Mids face tough road in 2018
Navy football will log a significant amount of travel mileage as part of the 2018 schedule, which was announced on Tuesday morning.
With trips to Honolulu, San Diego, Dallas and New Orleans, the Midshipmen will be criss-crossing the country quite a bit next season.
Navy will travel 26,496 miles in 2018, which will be the second most in the Football Bowl Subdivision and the most by a team located in the continental United States. Only Hawaii (38,578 miles) will travel more.
“This is obviously a very difficult schedule when you look at the quality of the opposition, the travel and where some of these games fall in the schedule,” said Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo. “I really like this team. Our entire program has to be totally committed to prepare for this very challenging schedule.”
Navy opens at Hawaii on Sept. 1. It will be a homecoming for Niumatalolo, who hails from the town of Laie on the North Shore of Oahua.
Traveling almost 5,000 miles on a flight that lasts nearly 12 hours is not ideal way to open the season, but this is the back end of a home-and-home agreement between Navy and Hawaii. The Warriors came to Annapolis in 2013 and lost to the Midshpimen,
Navy schedule
Sept. 1 at Hawaii Sept. 8 vs. Memphis* Sept. 15 vs. Lehigh Sept. 22 at SMU* Oct. 6 at Air Force Oct. 13 vs. Temple* Oct. 20 vs. Houston* (homecoming) Oct. 27 vs. Notre Dame# Nov. 3 at Cincinnati* Nov. 10 at UCF* Nov. 17 vs. Tulsa* Nov. 24 at Tulane* Dec. 1 vs. AAC Championship Dec. 8 vs. Army@ *AAC Conference Game #SDCCU Stadium @Lincoln Financial Field 42-28.
“When we were an independent it was sometimes challenging to fill out a schedule,” Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk said. “We really needed a fifth home game that year and I was able to convince Hawaii to come out. However, that came under the condition wewoulddoareturn game. So this was a contractual obligation we had to honor.”
Gladchuk said the guaranteed payout for the game would cover travel expenses to fly the football team to Hawaii. A hefty buyout clause prevented any discussion on getting out of the return game.
Now that Navy plays a American Athletic Conference schedule to go along with the annual contets with Army, Air Force and Notre Dame, Gladchuk said he likely would not consider scheduling Hawaii again.
“It’s a long haul and a 13th game in a season that is extremely long to begin with,” he said. “I don’t believe I would do it going forward.”
Navy has a quick turnaround after returning from Hawaii as it must host host Memphis in the American Athletic Conference opener for both schools on Sept. 8. That figures to be a critical contest as the Tigers are the defending West Division champs in the AAC.
NCAA rules allow schools that travel to Hawaii to play an additional game, meaning the Midshipmen will meet 13 opponents instead of the usual 12 in 2018. Navy will host Football Championship Subdivision member Lehigh on Sept. 15 as the extra game. Lehigh captured the Patriot League championship with a 5-1 record then lost to Stonybrook in the first round of the FCS playoffs last season.
Gladchuk said reports that Navy would play Lehigh in the so-called “zero block” week were erroneous.