Air show doesn’t include Navy

ANNAPOLIS.

What were those things flying over Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium yesterday afternoon at the first Navy-Massachusetts football game in recorded history?

For one thing, two Lockheed S-3B Vikings that streaked past in the customary pregame flyby. And possibly a couple of one-liners from comedian Bill Cosby, a former UMass graduate student who performed the coin toss.

But the aerial show definitely did not include Navy’s nonexistent passing attack, which left it totally to the Midshipmen’s stout running game and defense to save a tense 21-20 victory over a Division I-AA opponent the Mids had figured to beat without working up too much of a lather.

How bad were the Navy quarterbacks, senior Brian Hampton and sophomore Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada? So bad that the Mids might have fared better using Cosby, who is 69, or just about any of the 4,000 members of the brigade who marched in before the game and then presumably winced whenever either threw the ball.

It has been 93 seasons since Notre Dame’s Gus Dorais and Knute Rockne popularized the forward pass in a famous victory over Army. Yesterday you had to wonder whether Hampton or Kaheaku-Enhada — heck, let’s make it easy for everybody and just call him K-E — had heard of it.

Navy coach Paul Johnson espouses the triple-option offense, which emphasizes running the ball. Last season, however, the Mids got a semblance of a passing game from senior Lamar Owens, who cranked up infrequently but effectively enough that Navy averaged 20.3 yards a reception.

After two games (and two perhaps inexplicable victories) this fall, Hampton and K-E have completed three of 13 passes for 27 yards. Needless to say, the Mids have no touchdowns through the air. In fact, Johnson’s jaw probably has dropped a greater distance than his QBs have gained.

You’ve got to give Johnson this, though: He isn’t pretending not to be embarrassed. A good ol’ boy who coached at Georgia Southern, Paul couldn’t begin to comprehend the seven fumbles and four turnovers perpetrated by his erring troops yesterday.

“We were fortune to win,” he said, rather unnecessarily. “I’m as frustrated with our offense as I’ve been with any team I’ve coached. It wasn’t just the passing game — it was the lack of [overall] quarterback play. We’ve got some real soul-searching to do. … I was almost ready to give the other guy [third-stringer Jarod Bryant] a chance. … It’s hard to win if you can’t complete a pass.”

Well rather.

UMass, ranked No. 9 in Division I-AA, took note of the Mids’ one-note offense when the Minutemen, trailing 21-17, settled for a field goal by Chris Koepplin rather than gambling on fourth-and-6 from the Navy 19 with 5:56 left. Of course, Navy went three-and-out as UMass stacked its defense against the run. Fortunately for Johnson’s sanity, the Minutemen obligingly fumbled the ball back.

In its former incarnation as a pigskin patsy, Navy might well be 0-2 rather than 2-0 as it prepares for Saturday night’s late show at Stanford. But Johnson has done a remarkable job of restoring pride in a program that once appeared forever doomed to mass mediocrity.

Consider: Over the past three-plus seasons, the Mids are a snappy 28-11, including three bowl appearances. Over the previous three seasons, including Johnson’s ground-building first in 2002, Navy was an all-men-overboard 3-30.

True, no Joe Bellinos, Roger Staubachs or Napoleon McCallums have materialized at the academy lately. For various academic and social reasons, most blue-chip prospects aren’t interested in the academy and its mandatory commitment to military service. So the Mids have to take what they can get in the talent department, and Johnson has proved a master at making do.

“We’re not Notre Dame, where we run out guys who are 6-5, 275,” he noted yesterday. “If we’re not ready to play, it will be a long day for us.”

As it was yesterday. And forget “guys who are 6-5, 275.” At this point, Johnson and Navy would be delighted to find a quarterback who is 4-foot-5 and 75 pounds — if he could put the ball in the air, that is.