11/1/2004 - Football
Navy-Tulane Game Notes

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Navy-Tulane Game Notes

Game Data
Navy (7-1) will travel to New Orleans, La., to take on the Tulane Green Wave (2-5) Saturday evening at the Louisiana Superdome (69,767). Kickoff is set for 6 p.m central time (7 p.m. EST).

Navy is off to its best start since 1978 when the Mids started 7-1 and finished 9-3, which included a 23-16 victory over BYU in the Holiday Bowl.

A win on Saturday would move Navy to 8-1 for the first time since 1963 when the Mids, led by Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Roger Staubach, started 8-1 and finished 9-2, which included a 28-6 loss to No. 1-ranked Texas in the Cotton Bowl.

Tulane, which upset UAB, 59-55, two weeks ago, is coming off a 24-3 loss to Houston.
Saturday's game will be televised by Cox Sports Television in the New Orleans area. No other information was available at the time of this press release.

Saturday's game can be heard on the Navy Radio Network, which includes ESPN Radio in Baltimore (1300 AM), Sportstalk 980 in Washington, D.C. (980 AM), WNAV in Annapolis (1430 AM), ESPN Radio in Cambridge, Md. (1240 AM), ESPN Radio in Norfolk, Va. (1310 AM)and WFWR (91.5 FM) in Attica, Ind.

The game can also be heard world wide via the internet at
www.navysports.com, www.wnav.com or www.sportstalk980.com or on Sirius satellite radio (for channel number go to www.sirius.com).

The Navy Football Pregame show will air an hour before kickoff (5 p.m. EST) on those same networks.

Bob Socci is in his eighth season on the Navy football broadcasts and is in his seventh year as the full-time play-by-play announcer. Socci is joined by former Navy fullback Omar Nelson ('97), who is in his third year as a member of the Navy Radio Network and his second as the full-time color analyst. Noted sports author John Feinstein provides a weekly pregame segment.

Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller will kick things off with the Navy Tailgate Show on 1430 WNAV and www.wnav.com live from Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium at 4 p.m. EST.

Close Calls
Navy is 4-0 this year in games decided by four points or less. Before this year, Navy had lost nine of its last-10 contests decided by four points or less dating back to the 1998 Rutgers game which Navy lost, 36-33. Navy's only "close" win in that span was a 31-28 upset at West Virginia in 1999.

In The Polls
Navy received votes in the coaches poll for the fifth time in the last six weeks, earning 37 voting points (1 point for 25th, 2 for 24th, etc). The 37 points are the 28th most in the country.
Navy received votes in the Associated Press poll for the fourth time in the last five weeks, as Navy accumulated 20 voting points, the 32nd most in the country.

Navy has not been ranked since Oct. 22, 1979, when the 6-0 Midshipmen rose as high as 17th in the polls.

TV Darlings
This will be Navy's eighth appearance on television this year, which is tied for the second-most appearances in the country.

Injury Report
Offensive tackle Casey Hughes (Houston, Texas) is probable with a left ankle sprain.

Series History
Tulane leads the all-time series, 10-6-1, and has dominated Navy in New Orleans going 7-1-1.

The Green Wave has won three-straight games when the Naval Academy has visited the French Quarter as the Mids have been unable to slow the Tulane offense down. In 2002, Tulane defeated Navy, 51-30, in 2000, Tulane won, 50-38, and in 1998, the Green Wave won, 42-24. Navy's last win in the Crescent City was in 1994, 17-15.

Last year, the Navy defense played one of its best games of the season while the offense rolled to 414 yards of total offfense as the Mids buried Tulane, 35-17, in front of 27,417 fans at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

Going Home
Navy's only player from Louisiana is reserve center Marshall Green, who hails from Baton Rouge.

Scouting Tulane
Tulane is off to a 2-5 start with victories over Florida A&M (39-19) and UAB (59-55).
The Green Wave is led by quarterback Lester Richard who has completed 58 percent of his passes (112-194) for 1,331 yards and 15 touchdowns. He has tossed nine interceptions, as well.

Richard's favorite target is Roydell Williams, who has 32 catches for 500 yards and seven touchdowns. Four of Chris Bush's 19 catches have gone for touchdowns.

Jovon Jackson leads the Tulane ground game with 520 yards and three touchdowns on 108 carries.

The defense is led by Anthony Cannon, who has recorded 70 tackles, six tackles for a loss and four sacks. Joey Dawson has recorded 55 tackles.

Navy-Tulane Connections
Kevin Kelly, who coaches the inside linebackers and is the special teams coordinator at Navy, was the linebackers coach at Tulane from 1992-94.

Mike Brass, who is the Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Performance at Navy, served as head strength and conditioning coach at Tulane from 1992-96.

Mids Roll Over Delaware, 34-20
Aaron Polanco (Sr./Wimberley, Texas) rushed for three touchdowns and threw for another as Navy rolled to a 34-20 victory over Delaware in front of 34,416 on Homecoming. The win was Navy's first on Homecoming since 1998 and the Mids improved to 7-1 for the first time since 1978.

Navy jumped out to a 7-0 lead as Polanco scored on a 22-yard touchdown run on its second possession, capping off an 11-play, 86-yard drive.

Delaware came right back to tie it at seven as the Blue Hens marched 80 yards on 14 plays and Niquan Lee caught a five-yard touchdown pass from Sonny Riccio.

Delaware led 10-7 late in the first half and forced a Navy punt to get the ball back, but senior gunner Lord Cole (Northridge, Calif.) knocked the ball loose and it was recovered by Mick Yokitis (Jr./Pittsburgh, Pa.) at the Delaware 11.

Three plays later, Polanco hit Eric Roberts (Sr./Miami, Fla.) with a six-yard touchdown pass to give Navy a lead it would never relinquish.

After going three and out on its first series, Navy scored the next three times it had the ball-Polanco scored on one and seven-yard runs and Kyle Eckel (Sr./Haverford, Pa.), who rushed for a season-high 143 yards on 23 carries, scored from four yards out.

Delaware scored a late touchdown on a 65-yard punt return by Sidney Haugabrook after the game had long been decided.

The Navy defense, which struggled to get off the field in the first half, settled down and played much better in the second half, giving up just 87 yards after intermission.

Jeremy McGown (So./Houston, Texas) led the defense with 11 tackles, while Vaughn Kelley (Sr./Coconut Creek, Fla.) was in on nine tackles. David Mahoney (So./Fort Myers, Fla.) and Josh Smith (Sr./Attica, Ind.) had seven tackles each. Mahoney added a sack.

Notes From The Delaware Game
*Navy's 34-20 victory over Delaware erased a five-game Homecoming losing
streak. Navy's last win on Homecoming was in 1998, 42-35, over Colgate.
Navy is 36-19 all-time in Homecoming games.

*Navy's 441 yards of total offense is the Mids second best output of the
season. Navy rolled up 447 yards against Tulsa earlier this year.

*Saturday's attendance was 34,416, the 10th-largest crowd to see a game at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Navy has now attracted 152,484 fans to Navy-Marine Corps in 2004.

*For the first time since the Tulsa contest, Navy topped the 300-yard rushing barrier recording a season-best 346 yard. Navy's previous season high was 330 yards against Tulsa.

*Navy's four rushing touchdowns ties a season high. Navy also rushed for four touchdowns against Northeastern and Tulsa.

*Aaron Polanco's (Sr./Wimberley, Texas) three rushing touchdowns against Delaware tied his career high. He rushed for three touchdowns against Boston College in 2002 and earlier this year against Northeastern.

*Kyle Eckel's (Sr./Haveford, Pa.) 44-yard run with 3:54 left in the third quarter was a career-long run for Eckel and a season-long run for Navy. The previous season high was 37 yards by Frank Divis (Sr./Avon, Ohio) against Duke and Eric Roberts (Sr./Miami, Fla.) at Tulsa.

*Aaron Polanco's (Sr./Wimberley, Texas) 22-yard touchdown run was Navy's first first-quarter score in five games. Navy last scored in the first quarter against Tulsa.

*Sophomore wide receiver Jason Tomlinson (So./Arlington, Texas) caught a career-high four passes against the Blue Hens. It was also a season high for receptions by a Navy player.

*Junior Lord Cole (Northridge, Calif.) forced his first-career fumble on a second-effort tackle of punt returner Sidney Haugabrook.

*Sophomore safety Jeremy McGown (Houston, Texas) recorded a career-high 11 tackles against Delaware.

*Delaware's 65-yard punt return for a touchdown by Sidney Haugabrook was the first punt returned for a touchdown against Navy since Aug. 30, 2001, when Temple's Zamir Cobb went the distance from 47 yards away.

*Delaware wide receiver David Boler set a Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium record with 16 receptions. The previous record of 15 was set by Robert Goodridge of Vanderbilt in 1967 and Eugene Baker of Kent State in 1997.

Bowl Eligible
Navy is bowl eligible and the Mids are trying to become just the second team in school history to play in a bowl game in back to back years. Last year, Navy played in the Houston Bowl.

Navy has played in bowl games in consecutive years just once in school history, 1980-81. The 1980 team lost to Houston, 35-0, in the now defunct Garden State Bowl in the Meadowlands, while the 1981 squad lost to Ohio State, 31-28, in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis.

Winning Season
Navy has posted back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1996-97 when Navy finished 9-3 and 7-4. It is also just the fourth winning season in 20 years for the Midshipmen and 10th in the last 40 years.

Fallen Brothers
The Navy football family has lost two members and a third injured over the past two months in the line of duty.

Lt. Cmdr. Scott Zellem, USN ('91), was killed Aug. 10 when his Navy jet crashed in the Pacific Ocean. Zellem, a linebacker, was a four-year member of the Navy football team and lettered as a senior.

First Lt. Ron Winchester, USMC ('01), was killed Sept. 3 due to enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. Winchester, who played offensive tackle, was a four-year member of the football team and a two-year starter at tackle.

First Lt. Scott Swantner, USMC ('01), who played next to Winchester on Navy's offensive line, was wounded in Iraq on Oct. 6 when a grenade exploded during a house-to-house search.

Johnson Tabs Two Members Of The Brigade To Be 12th Mid
Navy head football coach Paul Johnson announced Oct. 22 that John McLaughlin (Sr./Deer Park, N.Y.) and John Reuland (Sr./East Orleans, Mass.) had been selected out of a pool of 18 candidates to be the 12th Mid. McLaughlin, a member of the 7th company, was the 12th Mid for the Delaware game, while Reuland, a member of the 18th company, will be the 12th Mid for the Rutgers game.

"I was very impressed with the candidates that tried out," said Johnson. "We easily could have picked any of the 18 guys, but the two we did select were just a little faster and they had pretty good size. I feel comfortable with either one of these guys running down on a kickoff."

The concept of a 12th Mid was hatched at Johnson's radio show when senior Tony DiFranco of the 2nd company posed the question to Coach Johnson. Johnson took it for immediate action and the idea will come to fruition on Oct. 30.

McLaughlin and Reuland will also have the honor of wearing No. 12, as 1963 Heisman Trophy winner Roger Staubach has given his permission for his number to be 'unretired' for those two games.

McLaughlin, who stands 6-3 and weighs 215 pounds, came to the Naval Academy to play lacrosse and is the current co-captain of the club lacrosse team. At Deer Park High School in New York, he was a three-year letterwinner on the football team and lettered five times in lacrosse (he played on the varsity lacrosse team as an eighth grader). McLaughlin's father, Mike, is a 1981 graduate of the Naval Academy and was a three-time All-American in lacrosse (1979-81).

When Reuland, who is 6-3 and weighs 195 pounds, steps on the football field Nov. 20 against Rutgers, it will be the first time he's ever played in an organized football game. Reuland is a four-year member of the club hockey team at Navy and last year was named an Honorable Mention All-American as he scored 16 goals and handed out 18 assists. Reuland lettered twice in hockey at Phillips Exeter Academy and three times at Nauset Regional High School where he also played No. 1 singles on the tennis team for three years.

Home Sweet Home
Navy has won seven-straight home games dating back to last year, the longest home winning streak since the Mids won eight in a row over three seasons (1995-97). Navy is 9-1 (.900) at home over the last two years after losing 14 straight from 2001-03.

Second Half Dominance
Navy has dominated the second half this year, outscoring the opposition,
111-73.

Tough In The First Quarter
Dating back to the start of last season (21 games, 15-6 over that span),
Navy has outscored the opposition, 144-64, in the first quarter.

The Red Zone
Navy has been tough in the red zone on offense. The Mids have scored
on 22 of their 29 trips (76 percent) inside the red zone with 20 of those
scores going for touchdowns (69 percent). The offense has scored on 20 of
its last 24 trips (.833) in the red zone (18 TD's and two field goals).

Defensing The Red Zone
Navy's defense in the red zone has been a good news-bad news
proposition. The defense has allowed 21 scores in 25 opponent
opportunities (84 percent), but only 13 (52 percent) of those scores have
been touchdowns. Opponents have scored on their last 15 trips inside the
red zone (100 percent), with 10 of those scores going for touchdowns (67
percent).

Go For It
The Navy offense is 12 for 17 (71 percent) on fourth down conversions
this year (0-1 on special teams), though it has made just two of its last six
(33 percent). The opposition has converted just 10 of its 16 attempts (63
percent) on fourth down.

Disciplined Football
Navy is fourth in the country for the least amount of penalties
per game, averaging 3.88 penalties per contest. The Mids are also fourth
in fewest yards penalized per game.

Least Penalized Teams In The Country
(Penalties Per Game)
1. Illinois 3.67
2. Colorado State 3.75
Oklahoma 3.75
4. Navy 3.88
5. East Carolina 4.29
6. Missouri 4.63
North Carolina 4.63
8. California 4.86
9. Vanderbilt 4.88
10. Minnesota 4.89

Least Penalized Teams In The Country
(Penalty Yards Per Game)
1. Colorado State 30.00
2. Illinois 31.44
3. Oklahoma State 32.13
4. Navy 34.00
5. East Carolina 34.43
6. Missouri 35.38
7. Minnesota 35.56
8. North Carolina 36.13
9. La.-Lafayette 40.25
10. Ohio State 41.00

Tough Against The Pass
Navy is 10th in the nation in pass defense, giving up 164.38 yards per
contest. Last year, Navy finished 14th in the nation in pass defense, allowing
180.23 yards per game.

Top Pass Defensive Teams In The Country
1. Alabama 106.63
2. North Carolina State 129.38
3. Missouri 131.13
4. Wisconsin 147.25
5. LSU 154.38
6. Virginia Tech 155.13
7. Penn State 158.25
8. Kentucky 160.88
9. Auburn 163.00
10. Navy 164.38

Careful With The Throws
Navy quarterbacks have thrown just three interceptions this year, which
is tied for the seventh fewest in the country.

Least Amount Of Interceptions Thrown
1. Texas A&M 1
North Texas 1
3. Bowling Green 2
Georgia 2
Virginia 2
Louisville 2
7. Navy 3
Ball State 3
Utah 3
Vanderbilt 3
Houston 3
Southern Miss 3
Toledo 3
Oklahoma State 3

Navy Looks To Defend Rushing Crown
The Mids led the nation in rushing in 2003, averaging 323.2 yards per game. It was just the second time in school history that Navy led the country in rushing. The only other time was in 1999 when the Mids averaged 292.2 yards per game.

Navy has climbed to third in the nation in rushing after eight games thanks to Saturday's season-high 346 yards against Delaware. Navy is averaging 270.25 yards per contest. Rice leads the country in rushing, averaging 314.63 yards per game.


Top Rushing Teams In The Country
1. Rice 314.63
2. Texas 304.75
3. Navy 270.25
4. Minnesota 266.22
5. West Virginia 263.50
6. Oklahoma State 254.50
7. Virginia 249.00
8. Air Force 247.50
9. California 243.86
10. Northern Illinois 239.11

Hitting Paydirt
Navy's 23 rushing touchdowns are tied for the seventh most in the country. Navy has scored four rushing touchdowns in three games, three in three games and one in two games. Virginia and Louisville lead the country with 24 rushing touchdowns.

Most Rushing Touchdowns In the Country
1. Boise State 29
2. Texas 26
3. Virginia 24
Louisville 24
Minnesota 24
Rice 24
7. Navy 23
Utah 23
Oklahoma State 23
10. Texas A&M 20

In Paul We Trust
Navy football has struggled over the last 20 years, compiling an overall
record of 76-156 (.328).

The Mids, however, have not struggled when Paul Johnson has been
calling the plays.

Johnson has been at Navy for five of those 20 years (two years as a
coordinator and this is his third season as a head coach), and in those five
years, the Mids are 31-25 (.554) and have appeared in two bowl
games.

The Mids are 15-6 (.714) over the last two years and have won 13 of
their last 17 contests (.765).

In the 15 years over that 20 year span that Johnson hasn't been on the
sidelines, Navy is 45-131(.256).

Johnson On Bobby Dodd "Watch List"

The Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award Foundation has released a list
of Division I-A college head football coaches that are potential recipients of
the prestigious Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award.

Among the NCAA Division I-A head football coaches on the
Foundation's watch list are: Paul Johnson of Navy, Pete Carroll of USC, Mark
Richt of Georgia, Joe Tiller of Purdue, Larry Coker of Miami, Dan Hawkins of
Boise State and Urban Meyer of Utah.

The Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award is presented annually and is
selected by a blue-ribbon panel of college football experts. The award is in
honor of Coach Robert Lee "Bobby" Dodd, one of college football's all-time
coaching greats.

This year's recipient will be announced during halftime of the Chick-Fil-A
Peach Bowl, which will be televised by ESPN on Dec. 31. Oklahoma's Bob
Stoops was the 2003 recipient of the award.

Defense Tightens Up After The First Quarter
The Navy defense has shown a penchant for tightening up as the game
goes along. Opponents are 18 for 32 (56 percent) in converting third
downs in the first quarter, 11 for 33 (33 percent) in the second quarter,
10 for 25 (40 percent) in the third quarter and just 11 for 31 (35 percent)
in the fourth quarter.

Shutout
Navy's 29-0 rout of Tulsa was its first shutout since Oct. 15, 1994,
when the Mids shut out Lafayette, 7-0. Navy last shut out a Division IA
team on Oct. 4, 1980, when it blanked Boston College, 21-0. The last time
Navy recorded a shutout on the road was Sept. 23, 1978, at Connecticut
(30-0), and the last time Navy recorded a shutout on the road against a
Division IA opponent was Sept. 16, 1978, when it shut out Virginia, 32-0.