No easy explanation for offensive woes
There is no easy explanation for what went wrong with the Navy offense this season.
Early on, it made sense to blame coach Ken Niumatalolo’s decision to hold non-contact practices throughout August training camp.
When Navy was beaten soundly at the line of scrimmage during the season opener against BYU, it was obvious the decision had been a mistake in football terms. Of course, the Midshipmen began banging in practice almost immediately thereafter and it seemed the issue had been resolved by the second half of the second game against Tulane.
Navy’s offensive line came off the ball hard and cleared some nice holes for the fullback while providing superb pass protection for quarterback Dalen Morris. The Midshipmen scored 27 unanswered points during the second half to deliver the greatest comeback in program history.
Then came a stunning 40-7 shellacking at Air Force when Navy only mustered 241 yards. Morris did not make that road trip because of a lifelong health issue exacerbated by altitude. One wondered if things might have been different if Morris had started instead of Tyger Goslin.
Morris directed an effective offensive effort during a 31-29 win against Temple. Fullback Nelson Smith led the way as the Midshipmen ran for a season-high 251 yards, which was an encouraging sign.
When Navy gutted out a tough 27-23 victory over host East Carolina to improve to 3-0 in the American Athletic Conference, it seemed all was well.
It turns out that was the beginning of the end. The Midshipmen closed the season with five straight losses with the offensive completely falling apart down the stretch.
Niumatalolo and offensive coordinator Ivin Jasper used a scripted game plan utilizing a mix of designed run plays and innovative screen passes to set season highs for points and yards (430) in a 51-37 loss at SMU, but much of that game after the Mustangs already built a 51-17 fourth-quarter lead.
Morris and Goslin both played well in that game and that led the offensive staff to reopen the quarterback competition. Whether Goslin or Morris emerged as the starter, the opinion here was that we would see more of the offensive wrinkles unveiled against SMU.
Following a month layoff caused by coronavirus issues within the program, Goslin got the call against Memphis and Navy returned to running read triple-option. Unfortunately, the Midshipmen just weren’t any good at it, repeatedly sputtering and making mistakes to kill drives in losing to the Tigers, 10-7.
It was a head-scratching performance considering the coaching staff had 28 days to fix the problems plaguing the offense. Goslin had seemed more comfortable than Morris at operating the triple-option and it was disappointing he fared no better at doing so.
By far the biggest problem with the Navy offense to that point was the fact the quarterback was not a running threat whatsoever. One year after Malcolm Perry ran roughshod in setting a Football Bowl Subdivision record for rushing yards by a quarterback (2,017), it was stunning to see the Mids get zero production from the position.
To remedy that problem, Navy turned to freshman Xavier Arline since he possesses speed, quickness and an ability to make defenders miss. Unfortunately, the 5-foot9, 165-pound plebe was not ready for prime time against Tulsa, missing too many reads and struggling with the execution of the triple-option during a dismal 19-6 loss to Tulsa.
The Golden Hurricane, ranked 20th in the latest Associated Press poll, have an outstanding defense led by star inside linebacker Zaven Collins.
However, that does not excuse the Midshipmen from the offensive mess that was in display during Senior Day as nothing worked during a 19-6 loss.
Afterward, Niumatalolo used the word “inept” to describe the Navy offense and that
was a perfect description.
Navy only had three practices to prepare for archrival Army, not nearly enough time to address all the issues that had caused the offense to become completely dysfunctional. Which is why what happened Saturday at Michie Stadium should come as no surprise.
Arline did his part by rushing for 109 yards, but no other element of the triple-option was working as Navy got shutout by archrival Army, 15-0.
Smith and Jamale Carothers spent the dark, dreary day running into a brick wall as the Black Knights completely took away the fullback dive and trap.
As has been the case all season, the slotbacks were a very minimal part of the game plan. Navy’s inability to effectively utilize the slots remains one of the greatest mysteries of this strange season.
Myles Fells, Chance Warren and CJ Williams are talented players that have produced in the past, but they teamed to produce all of 361 rushing yards this season.
Remarkably, Navy finished with one less rushing yard (108) as a team than Arline did individually. That’s because negative yardage (minus-24) outpaced the 23 rushing yards Smith fought hard to gain.
During the postgame press conference, Niumatalolo scanned the final boxscore and seized on one statistic. “It’s hard to possess the ball when you go 1-for-11 on third down,” he said.
Of course, it’s hard to convert whenyou’re constantly in third-and-long. That was the case Saturday as Navy faced third-andseven four straight times to start the game and twice had third-and-double digits. The Midshipmen never had shorter than thirdand-five except when they failed to score on third-and-goal from the 2-yard line.
Navy finished with four first downs and 117 total yards, its second-lowest output of the current triple-option era (2002 to present).
Of course, the first step toward recovery is recognizing there’s a problem. Niumatalolo had no choice other than do so following Saturday’s historically bad offensive showing.
“We’re not a very good offense right now. We’re not operating very well,” Niumatalolo said. “We have to get better on offense. We have to figure that out in the offseason. We have to take a close look at everything.”
Subpar quarterback play was a big part of the problem, but the offensive line must shoulder a significant amount of the blame. A review of the film shows ballcarriers all too often had nowhere to run. There simply were no holes due to missed blocking assignments or simply getting beaten one-on-one.
Underpinning Navy’s consistent success as a triple-option program has been high level play by the offensive line. Some seasons it takes time for things to come together but the staff always finds a way to get the unit coming hard off the ball and executing at a high level.
Ultimately, every member of the offensive coaching staff needs to take a long look in the mirror. Every aspect of Navy’s offensive struggles speaks to players being poorly coached.
Coordinator Brian Newberry and the defensive staff treated that 28- day layoff like a do-over for preseason camp, starting from scratch and rebuilding fundamentals and technique.
The results were immediate and obvious as Navy’s defense was dominant down the stretch. The Midshipmen held Memphis, Tulsa and Army to a combined average of 14 points and 246 yards.
Howcomethe offensive staff didn’t make just as effective use of the long layoff? Truth be told, the Navy offense got worse during that time period.
“We have to do some soul-searching and get that fixed. We’ve got to improve dramatically to have a chance next year,” Niumatalolo said.
“We have to look at what we’re doing, how we’re doing, how we’re teaching it — everything. We’ve never struggled like this on offense before. We have to take a really deep look at what we’re doing.”