Navy faces Utah in the Poinsettia Bowl

Navy again did the job in 2007 with a program-record 351.5 ypg on the ground.

Thursday, December 20th, 9:00 p.m. (et)

By Gregg Xenakes, Associate College Football Editor

GAME NOTES: Back in the San Diego Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl for the second time in the three-year existence of the event, the Navy Midshipmen suit up against the Utah Runnin’ Utes on Thursday night at Qualcomm Stadium. In the first year of the Poinsettia Bowl, the Middies crushed another representative from the Mountain West Conference with a commanding 51-30 victory in 2005. Last year Navy, which has a bowl record of 6-6-1 dating back to the 1924 Rose Bowl, was slighted by Boston College (25-24) in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. As far as this past regular season is concerned, the Mids closed out the 2007 campaign with four straight victories, logging a 38-3 thrashing versus Army on the road to secure yet another Commander-in-Chief Trophy (fifth straight) in the process. Overall, the academy finished with a record of 8-4 for head coach Paul Johnson, who has since jumped ship and is making his way to Atlanta to become the new head coach at Georgia Tech. Stepping in for Johnson is assistant head coach Ken Niumatalolo who is believed to be the first Polynesian head coach in NCAA history as he becomes the 38th head man in the history of the program. Taking a closer look at the Utes, they too finished this past season with a record of 8-4 and tied New Mexico for third place in the MWC standings with five wins in eight tries. The start of the season didn’t look all that promising with the team falling in back-to-back meetings versus Oregon State and Air Force and then losing to a woeful UNLV squad in Las Vegas, but that 1-3 start was followed with a seven-game win streak before Kyle Whittingham’s team fell to nationally-ranked BYU in the regular-season finale, 17-10. The first non-BCS program to make it to a BCS bowl contest in 2005 with a 35-7 victory over Pittsburgh at the Fiesta Bowl, Utah is 9-4 since beginning postseason play in the 1939 Sun Bowl. The squad has played in a bowl game in each of the last five seasons and has won six straight bowl games beginning with a 17-16 decision against Fresno State in the 1999 Las Vegas Bowl. As far as a relationship between these two programs is concerned, this is the first-ever game between them.

The Utes failed to place a single offensive player on the All-MWC First Team this season, but the squad is stacked with talent on that side of the ball. More than just a passing quarterback, Brian Johnson has always posed a threat as a runner as well, which explains why he has just 10 passing scores and nine interceptions this season. Johnson, who has been injury prone during his stay in Salt Lake City, was once again on the sidelines this season and is listed as probable for this game with a shoulder injury, which means there’s a slight chance of seeing Tommy Grady in the huddle instead. One of the top rushers in the MWC this season, Darrell Mack took his lumps with 231 carries for 1,128 yards and accounted for 10 of the unit’s 16 rushing scores. The Utes had some issues with scoring this season, with the shutout against UNLV being the most devastating, but they are still better than their 25.5 ppg indicates. One such performance was the 50 points scored in a grudge match versus Wyoming.

The Utes are known more for their defense than anything else. The squad ranked first in the Mountain West Conference in scoring defense, giving up a mere 15.6 ppg (third in the nation). The pass defense was especially stingy, permitting only 189.4 ypg to rank first in the MWC again and 15th in the country. In terms of a pass efficiency defense, a mark of 94.47 was better than every other team in the nation except for Ohio State. The run defense wasn’t bad either, allowing just 130 ypg and limiting as many as five different opponents to less than 100 yards on the ground. Were it not for the 334 yards given up to Air Force and the 575 total yards between the Falcons and Oregon State in the first two games, there’s no doubt the Utes would be have been tops in the country in that department. One of the main reasons for the toughened defense up front was the play of Martail Burnett, an All-MWC First-Team member who led the program with 14 tackles for loss and seven sacks, as part of his 47 stops overall.

The nation’s leader in rushing in four of the last five seasons, Navy again did the job in 2007 with a program-record 351.5 ypg on the ground. By leading the country in rushing in each of the last three seasons, the Middies established an NCAA record, one that might never be matched by anyone other than the Midshipmen. Directed by quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, there really isn’t a single dominant force in the running game for the Middies, which makes it that much harder for opponents to stop the hard-charging ground attack. The team has a total of seven different players who have gained at least 463 yards rushing and scored a minimum of five touchdowns. The team as a whole registered an incredible 51 scores on the ground, with Kaheaku-Enhada leading the way with his 11 TDs. Eric Kettani and Zerbin Singleton accounted for nine each, while Shun White (seven TDs) averaged a stunning 8.2 yards per attempt when given the chance. The top running team in the country has had to make some concessions in the passing attack, and that has resulted in a mere 93.1 ypg to rank dead last in the nation. However, with barely one sack per game being allowed by the offense, the approach has again proven fruitful for the Middies as they rank eighth in the country in scoring with 39.9 ppg.

Perhaps not having much of a passing offense the last few years has also taken its toll on the team’s pass defense to a degree. Without such a force to practice against day-in and day-out, the defense for the Middies showed it had serious problems trying to slow down aerial attacks. Navy was tabbed for an incredible 265.5 ypg through the air, which ranked the squad 106th in the nation. Worse than that though, as far as the pass efficiency defense is concerned, the Middies have a rating of 163.7 which ranks the squad dead last among the 119 FBS programs. With an average of just one sack per game, Navy is 115th in the country in that department and is 111th in terms of TFLs with close to five per game. Put it all together, with a run defense that allows 172.7 ypg (80th), and you come up with a squad that is 109th in the country, allowing 36.5 ppg. Clearly, a lot of that has to do with the five-game stretch between October 10th and November 10th that saw the group surrender no less than 44 points in every outing and a high of 62 in the slugfest versus North Texas. Wyatt Middleton tops the team’s tackles list with 85 stops, while Michael Walsh (54 stops) has accounted for 10.5 TFLs, three sacks and three forced fumbles.

Popularity: 22% [?]