Strangest matchup in series history
Falcons host Midshipmen in early October season opener
COLORADO SPRINGS — By far the strangest Air Force-Navy football game of anyone’s lifetime will kick off Saturday at 6 p.m. Eastern at Falcon Stadium.
It’s the first weekend of October and this is the season opener for Air Force, which went from possibly not having any games during the fall semester to suddenly playing a nine-game schedule.
“It is quite, quite different that way,” Falcons coach Troy Calhoun said about starting a college football season in October and against service academy rival Navy. “Hopefully, we’ll go another 130 years until it has to happen again.”
Calhoun acknowledged during a virtual news conference earlier this week he would have preferred a warmup game in late September.
Meanwhile, Navy has only played two games because of the coronavirus pandemic. Home games against Lafayette (Sept. 12) and Temple (Sept. 26) were canceled and postponed, respectively.
Normally, at this point, both service academies would have played four games and had plenty of tape to review in preparation.
“Obviously, we haven’t seen them play a game this season. We really don’t know what they look like,” Navy safety Kevin Brennan said. “They’ve been preparing for a while now, so I expect them to be ready for us.”
When Air Force announced the contest would be held as scheduled, Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo reacted angrily. The 13th-year head coach did not think it was fair the Falcons had a month to prepare for a service academy rival.
Calhoun would no doubt argue, however, the Midshipmen have an advantage because they gained two games worth of experience.
This is the first leg of the Commander-inChief’s Trophy series, the round-robin competition among the three major service academies. Navy has possession of the 170-pound trophy after defeating Air Force (34-25) and Army (31-7) last season.
It is normally an electric atmosphere at Falcon Stadium when Navy comes to town with a sellout crowd of 40,175 and a parade of military aircraft flying beforehand. This season, due to the virus, only members of the Cadet Wing will be allowed into the stadium.
Adding to the weirdness is the fact Air
Force will be without 35 to 40 players due to administrative turnbacks granted because of the pandemic. All cadets were given the option of withdrawing from the academy this semester because of the circumstances involving online instruction and other restrictions put in place due to coronavirus.
None of the five returning starters on defense — defensive end Jordan Jackson, defensive tackle Christopher Herrera, outside linebacker Lakota Wills, inside linebacker Demonte Meeks and cornerback Milton Bugg III — were listed on the roster released Monday. Several other projected impact players on defense are also not on the depth chart.
“There are going to be some new guys who haven’t played a whole lot in regard to college football,” admitted Calhoun, adding that he loves the effort and attitude those inexperienced defenders have shown.
A large contingent of sophomores and freshmen are listed on the Air Force depth chart and Niumatalolo said it was the difficult developing a scouting report. With limited knowledge of the personnel, the Navy offensive coaching staff has focused more on the schemes the Falcons employ.
“It doesn’t matter who is underneath the lightning bolt helmet. They’re going to be good players who are tough and wellcoached,” Niumatalolo said.
Said senior slotback Myles Fells: “We come out there and play whoever they put on the field.”
Navy received an unexpected bye last weekend because the Temple game was moved to Oct. 10. That worked out well since the Naval Academy was conducting exams last week. Niumatalolo said practices were much sharper.
Air Force has employed an odd defensive front against the Navy triple-option ever since Paul Johnson returned as head coach and reinstalled the system that he initially implemented under predecessor Charlie Weatherbie. However, Air Force threw Navy for a loop by switching to an even front in 2018. The Midshipmen had no backup plan and managed only 178 total yards in a 35-7 loss. Afterward, offensive coordinator Ivin Jasper blamed himself.
“Last two times out there, we didn’t have a good plan,” said Jasper, including a 28-14 defeat at Falcon Stadium in 2016.
Navy has not won at Air Force since 2012
when freshman quarterback Keenan Reynolds came off the bench to lead a 28-21 overtime victory.
Jasper said this week the offensive staff knows basically what to expect out of the Air Force defense, which has tended to use the same formula against Navy.
The Falcons almost always try to take away the perimeter element of the option and make the Mids grind it out between the tackles with the quarterback and fullbacks running the ball. Air Force tends to stack the line to make it difficult to do that. Navy has usually enjoyed success whenever it has gotten the fullback dive going.
“They’re very, very aggressive on defense: We’re coming, and you better be able to block us all,” Jasper said. “We have to be physical at the point of attack, we have to be the tougher team. We have to take a punch from these guys, then counter punch and find a way to knock them out.”
Meanwhile, the Air Force offense remains largely intact with such standout skill position players as tailback Kade Remsberg, fullback Timothy Jackson and slot receiver Brandon Lewis. Left tackle Parker Ferguson and left guard Nolan Laufenberg, a pair of Outland Trophy watch list members, lead a veteran offensive line.
“It’s basically the same team coming back that we saw last season with some exceptions,” Navy defensive coordinator Brian Newberry said. “Jackson is a really talented player; Kadin at slot is very dynamic as well. They have good players at every spot, so you really have to defend the entire field.”
Based off the depth chart, the only notable offensive player who took a turnback was wide receiver David Cormier.
It remains unclear whether Air Force will have the services of two-year starting quarterback Donald Hammond III, who is considered a cadet not in good standing. Hammond remains at the academy and has been allowed to practice, presumably ready if there was a sudden change in his status.
Junior Warren Bryan and sophomore Haaziq Daniels are listed as co-starters at quarterback. Calhoun suggested three freshmen are also in the mix with Ben Brittain believed to be the best of the bunch.
“They’ve both looked very good in practice. They’re doing a great job and looking like vets out there,” Air Force wide receiver Ben Peterson said of Bryan and Daniels.