the opportunity to carry the mail will be senior slotback Bobby Doyle (5-11, 195), senior fullback Kevin Campbell (5-11, 193), senior slotback Cory Finnerty (5-10, 190), and sophomore fullback Alex Teich (6-0, 215). Combined, all four rushed for 355 yards on 53 tries and two scores.

Defensively, coordinator Buddy Green uses a base 3-4 defense and has seven starters returning from a unit that was 53rd in the NCAA in total defense (346.7 ypg), and 40th in scoring defense (22.0 ppg), last year. The Mids fared better against the run (134.9 ypg – 46th in NCAA), than the pass (211.9 ypg- 64th in NCAA).

Anchoring Navy’s D is 6-foot, 223-pound middle linebacker Ross Pospisil, who had 106 total tackles, three of those for loss with two interceptions last season.

Junior Wyatt Middleton, a 6-foot, 192-pound free safety, is the second-leading returning tackler after recording 80 stops, while 5-foot-11, 210-pound senior outside linebacker Clint Stovie is third with 60 total tackles last year.

Nose guard Nate Frazier, a 6-foot-3, 287-pound senior had 44 total tackles and led the team with eight tackles for loss, while 6-foot-4, 263-pound senior defensive end Matt Nechak is the top returning sack leader after registering four during the 2008 season.

Ohio State is 3-0 all-time vs. Navy, and the last time the Buckeyes and the Midshipmen met on the gridiron came back in the 1981 Liberty Bowl.

Quarterback Art Schlichter threw two touchdown passes, a 50-yarder to Gary Williams and a 9-yard TD toss to Cedric Anderson as the Buckeyes defeated the Mids 31-28.

Tailback Tim Spencer gained 96 yards on 22 carries and Jimmy Gayle added 88 yards on 15 tries with two scores for Ohio State.

The Midshipmen took the lead in the third period when middle guard George Herlong blocked Karl Edwards’ punt and linebacker Kenneth Olsen ran it 20 yards for a touchdown to make it 20-17.

Minutes later, Ohio State got the ball on the Navy 37 yard line and Schlichter threw two passes to Spencer and twice more to Anderson to put the ball at the 16. Five plays later, Gayle ran it in from the two to put the Buckeyes ahead for good at 24-20.

Tags: Football by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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Right: Senator Sweater Vest, minus the vest, spoke on Tuesday. (AP Photo)

It’s that time of the week and year when I disguise myself as Columbus Dispatch reporter Tim May, complete with a hillbilly accent, and crash Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel’s weekly press conference at the Jack Nicklaus Museum.

Most press conferences offer a lot of fluff without much substance, though this time around, being the first of the year, you do come away with some much needed info.

Generally, the first five minutes of so, coach Tressel begins with some opening statements. With it being the first one of the year, he talks about preseason camp and the Buckeyes’ first opponent, Navy.

First on camp:

I thought we had a good rugged training camp. And I hear some of the guys saying that it’s by far been the most rugged one we’ve had. I don’t have any proof of that, but they seem to be going hard at it and they spent a lot of time together.”

Then he talks about the Navy game:

There’s a whole bunch of excitement, I think, and you folks can feel it as well as we can, energy and electricity about the United States Naval Academy coming here. Everyone knows about their successes and we talk a lot about those big games that you play in and so forth and I think they’ve won 12 of their big games in a row when you count their games against Army and Air Force, which is as big as you can get. And eight-win seasons, one after the next, multiple bowl games in a row, and they’ve been very, very successful and they have good consistency going on, which I think consistency is the key to any operation.”

Coach Tressel then talks about Tyler Moeller:

Tyler Moeller, you know, won’t be with us all season and that’s — you wish you had a guy like that. It’s been good. He came back to town the last couple days and he’s doing great and progressing well and there’s no question in our minds that he’s going to be back playing for us shortly after the new year and into spring practice and so forth.

Tressel talks about who will not be available for Saturday’s game, whether it’s because of injury or in the coach’s doghouse:

Melvin Fellows will probably miss a little bit of time. Mike Adams, Orhian Johnson, Travis Howard, Jermale Martin won’t be with us probably on Saturday.”

Navy, which runs a run-heavy, triple-option offense offers a unique challenge for the Ohio State defense. Coach Tressel addresses that here:

The difficult thing perhaps about playing against Navy’s offense is there’s really not much carryover, after that you probably don’t use that package the rest of the year.”

Tressel then mentions which freshmen who will play, and those who are likely not to play and will keep their redshirt:

I would say Jamie Woods at safety is probably on the bubble. He’s on some special units in two deep but we’ll see. C. J. Barnett probably will, because he’s on a couple special units. Right near the top we’ll have to see this week of practice. Dorian Bell probably will. Again he’s on some special units. Jonathan Newsome probably is on the bubble as to whether he will or won’t. Obviously all of it’s based on health and everything else. Storm Klein will probably play. Jordan Whiting is probably on the bubble. Adam Bellamy probably will not based upon our depth inside there. John Simon probably will. Let’s see who else we’ve got here. Melvin Fellows, I mentioned won’t. Jack Mewhort is probably on the bubble in the offensive line, he’s in the two-deep but we’ll see how that unfolds. One thing Coach Bollman is comfortable with is we’ve got three or four guys that can play center. Sometimes you get nervous about you don’t have enough centers, make the calls and snap the ball and all the rest, so Jack’s been doing a good job in there.

Marcus Hall is on the bubble, but, you know, probably closer side of the bubble, whatever that means. Corey Linsley probably will. Reid Fragel probably will. Duron Carter probably will. James Jackson and Chris Fields, probably on the bubble, maybe more towards the side of the bubble that might not, according to how our depth is going out wide and so forth. Kenny Guiton right now is number three, so we’ll see. Jordan Hall and Jaamal Berry probably will. Zach Boren and Adam Homan will. Dominic Clarke probably will play. Corey Brown, on the bubble, probably closer to the bubble not this week, but we hope we stay — you never know. And you never know how guys progress.”

Tressel was then asked about Navy quarterback Ricky Dobbs:

I’ve listened to our defensive guys talk about the fact that he throws it extremely well. Obviously he runs it well. He’s had huge games running the ball. He brings back experience. He stepped in and took advantage of his opportunities, but the thing that I keep hearing as I listen is he’s a very, very good passer and that’s scary in this offense because if you don’t have the play action covered, there could be a sinking feeling when you see that ball flying out there knowing none of our guys are around.”

The Vest was later asked if it’s difficult for his secondary to prepare for Navy

Oh, absolutely. There’s to me, two huge things about the secondary. One is that they will never have seen so many guys flying at them at the speed at which it happens here and the number of cut blocks and so forth they’re going to have to deal with and number two is the speed of hard play action and you’re on your horse heading into the pursuit lanes and all of the sudden the quarterback’s off the line of scrimmage and here goes a receiver running by you. Maybe a guy you were running away from, so you didn’t get cut by him, now all of a sudden he’s running by you so, yeah, it’s tough for the secondary.”

Tags: Football by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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Right: Sophomore quarterback Terrelle Pryor works on his passing during preseason camp. (AP Photo)

Once again, expectations are high in Columbus for this year’s edition of the Ohio State football team, and rightfully so, considering that the Buckeyes have reached either the BCS national championship game or a BCS bowl and have won a Big Ten title in each of the last four seasons.

But…

Just five starters return on the offensive side of the football, though junior left guard Justin Boren was a starter at Michigan before transferring. He will be joined on the offensive line with other returning starters that include senior right tackle Jim Cordle, junior right guard Bryant Browning, and sophomore center Mike Brewster. Rounding out the five starters is junior left tackle Andy Miller.

The success of the offense hinges on the offensive line, and as a unit, this group needs be much better than they were a year ago. On the plus side, there are several capable backups that could also see playing time and push for a starting position with the likes of sophomores J.B. Shugarts and Mike Adams, a long with true freshman Jack Mewhort.

At the running back position, sophomore Boom Herron seems to be the heir apparent to take over for the departed Beanie Wells, who left early for the NFL. Herron gained 439 yards on 89 carries and six touchdowns as Wells’ backup last season. Again, there’s lots of depth at this position. Junior running back Brandon Saine, who has been hampered with various injuries over the past two years, will also get his share of carries. Incoming freshmen Jaamal Berry and Jordan Hall will also get some opportunities.

At wide receiver there’s a lot of potential, but not a lot of experience. Junior Dane Sanzenbacher is the Buckeyes’ top returning pass-catcher after hauling in 21 receptions for 272 yards and a score. But the one receiver quarterback Terrelle Pryor will be looking to most will be sophomore DeVier Posey, who was ranked as one of the top prospects at his position coming out of Cincinnati LaSalle High School. Posey had 11 receptions for 117 yards and a TD as a true freshman last season. Others in the mix at WR are senior Ray Small, junior Taurian Washington, who was quite impressive in Ohio State’s spring game, and sophomore Lamaar Thomas. Also pushing for playing time is true freshman Duron Carter. There’s a lot of talent in the wide receiver corps, it’s all just a matter of who steps up.

Senior tight end Jake Ballard returns, but redshirt freshmen Jake Stoneburner, who is more of a hybrid tight end/wide receiver at 6-5, 230 pounds, should also see a fair amount of playing time in the Buckeye offense.

Clearly, though, this is Pryor’s team, who was named the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year as voted by a panel of media members. It was also evident in the spring game that he wants to be a more complete quarterback, throwing several deep, accurate passes, one of which included a 44-yard TD toss to Washington in the closing seconds of the first half.

In 2008, Pryor played in all 12 games and started nine, completing 60.6 percent of his passes for 637 yards. He had a very good TD-to-INT ratio of 12 to 4, and was the Big Ten’s most efficient passer with a rating of 146.5.

Sophomore backup quarterback Joe Bauserman will see some playing time in a mop-up role late in games. True freshman Kenny Guiton will be the third-string quarterback, but it’s unlikely Tressel will burn his redshirt unless there’s an injury to the other two.

Seven starters return on defense, with three on the line and another three in the secondary. The biggest holes that need to be filled come at the linebacker positions after the graduation of James Laurinaitis and Marcus Freeman, along with the season-ending head injury suffered by Tyler Moeller while on vacation in Florida.

The lone returning starter is junior outside linebacker Ross Homan. He was fourth on the team with 67 total tackles a year ago and he will be joined in the lineup with senior outside linebacker Austin Spitler and junior middle linebacker Brian Rolle. Others who will see playing time are true freshmen Storm Kline and Dorian Bell, along with sophomore Etienne Sabino and Andrew Sweat.

The strength of the Buckeyes defense will be at the defensive line positions. There’s a lot of talent and depth at each, which includes junior defensive ends Thaddeus Gibson and Cameron Heyward, plus defensive tackle Doug Worthington. There’s also some flexibility as Heyward can move to a tackle slot on passing downs. Others expected to see plenty of playing time include junior tackle Dexter Larimore, senior tackle Todd Denlinger, and senior ends Lawrence Wilson and Rob Rose.

The secondary will feature three returning starters with junior cornerback Chimdi Chekwa, senior strong safety Kurt Coleman, and senior free safety Anderson Russell. The other cornerback spot will likely have senior Andre Amos penciled in there, though he’s been junior Devon Torrence all camp. Junior Jermale Hines will play in nickle packages.

Outlook:

If I haven’t said this already, and I know I have, but even though Ohio State is the front-runner in the Big Ten this year, I still believe that the Buckeyes are a year away from winning a national title. OSU could very well post the same record, 10-2, as they did a season ago, but my hunch is that the Buckeyes will go 11-1 and make it to another BCS bowl, this time the Rose Bowl.

Tags: Football by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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