Wake Forest vs. Navy Game Preview
10/22/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 22, 2009
Video: Game Preview With Jim Grobe
Game Notes: Wake Forest 
| Navy
Television Coverage: CBS College Sports
Radio Coverage:
In-Game Updates: Live Gameday Blog |
By Alex Botoman, WakeForestSports.com
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - In a break from Atlantic Coast Conference play, Wake Forest (4-3) will travel to Navy (5-2) on Saturday to take on a familiar foe. The Demon Deacons and Midshipmen have played three times in the past two years, with the most recent meeting being a 29-19 win for Wake in the 2008 EagleBank Bowl.
Wake will be the third BCS-conference school that Navy faces this season. The Midshipmen lost their only two games to BCS foes, Ohio State and Pittsburgh. Last week, Navy overcame a 21-7 halftime deficit to defeat SMU 38-35, in overtime.
Second-year head coach Ken Niumatalolo has picked off where his predecessor and current Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson left off, as Navy has continued to use its tricky triple option offense to put up big numbers on the ground. The Mids currently rank fifth in the country in rush offense with 279 yards per game.
While Navy has four players with over 40 carries, their primary rushing option is quarterback Ricky Dobbs who has carried the ball 167 times and scored 16 touchdowns -- more than any other player in the country. If he can score eight more touchdowns in their remaining six games he will break the NCAA season record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback.
However, the word out of Annapolis is that Dobbs is day-to-day with a knee injury and his status for Saturday's game is in doubt.
"Dobbs has the ability to throw the football, he's got a really nice touch on his passes. I think he's picked the offense up incredibly," head coach Jim Grobe said. "He carries it twice as much as any player on their team. You very rarely see him make a mistake in reading a triple option. He just stepped right into the line of great quarterbacks that they've had for a long time."
Part of the secret behind the Midshipmen's potent rushing attack is a cut-blocking technique designed to get defenders on the ground and prevent them from getting to the ball.
"The most dangerous thing about them is that they are going to (cut block) every play," safety Josh Bush said. "You have to try to get to the blocker just like he's trying to get to you, and then avoid him and make the play."
The key to stopping the triple option is to maintain your assignments in the face of misdirection and multiple decoys. For Wake, the fact that they have faced the offense three times in two years could put them further along the learning curve than many of Navy's opponents.
"I think it's going to help us as far as watching film and knowing what they are going to do," Bush said. "I haven't had a chance to play against Navy, so I can go back and watch film of Chip Vaughn and Kevin Patterson and see how they played their assignments and hopefully it will help me on Saturday."
The Demon Deacons will be back in action following their worst performance of the season, a 38-3 loss to Clemson in Death Valley, and are looking to put the past behind them. A trip to Annapolis may the perfect remedy, as the last time the Deacs traveled there in 2007 they rolled to a 44-24 victory.
"I like keeping a little bit of a light atmosphere around here, especially this week," said offensive lineman Barrett McMillin. "We want to have the most focus on beating Navy, but we also don't want to be sitting around here sulking and letting Clemson beat us twice."
After a season-low offensive output against the Tigers, the Deacons will be hoping to regain the form that saw them put up over 375 yards of offense in five consecutive games. Balance is the name of the game, as Wake will continue to try to establish the run despite having tremendous success in the air so far this season.
It will not be an easy task, as Navy has twice this season held their opponents to under 50 yards rushing, giving up 21 yards to Rice and 11 to Louisiana Tech. Their defense is far from one dimensional as they are also averaging an interception per game.
"They have a very good defensive line and linebacker set. I was also watching the secondary and they fly to the ball and attack," running back Brandon Pendergrass said. "They have an all-around good defense and it's going to be a big challenge for us."
Discipline could also be a factor in the game. Navy is the least penalized team in the country with 3.7 per game, while Wake has been flagged six or more times in three consecutive games.
As is the norm when facing a service academy, the Deacons know to expect a hard-fought game. With the rigors of military training, football might be one of the easier aspects of college life for the Midshipmen.
"I think any time you play an academy, whether home or on the road, you've got your hands full," said Grobe. "You really don't see ups and downs with academy teams, they play hard every week, Whether it's Homecoming, whether it's our place or their place, you know you've got your hands full with them."
"From my viewpoint this is one of the toughest games all year because those guys play every play," added McMillin. "They don't take plays off."
Perhaps the most important key to a Wake Forest victory is to take the lead early. The triple option is well-suited to holding a lead and grinding down the clock, a lesson the Deacons learned all too well in their 24-17 home loss to the Mids last year.
"They're coming out to play and they're going to bring it to you. You can't let your mind half-step into them," said Pendergrass. "If you do that you will have a letdown like we had last year. You don't want them to come out and get on top of you because with that option they are hard to stop."
Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis. The game will be televised on CBS College Sports and can also be heard on the Wake Forest ISP Sports Radio Network.
