2008 EagleBank Bowl Preview
Wake Forest (7-5) vs. Navy (8-4)
Dec. 20, 11 a.m. ET, ESPN
Payout:
$1 million Location: RFK Stadium, Washington D.C.
Get Tickets for the Emerald Bowl
2008
EagleBank Bowl History, Player Profiles, Each
Team's Best Bowl Moments, & More
 |
|
National
Rankings |
|
Wake
Forest |
Navy |
|
Total Offense |
|
103rd 300.25 ypg |
59th 361.67 ypg |
|
Total Defense |
|
19th 106.16ypg |
51st 341.83 ypg |
|
Scoring Offense |
|
97th 20.33 ppg |
48th 27.83 ppg |
|
Scoring Defense |
|
17th 18.25 ppg |
37th 21.42 ppg |
|
Run Offense |
|
100th 111.58 ypg |
1st 298.33 ypg |
|
Run Defense |
|
21st 116.08 ypg |
31st 126.17 ypg |
|
Pass Offense |
|
84th 188.67 ypg |
118th 63.33 ypg |
|
Pass Defense |
|
28th 184.25 ypg |
76th 215.67 ypg |
|
Turnover Margin |
|
3rd 1.33 |
3rd 1.33 |
|
Wake Forest
at Baylor W 41-13
Ole Miss W 30-28
at Florida St W 12-3
Navy L 24-17
Clemson W 12-7
at Maryland L 26-0
at Miami L 16-10
Duke W 33-30 OT
Virginia W 28-17
at NC State L
21-17
Boston Coll L 24-21
Vanderbilt W
23-10 |
Navy
Towson W 41-13
at Ball State
L 35-23
at Duke
L 41-31
Rutgers W 23-21
at W For W 24-117
at A Force W 33-27
Pitt L 42-21
SMU W
34-7
Temple W
33-27 OT
Notre Dame L 27-21
at No. Illinois
W 16-0
Army
(Phil) W 34-0 |
|
Position
Ratings
relative to each
other |
|
W |
5
highest
1 lowest |
N |
|
3.5 |
Quarterbacks |
4 |
|
2.5 |
RBs |
5 |
|
2.5 |
Receivers |
1 |
|
3 |
O
Line |
3.5 |
|
4 |
D
Line |
3 |
|
4.5 |
Linebackers |
4 |
|
4.5 |
Secondary |
2 |
|
3 |
Spec
Teams |
3 |
|
4.5 |
Coaching |
4 |
|
What the world ... needs now …
is a bowl … another bowl.
We already did this, but at
least it’s a rematch of a decent
game to kick off the 2008/2009
bowl season. Navy beat Wake
Forest 24-17 on September 27th
as part of the flaky start for
the Midshipmen. They were blown
out by Ball State, lost to Duke
by 10, and then managed to turn
things around by beating
Rutgers, Wake Forest, and Air
Force in a surprising three-game
stretch that ended up defining
the season. Against the Demon
Deacons the first time around,
Navy cranked out 292 yards and
three scores, held on to the
ball for 36:43, and forced six
Wake Forest turnovers. Wake
Forest only ran for 43 yards and
Riley Skinner threw four
interception, and it was still
tight late.
For the most part, these are two
teams that thrive on being
perfect. If the turnover margin
goes the other way, they usually
lose; there’s little margin for
error with the way these to
play. Navy simply doesn’t have
the athletes or the talent of
most D-I/FBS teams, but with an
offense that relies on
controlling the clock to keep
the defense off the field, and a
defense that busts its tail each
and every play, the system
works.
Head coach
Ken Niumatalolo kept the music
rolling after Paul Johnson took
his act to Georgia Tech, and
while the running game might not
be quite as devastating as it
was in years past, it still led
the nation for an NCAA record
fourth year in a row.
This is the sixth straight bowl
game for the program, going 2-3
in the last five, and while
beating Wake Forest again might
not be the BCS Championship, it
would still be a huge feather in
the program’s cap. It would also
prove that things aren’t going
to change much going forward
under Niumatalolo.
Wake Forest doesn’t exactly take
bowl games lightly, either. It
wasn’t all that long ago that
the program was just happy to go
somewhere, and while the
inaugural EagleBank Bowl might
not be what the team had in mind
considering it was the Orange
Bowl two years ago, it’s still a
nice prize to get the program’s
third straight bowl bid. Before
last year, Wake Forest had never
gone to two bowl games in
back-to-back years.
While the offense fizzled at
times and the defense struggled
against offensively challenged
teams like Duke, Maryland and
Boston College, Wake Forest once
again relied on a good run
defense, an excellent defensive
back seven, and no turnovers …
except against Navy. The Demon
Deacon D led the nation with 35
takeaways, and considering the
offense averages a mere 300
yards per game, it’ll have to
force Navy mistakes to win.
Navy does the same thing it
always does, but who can stop
it? Like Wake Forest, the
Midshipmen don’t turn the ball
over, finishing tied with the
Demon Deacons for third in the
nation in turnover margin. Most
impressively, the defense
stepped up big-time over the
last half of the season,
shutting down SMU in a 34-6 win
and shutting out Northern
Illinois and Army teams that had
everything to play for. It’s
this simple. If the running game
is humming and the defense stays
off the field, Navy can play
with anyone. If Navy has to
start throwing or if teams can
go on long, sustained drives,
there are problems.
It’s the first EagleBank Bowl
and it’s the first game of the
bowl season. Navy is always
worth watching because of its
fun offense, and Wake Forest has
some big-time playmakers on
defense and plays tight games
with just about everyone. It
should be competitive
throughout, and it should be a
nice way to ease your way into
the 34-game glut of fun.
Players to watch:
It’s the final game for
soon-to-be first round draft
pick and Butkus Award winner,
Aaron Curry. The Wake Forest
senior linebacker made 101
tackles on the year with 15
tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks,
and while his ability in pass
coverage won’t be used much in
this game, he’s a do-it-all
240-pound playmaker who’ll be
all over the field. He came up
with 10 tackles in the first
meeting against Navy and he
could potentially double that
now that he knows what he’s
doing against this offense. His
primary responsibility will be
to make sure fullback Eric
Kettani doesn’t get rumbling
again after he gained 175 yards
on 19 carries in the first
meeting.
The big key for Navy is the
health of senior QB
Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, who had problems all season long with a
hamstring injury. In the first
game, he only ran for 30 yards
but he scored twice. Able to
come back for the Army game, he
was hardly his old self without
the same burst and quickness,
but he was able to flawlessly
direct the attack to a 34-0 win.
With the extra time off to heal,
he should be as good as he’s
been all season long.
The home-run hitter
Kaheaku-Enhada has to make sure gets the ball in space is senior
speedster Shun White, who
averaged 8.6 yards per carry
rushing for 1,021 yards and
eight touchdowns. Most of his
production came in the first
three games, and he was held to
20 yards on 11 carries by Wake
Forest, but when he gets the
ball outside on the move, he’s a
difference maker who can score
from anywhere on the field.
For Wake Forest’s offense, this
is a chance at redemption for
junior QB Riley Skinner,
who threw four interceptions in
the first meeting to go along
with a season-high 270 passing
yards. He had a decent year, but
he wasn’t quite as efficient as
he was in years past and he
didn’t progress into any more of
a playmaker. He was fantastic in
the last two bowl games,
throwing for 271 yards in the
Orange Bowl loss to Louisville,
and completing 29-of-38 passes
for 268 yards and a touchdown
with an interception in last
year’s Meineke Car Care Bowl win
over Connecticut.
Wake Forest will win if...
it doesn’t turn the ball over.
Curry and the Demon Deacon run
defense will keep Navy’s offense
from going crazy, but if the
mistakes start flowing from the
offense, there will be problems
… again. The Demon Deacons only
threw seven interceptions on the
year, with four coming against
Navy and two against Boston
College, while of the 12 fumbles
on the year, seven came in the
first four games with two
against the Midshipmen. Even
with the six turnovers, Wake
almost beat Navy the first time
around. With time to prepare for
the option on defense, Wake will
win as long as the offense is
efficient and very, very
conservative.
Navy will win if... the
defense stops the run. Wake
Forest has a decent passing game
when Skinner is on, but it’ll
want to run the ball to try to
control the clock and keep from
making a slew of mistakes. And
there’s the problem; Wake Forest
can’t run. However, it’s 5-1 on
the year when it runs for over
100 yards. The Navy defense has
to own third downs and it has to
do that by forcing Wake Forest
into second and long, third and
long situations. Navy was able
to beat Rutgers and Air Force
even thought those two teams ran
well, but it’ll be tough to
allow too many yards on the
ground against Wake Forest. The
Demon Deacons ran for a mere 43
yards the first time around.
What will happen:
Wake Forest won’t screw it up
this time around. Navy will get
its licks in, the offense is too
effective to be completely shut
down for long stretches,
especially with
Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada back at
the helm, but the Demon Deacons
aren’t going to turn the ball
over six times again, and
they’ll have an efficient,
effective day from Skinner on
the way to a grinding,
hard-fought win.
Line: Wake Forest -3
... CFN Prediction:
Wake Forest 23 … Navy 17
2008
EagleBank Bowl History, Player
Profiles, Each
Team's Best Bowl Moments, & More