Mike Burke
Cumberland Times-News
—
My, how the times they have a changed.
Headline on the Washington Post’s website: Navy not taking Maryland lightly.
Read it again: Navy not taking Maryland lightly.
I was tempted to call our old friend Jerry Fishman to get his take on Monday’s game in Baltimore between the Terps and the Mids, but decided otherwise as he no doubt was up to his, um, digits in reporters, asking him to tell and re-tell all of the events leading up to his memorable one-fingered salutes to the Navy brigade that fateful day in 1964 that led to — according to the Navy side of things — the schools’ 40-year football abstinence from one another.
The story is as well known as the words to the schools’ fight songs in College Park and Annapolis. Fishman, not once, but twice flipped the Navy brigade the bird for what he and most everybody dressed in red that day still believe were legitimate reasons and the heated rivalry between the neighboring schools ceased and desisted from 1965 until 2005 when the teams met again in Baltimore.
In Fishman’s heart and mind, Navy merely used him as a scapegoat — an excuse.
“Why didn’t they play for 40 years? Navy’s mascot should be changed from a goat to a chicken,” Fishman told me five years ago during a telephone interview from his home in Boca Raton, Fla. “They were chicken. After the (Roger) Staubach era (during which Fishman played linebacker for the Terps) they were no power. In fact, they were well below average and Maryland was on a run. They brought in (head coaches Jerry) Claiborne, then (Bobby) Ross. Maryland would have beat their (butts) year after year.
“Hey, Navy was getting beat by Notre Dame, why get beat by a local team? They weren’t scheduled to play for the next five years anyway, so why put them on the schedule at all?
“And Navy didn’t need the money. They’ve got Uncle Sam for money. They were on the public payroll. ‘You need 10 million dollars? Here’s 10 million dollars. Keep the change.’
“They cared about getting beat. ‘Let’s not play Maryland ... Jerry Fishman? Oh yeah ...’
“They used Jerry Fishman plain and simple.”
So Navy avoided Maryland to avoid getting beat by somebody in its own neighborhood.
Forty-five years later Navy isn’t taking Maryland lightly.
Yes, the times they have a changed. At last look Navy is anywhere from a 6 1/2 to 7-point favorite over Maryland on Monday, and in looking at what transpired last season you’re tempted to ask, “That’s all?”
Navy went 10-4 last season and handed down a 35-13 thumping to Missouri in the Texas Bowl. Maryland went 2-10 last season and headed to Texas Grillhouse.
It marked the third time in program history Navy won 10 games and the seventh straight season in which it won at least eight. It marked the first time in school history that Maryland lost 10 games and the fourth losing season in the last six.
Navy returns 14 starters, including Ricky Dobbs, who set an NCAA single-season record with 27 rushing touchdowns, the most ever by a quarterback. Four of those TDs came in the season-opener when the Midshipmen opened the season on a bit of a downer, a 31-27 loss to ... Ohio State?
Maryland returns 15 seniors and will be without their two most experienced players: sophomore Devonte Campbell and junior Lansford Watson. The Terps also fell in their season-opener last season: 52-13 to California.
Navy, however, is not taking Maryland lightly.
“We’d be foolish if we even thought that way,” Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo told the Post. “They’re still an ACC team. You still look at them, and they’re still twice our size. I was looking at those guys list their 40 times. We don’t have anybody in 4.3s. They’re bigger and faster than us. If we think anything differently, we’re foolish as a program.”
Everybody knows about Navy’s offense, which is based on distribution and sticking with the same basic plays, disguised with deception. It starts with the triple option and has been called the “flexbone,” not the wishbone, because the wishbone has three backs in the backfield, while the triple option has one, with a slotback lined up next to and behind the tackle on either side.
Maryland isn’t likely to have much success blitzing because the quarterback can get rid of the ball so quickly, which leads to the big plays you see Navy break. The Terps must play assignment football on defense and not be tricked into abandoning it. Most importantly, Maryland has to see through all of Navy’s motion, which makes it even more difficult to know who has the ball.
Offensively, it would seem Maryland should use its size and ample supply of speed in the backfield and attempt to simply run the ball straight at the Mids. That’s likely what Maryland will do, but the feeling won’t go away that the Terps will try to break a big play or two themselves with some deception, or tricks, of their own. They shouldn’t become married to that.
Keep the cute stuff to a minimum and the Terps will give Navy every reason not to take them lightly.
Mike Burke is sports editor of the Cumberland Times-News. Write to him at mburke@times-news.com
