Opponent Watch: 2018 Navy

An interesting fact I just found out, Navy is 11-1 in Annapolis in season conference play.

Only loss - UCF last year.

2 Likes

http://www.capitalgazette.com/sports/navy_sports/ac-cs-navy-season-preview-20180825-story.html

Navy held several physical practices and also did considerable weightlifting leading up to the Military Bowl and the lopsided result spoke volumes about the wisdom of that approach.

“It started with the bowl prep. I thought we had to do some different things in order to be able to finish,” Niumatalolo said. “We were a much stronger, much tougher team against Virginia. That really opened my eyes. I thought that attitude carried over into our offseason training.”

Niumatalolo made another major move following the season, replacing longtime head strength and conditioning coordinator Mike Brass with Bryan Fitzpatrick, who was previously one of the assistants.

“I just told them we’re a very tough team to beat here,” he said. “We’re 17-2 in here the last four years. We should play with confidence, confidence that somehow, someway, we’ll find a way to win.”

That’s exactly what they did Saturday. “It reminded me of the Air Force game [last year], the Houston game,” two years ago, Niumatalolo said. “We’re mudders. We like to win ugly. I don’t know if my heart can take much more of this. I better lose some weight.”

The weather was, no doubt, as ugly as it gets Saturday. And things looked ugly in the fourth quarter. But by the time the players lined up to sing “Navy Blue and Gold,” no one felt the rain.

http://www.capitalgazette.com/sports/navy_sports/ac-cs-navy-lehigh-follow-column-20180916-story.html

“They’re doing a good job of finding the ball and pulling it out. When we had opportunities to make a pick, we took advantage,” Pehrson said. “We have to keep breaking on the ball and playing fast, playing hard.”

We have his son…maybe we can go get Navy’s DC?

https://www.pressboxonline.com/2018/09/23/five-things-we-learned-from-navys-31-30-ot-loss-to-smu

1. Perry leaves with an injury

SMU did a solid job containing quarterback Malcolm Perry before he was forced to leave the game with a head injury. Perry had 33 yards on 14 carries and his only pass attempt fell incomplete. In the second quarter, he had a 50-yard touchdown pass to Zach Abey called back by a chop block penalty, which proved to be a costly mistake. Senior Garret Lewis filled in, rushing for 63 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries.

If Perry cannot play next week at Air Force, Lewis and fellow senior Zach Abey will likely split snaps at quarterback.

The jury’s still out, but the Mids are 9-11 since that conference-title game loss to Temple, including 5-6 against AAC opponents after starting 14-2. Maybe it’s just a brief downward trend.

Or maybe those games against Texas State, Georgia Southern, San Jose State and South Alabama weren’t such a bad idea after all.