Navy lost. So what?

Yes Navy is a D-1 classified school. Yes they lost to 1-AA power Delaware today 59-52. Big deal. Almost everyone who follows Navy closely, thought they would lose this game this weekend. What's worse? Navy losing to a highly rated 1-AA team or star-studded Michigan losing to Appalachian State (which has since lost twice this season)? Is it worse for Navy to lose to Delaware than it is for Dan Hawkins' Colorado team to lose to Montana State last year, who then turned around and lost to DII Chadron State. Hawkins seems to be doing just fine right now at Colorado. Gene Chizik was supposed to be the hottest hire in the country when he signed on with Iowa State. Guess what? He lost this year to Northern Iowa but beat later beat Iowa.

The bottom line is that there's only so much you can do with the personnel Navy has. Yes they're classified as a D-1 school. But lets be honest-they've got 1-AA offensive talent and D-2 defensive talent. Even that might be being kind. With the injuries to three of Navy's best defensive players, it has crippled an already depth-challenged, talent-deficient and inexperienced defense. Delaware was much more athletic and talented than Navy and are a team loaded with D-1 transfers. QB Joe Flacco transferred from Pitt, which ironically, lost to Navy two weeks ago at Pitt. And lets not forget the controversial onside kick which Navy recovered with 4 minutes left, only to have reversed on a horrible offsides call that replays show didn't happen.

As the old saying goes, you can't squeeze blood from a turnip. In this case, Johnson has squeezed blood from a turnip and there's simply nothing left to squeeze. If Navy losing to Delaware is so bad, then how must Pitt, Air Force, Ball State and Duke feel? After all, they all lost to Navy. And for the most part, those teams have been fairly competitive against most of their schedule. Pitt beat Cincinnati and lost to Michigan State by 4. Air Force beat Utah, TCU, Wyoming and Colorado State. Ball State took our beloved Huskers to the wire and beat Turner Gill's upstart Buffalo team by 35. They were also competitive against Illinois today.

Johnson has already proven himself over the course of the past 5 years at Navy by doing more with less than any coach in the country. He proved himself at Georgia Southern where he was the one putting the scare into D-1 schools like Georgia and Oregon State. PJ will have his team on national TV next week going up against Notre Dame. A win there would be the kind of win that could put him on the radar for other high profile schools looking for a new coach next year.