Navy coach Paul Johnson speaks from experience when he offers an opinion about Saturday’s visit by Notre Dame to Falcon Stadium to play Air Force.
His Midshipmen have played the Irish and the Falcons, and the outcome of those games provides a hint to the gist of his appraisal. Navy beat Air Force 24-17 at Falcon Stadium, but lost to the Irish 38-14 two weeks ago in Baltimore.
“Air Force has a chance,” Johnson said Tuesday. “You always have a chance, and Air Force has a history of playing Notre Dame very well. I think Air Force will move the ball some, but they better score points.”
Johnson emphasized the need for points for any team that plays quarterback Brady Quinn.
“We stayed with them pretty good in the first half, but in the second half we couldn’t keep up,” Johnson said. “Their quarterback is very, very good. He makes them a different team than in the past few years. Notre Dame is a really good offensive team. If they decide they want to run the ball, they do it.”
However, Johnson hedged some when asked if Notre Dame is the best team Navy has played to date.
“I don’t know. Maybe they’re the best team overall that we’ve played, but Rutgers has a really good team, too,” Johnson said. “They’re a different team. Rutgers has more speed on defense, but Notre Dame has more skill on offense.”
But he’s clear on the best quarterback the Midshipmen have faced.
“We haven’t played any quarterback who was better than Quinn,” Johnson said. “They’re so much bigger than us that they did pretty much what they wanted to do. Quinn is bigger than all but two of our defensive players.”
Johnson thought the presence of Jappy Oliver on Notre Dame’s coaching staff could have helped the Irish defensive unit to play Navy’s option offense.
Air Force also runs an option attack, and Oliver was on the Air Force coaching staff from 1995-2002.
“He (Oliver) could help some, but I’d be surprised if Notre Dame is worried about being outschemed,” Johnson said. “They’re going to rely on their athletes to make plays.”
Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis mentioned Oliver’s insight into the option offense as a positive factor.
“He tells us things about their offense,” Weis said. “He might have some insight into their game plan. But we don’t have to figure out that Air Force is good at what they do. We know that.”
Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry noted that Oliver’s defensive line faced his team’s offense every spring practice.
“I think we’re doing some things a lot differently than when Jappy was here,” DeBerry said. “We’re aware that he’s very familiar with our offense.”
Notebook
Notre Dame and Air Force have agreed to wear special decals on their helmets to honor the memory of Gregg Lewis, son of Bill Lewis, Notre Dame’s secondary coach and a former Wyoming head coach. Gregg Lewis graduated from Air Force in 1992. He died in a helicopter training mission in 1998.
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
