Missouri defense stumped against Navy

The Midshipmen flustered Missouri for most of the game.

By Sean Leahy

Published Jan. 1, 2010

HOUSTON — Heading into the Texas Bowl, there was no mystery for Missouri concerning Navy’s triple-option offense.

In the past five seasons, the Midshipmen have established one of the nation’s best and most consistent rushing attacks. They came into the game fourth in country in rushing yards per game after leading the nation the past four years.

Earlier this season, junior Ricky Dobbs set the single-season record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback. Using the unique offensive scheme, Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo and his staff created a prolific and well-documented running machine.

Yet, with three weeks and 11 practices with which to prepare for the Navy ground game, Missouri’s defense struggled to find how to halt the relentless march.

“We prepared for everything,” senior defensive end Brian Coulter said. “There was nothing out there that they did that we never saw before, and that was the most frustrating thing on the sideline.”

The Midshipmen tore Missouri up for 385 yards on the ground, including 166 yards from Dobbs. By halftime, they already had 216 run yards and wrestled the momentum away from Missouri after the Tigers scored a touchdown on the second play of the game. The Missouri defense rarely got a break, as the Midshipmen ran off big chunks of the clock and had the ball for 40:54.

In the end, the difference between practicing for the Navy offense and actually getting on the field against it was too great for the Tigers.

“Your scout team can’t simulate the speed that they’re going to come with,” senior nose tackle Jaron Baston said.

Senior linebacker Sean Weatherspoon said the Tigers worked hard in practice trying to simulate what they would see in the game.

"You really don’t know it until you actually get in the game,” Weatherspoon said.

With a size disadvantage against the Tigers, Navy used cut blocks to take Missouri defenders out of the play.

“It was a bunch of times when one guy would cut block, I would defeat it, and then another guy would come and cut block you,” Baston said. “They were coming just one after another, after another, after another.”

Combined with Navy’s speed, that cut blocking got Missouri flustered enough that Dobbs was running the show near the end of the first quarter when he ran in a one-yard touchdown to tie the game. From that point on, Dobbs led Navy’s offense with deadly efficiency.

“Ricky Dobbs is a real good player,” Coulter said. “He played hard and he just knew his offense and he executed his assignments. I give real big props to Navy and also Ricky Dobbs.”

Dobbs showed some versatility in proving the Navy offense can hurt with the pass as well. He connected on nine of 14 attempts for 130 yards and a touchdown.

Sophomore slot back Marcus Curry was the beneficiary of most of Dobbs’ completions. Curry had five catches for 97 yards and a touchdown. On a team that was last in the nation in passing offense coming into the game, Curry ended up with more receiving yards than any other Missouri receiver except senior Danario Alexander.

“They really got out on the perimeter against us and used their pitch a little bit more than we had seen,” Weatherspoon said. “It just caused us problems.”