Jan. 13, 2010

• 2009 Navy Football Postseason Notes

Navy Finishes 2009 Just Outside of Top 25 in Polls
• The Navy football team (10-4) finished the 2009 campaign ranked 26th in the USA Today / Coaches Poll and 28th in the Associated Press Poll.
• The Mids were one of just 21 teams that concluded the year with 10 or more wins.
• According to the USA Today / Coaches Poll, Navy entered the bowl season ranked 39th with just one voting point. Thanks to a 35-13 thrashing of Missouri, the Mids picked up a remarkable 88 points to finish just three points out of the top 25 behind Oklahoma State (9-4). Navy opponents Ohio State (fifth) and Pittsburgh (15th) finished the year in the top 25, while next year's opponent Central Michigan finished 24th. Air Force finished 39th with seven points and SMU was 43rd with one point.
• Navy was not receiving any votes in the Associated Press Poll upon entering bowl play, but picked up 85 voting points to finish 28th, just six points behind No. 25 West Virginia (9-4). Ohio State finished fifth, Pitt was 15th and Central Michigan was 23rd in the final AP Poll. Air Force finished with just three voting points to finish 38th.
• The final USA Today/Coaches vote is not made public, however the final Associated Press vote was available.
• Thirty-one of the 59 Associated Press voters put Navy in their top 25. The highest ranking Navy received was No. 19 from Doug Doughty of the Roanoke Times. Brett McMurphy from AOL Fanhouse and Mike DiRocco from the Florida Times-Union ranked Navy 20th. Army beat writer Sal Interdonato of the Middletown Times-Herald Record voted Navy 21st, Ohio State beat writer Doug Lesmerises from the Columbus Dispatch voted Navy 23rd, Notre Dame beat writer Pete DiPrimio of the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel voted Navy 24th and Air Force beat writer Jake Schaller of the Colorado Springs Gazette voted Navy 25th.
• Those not voting for Navy include Barker Davis from the Washington Times, Notre Dame beat writer Eric Hansen of the South Bend Tribune, Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Paul Arnett of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Tom Hart of CBS College Sports and the ESPN trio of Chris Fowler, Craig James and Kirk Herbstreit.
• Teddy Feinberg of the Las Cruces Sun-News voted Air Force 24th and did not put Navy in his top 25.

Mids Win Texas Bowl In Dominating Fashion
• Quarterback Ricky Dobbs rushed for 166 yards and three touchdowns on 30 carries and completed nine of his 14 pass attempts for 130 yards and a touchdown, while the Navy defense held Missouri to just one touchdown as the Mids routed the Tigers, 35-13, in front of an announced crowd of 69,441 at the Texas Bowl.
• Dobbs set a Navy bowl record for rushing yards and tied the record for carries and rushing touchdowns en route to being named the Texas Bowl MVP. Slot back Marcus Curry also had a big day, rushing for 109 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries and catching five passes for 97 yards.
• The Navy defense opened the game in a 2-4-5 alignment that befuddled the Missouri offense all day. After giving up a 58-yard touchdown pass from Blaine Gabbert to Danario Alexander on the second play of the game, the Mids allowed just six points over the final 59:24.
• After the Alexander touchdown run on the second play of the game, Navy tied it on a one-yard touchdown run by Dobbs with 2:58 left in the first quarter and then took the lead for good on a 12-yard run by Dobbs with 45 seconds left in the half. That touchdown was set up by a Vela fumble recovery.
• Bobby Doyle's three-yard touchdown reception on a slant route from Dobbs extended the lead to 21-10 early in the third quarter and then Navy put the game away in the fourth on Curry's 11-yard touchdown run and a one-yard touchdown run by Dobbs.
• The Mids gashed the Missouri defense, which entered the game ranked 11th in the country against the run, for 515 yards, including a Texas Bowl-record 385 yards on the ground.
• Missouri was held to 356 yards of total offense, including a paltry 65 rushing yards.
• Linebacker Ross Pospisil led the Navy defense with nine tackles, 1.5 sacks and an interception, while outside linebacker Craig Schaefer had eight tackles, three tackles for a loss and a sack. Safety Wyatt Middleton added an interception and outside linebacker Ram Vela recovered a fumble.

Navy Announces 2010 Schedule
• Naval Academy Director of Athletics Chet Gladchuk announced the 2010 football schedule in early January, which includes five games at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium and three neutral site games in NFL venues.
• The Mids will play four teams who played in a bowl in 2009, including two conference champions. Air Force won the Armed Forces Bowl, SMU won the Hawai'i Bowl, Central Michigan won the Mid-American Conference and as well as the GMAC Bowl, while East Carolina was the Conference USA Champion and played in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.
• Navy will kick off the 2010 campaign on Sept. 4 against Maryland at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
• Information on season tickets is available by calling 1-800-US4-NAVY or at www.navysports.com . The six-game season ticket package will include five home games at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium and the Maryland game at M&T Bank Stadium.
• CBS College Sports will televise all five games played in Annapolis, while the Notre Dame and Army games will be televised by CBS. Game times will be set at a later date.

2010 Navy Football Schedule
Date Opponent Time TV
9-4 vs. Maryland ^ TBA
9-11 Georgia Southern TBA CBS College Sports
9-18 at Louisiana Tech TBA
10-2 at Air Force TBA
10-9 at Wake Forest TBA
10-16 SMU TBA CBS College Sports
10-23 vs. Notre Dame * TBA CBS
10-30 Duke TBA CBS College Sports
11-6 at East Carolina TBA
11-13 Central Michigan TBA CBS College Sports
11-20 Arkansas State TBA CBS College Sports
12-11 vs. Army + TBA CBS
^ - M&T Bank Stadium (Baltimore, Md.)
* - The New Meadowlands (East Rutherford, N.J.)
+ - Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia, Pa.)

Setting the Stage For 2010
• Navy returns its top six rushers (QB Ricky Dobbs, FB Vince Murray, SB Marcus Curry, FB Alexander Teich, SB Gee Gee Green and QB Kriss Proctor).
• The Mids return four of their top five receivers (Curry, Mario Washington, Greg Jones and Mike Schupp).
• Navy loses its top two tacklers (Ross Pospisil and Tony Haberer) and five of the top 10 (Ram Vela, Craig Schaefer and Blake Carter).
• Dobbs returns after rushing for 27 touchdowns in 2009, an NCAA record for a quarterback.
• Dobbs is just the third quarterback (Chris McCoy in 1997 and Craig Candeto in 2003) in school history to rush (1,203 yards) AND throw (1,031 yards) for over 1,000 yards in a season. No Navy player has ever accomplished this feat twice.
• Navy's top two returning fullbacks, Vince Murray and Alexander Teich, combined to rush for 1,347 yards and six touchdowns on 252 carries (5.3 yards per carry) in 2009.
• The Mids will try and regain their title as the best rushing team in the country after finishing fourth (280.5 yds/gm) this year. Navy had won the rushing title an NCAA-record four-consecutive years (2005-08).
• The defense enters the 2010 season having not given up a touchdown to Service Academy rivals Air Force and Army in 12 quarters (plus one overtime period). The Mids have not given up an offensive touchdown to Army in eight quarters.
• Navy will be vying for an eighth-straight Commander-In-Chief's Trophy and an eighth-straight bowl game. The Mids are tied in to the Poinsettia Bowl in 2010.

Navy Bowl History
• The Texas Bowl was Navy's 16th bowl appearance, including a school-record seventh straight.
• Navy has future bowl agreements with the Poinsettia Bowl in 2010, EagleBank Bowl in 2011, Emerald Bowl in 2012 and Armed Forces Bowl in 2013.
• Prior to Navy's current seven-game run of bowl appearances, the Mids played in back-to-back bowl games just once in school history (1980-81).
• Navy's current streak of seven-consecutive bowl appearances is tied as the nation's 17th-longest active streak.
• Navy owns a 7-8-1 bowl game record all-time.

Dobbs Named Honorable Mention All-American By College Football News
• Navy quarterback Ricky Dobbs capped a remarkable season by being named an Honorable Mention All-American by College Football News.
• Dobbs finished his junior campaign with 1,203 yards rushing and 27 touchdowns and threw for 1,031 yards and six touchdowns.
• His 27 rushing touchdowns are the most in NCAA history by a quarterback, while he is just the third quarterback in school history to rush and pass for more than 1,000 yards in a single season.

Middleton, Buckley Named First-Team All-East
• Junior safety Wyatt Middleton and junior kicker Joe Buckley have been named First Team All-East by the ECAC. Quarterback Ricky Dobbs was edged out for first team by Penn State quarterback Daryll Clark.
• MIddleton recorded 68 tackles on the year, tied for the third most on the team and the most of anybody in the secondary. He led the Mids with four interceptions and seven passes broken up, while tying for the team lead with two fumble recoveries.
• Buckley was stellar in his junior year, making 10 of his 13 field goal attempts and all 44 of his extra-points. He was seven-for-seven on kicks from 35 yards on out.

Pospisil Selected To The East-West Shrine Game
• Navy senior linebacker Ross Pospisil has been selected to play in the East-West Shrine Game, which will take place January 23 at 3:00 pm at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla. Pospisil is the 22nd Navy player selected to the game and the first since Adam Ballard in 2007.
• Pospisil led the Mids with 107 tackles and tied for the team lead with 8.5 tackles for a loss. His four sacks ranked second.

Mids Tie School Record For Wins
• Navy defeated Missouri, 35-13, in the Texas Bowl, giving the Mids a school-record 10th victory. It is just the third time in school history (129 years) that Navy has won 10 games in a season.
• The 1905 squad finished 10-1-1, while the 2004 team went 10-2.
• Navy has won eight or more games in each of the last seven seasons.

Navy Wins Eight Or More Games For The SeventhStraight Season
• Navy has won at least eight games in seven-consecutive seasons, the longest streak in school history and the 12th-longest active streak.

Mids Among the Most Successful Teams Nationally
• Navy clinched its seventh-consecutive winning season with a 35-18 victory over Delaware on Nov. 14.
• The seven-straight winning seasons are the most by Navy since the Mids enjoyed 10-straight winning seasons from 1952-61.
• The Mids own a 61-29 (.678) record over the last seven years after posting a 3-30 (.091) mark from 2000-02.
• The 61 wins are the 17th most in the country over that time span.

Navy's Losses Came To Tough Opponents
• Navy's four losses in 2009 came at the hands of opponents with a combined record of 36-16 (.692) with three of the four teams earning bowl invitations (Ohio State, Pitt and Temple). Additionally, two of the four losses came against teams ranked in the top 15.
• Navy lost to Big 10 and Rose Bowl Champion No. 5 Ohio State (11-2), Meineke Car Care Bowl Champion No. 15 Pitt (10-3), EagleBank Bowl participant Temple 10-3) and Hawai'i (6-7).
• Navy played Temple without the services of starting quarterback Ricky Dobbs.
• Navy owned victories over Armed Service Bowl Champion Air Force (8-5), Hawai'i Bowl Champion SMU (8-5) and Notre Dame (6-6). Notre Dame declined the opportunity to play in a bowl this year.

Senior Class Gets Win No. 35
• Navy's' senior class amassed 35 wins over four seasons, a mark that is tied for the second-most wins in school history.
• Next year's seniors will have to win at least nine games to reach 35 wins and they need 10 wins to tie the Class of 1909 for the school record. An 11-win season by next year's seniors would give that class the record.
• Navy's senior class ...
- compiled a 35-18 (.660) record
- won four-straight Commander-In-Chief's Trophies
- qualified for a fourth-straight bowl game
- become the first class since the Class of 1964 to beat Notre Dame twice in their careers
- Tied the school-record for wins with 10
- Texas Bowl Champions

Disciplined Football
• Navy finished the 2009 season ranked No. 1 in the country in fewest penalties per game (3.4) and fewest penalty yards per game (29.6).

Navy Versus The BCS/Non-BCS
• Since 2003, Navy owns a 16-19 (.457) record against schools from a BCS conference and an impressive 45-10 record (.818) against non-BCS foes. Navy's 16 BCS wins since 2003 are the most during that time span by a non-BCS school.
• Head coach Ken Niumatalolo is 13-4 (.765) against non-BCS squads and 5-6 (.455) against teams from a BCS Conference.
• Navy's 16 wins against BCS schools since 2003 have come against Vanderbilt (2003), Duke ('04), Vanderbilt ('04), Rutgers ('04), Duke ('05), Stanford ('06), Connecticut ('06), Duke ('06), Duke ('07), Pitt ('07), Notre Dame ('07), Rutgers ('08), Wake Forest ('08), Wake Forest ('09), Notre Dame ('09) and Missouri ('09).
• Navy (Missouri), BYU (Oregon State) and Utah (Cal) were the only non-BCS schools to beat a BCS school in a bowl game in 2009.

Navy Rushes For More Than 1,000 Yards At All Three Positions
• Navy got more than 1,000 yards rushing at all three positions this season.
• Navy quarterbacks carried the ball 369 times for 1,424 yards (3.9 yards per carry) and a whopping 32 touchdowns.
• The fullbacks carried the ball 265 times for 1,386 yards (5.2 yards per carry) and six touchdowns.
• The slot backs carried the ball 173 times for 1,108 yards (6.4 yards per carry) and six touchdowns.

Mids Consistently One Of The Top Rushing Teams In The Country
• Over the last eight years, Navy has consistently been one of the top rushing teams in the country, never finishing lower than fourth.
• In 2002, Navy finished third in the country in rushing, averaging 270.8 yards per game.
• In 2003, Navy led the nation in rushing, averaging a then school-record 323.2 yards per game.
• In 2005, Navy led the country in rushing for the second time in three years, averaging 318.7 yards per game.
• Navy finished the 2006 campaign averaging a nation's-best and then school-record 327 yards per game.
• The Mids rushed for a school-record 348.8 yards per game in 2007, becoming the first team in NCAA history to lead the nation in rushing three-consecutive years.
• The 348.8 yards per game are the most yards rushing by a FBS team since Nebraska averaged 349.3 yards per game in 2000.
• In 2008, Navy led the country in rushing for an unprecedented fourth-straight year, averaging 292.4 yards per game.
• In 2009, Navy finished fourth in the nation in rushing, averaging 280.5 yards per game.

Navy Ranked 20th In Scoring Defense
• The Navy defense allowed just 19.4 points per game on the year, the 18th-best scoring average in the country.
• The Mids did not allow a defensive touchdown against their two biggest rivals - Air Force and Army.
• In fact, Army's last touchdown against the Mids was scored in the fourth quarter of the 2006 game.