WAGNER: NAVY FOOTBALL CLEARLY HAS A LOT OF WORK TO DO
Game goes south for Midshipmen from Marshall’s first possession
Marshall 49, Navy 7
I certainly never expected to write that scoreline in my game story Saturday evening.
I envisioned a close contest in the season opener for both schools because I believed the Midshipmen and Thundering Herd were fairly evenly matched.
Like most Navy football followers, I was stunned by what happened on the field and the final result.
Marshall may wind up being really, really good this season. The Thundering Herd certainly has a lot of offensive talent with gun-slinging quarterback Grant Wells operating behind a big offensive line and throwing to talented receivers such as Corey Gammage and Talik Keaton.
However, you will never convince me that any Conference USA program should be able to come into Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium and stomp the Midshipmen that way.
This one went south from the outset as Marshall marched 75 yards in nine plays and just over 2 ½ minutes for a touchdown. Wells and Keaton connected on a 47-yard catch and run on the game’s first play, and it was all downhill from there.
The Thundering Herd scored just as easily on their second and fourth possessions as the Midshipmen mostly dropped into coverage and got absolutely no pressure on Wells.
By far the biggest surprise about this game was the play of the Navy defense, which was shredded for 464 yards, most of which came through the air. This is an extremely experienced unit that finished last season strong and was expected to set the tone from the outset.
Safety Kevin Brennan showed up strong with an interception and fumble recovery, while cornerback Michael McMorris was credited with two
forced fumbles. Safety Mitch West notched a team-high eight tackles and forced a fumble.
Inside linebackers Diego Fagot and Will Harbour were relatively quiet with six tackles apiece, but that was due largely to the fact they were dropping into coverage quite often.
Newberry is an outstanding coach who has proven he knows how to get things right, while I still believe in the talent the Mids have on defense.
Navy’s offense made some plays and moved the ball well at times, but just could not sustain or finish drives.
Two statistics sum up why the Midshipmen managed only one touchdown — a combined 11-for-26 on third and fourth down conversions along with 1-for-5 in the red zone.
Sophomore Tai Lavatai got the start at quarterback and did a decent job directing the offense. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Lavatai was just as advertised as a runner, a powerful force between the tackles with good forward lean. The Florida native isn’t a breakaway threat but can consistently pick up positive yards inside.
Navy coaches have described Lavatai as a talented thrower, but that element was missing in action Saturday. Lavatai only completed 1 of 6 attempts for eight yards and appeared hesitant in the passing game.
It seemed to this observer that Lavatai was taking two very short steps when dropping back and was too close to the line of scrimmage when trying to throw. I don’t know if that was by design, but it looked unusual and made it tough for Lavatai to throw over the outstretched hands of the onrushing defenders.
Lavatai just did not look comfortable throwing and absorbed five sacks, which a quarterback just cannot do. He also made an ill-advised decision and bad throw after Navy had reached the Marshall 29-yard line in the third quarter, forcing the ball to a receiver who was well covered and dropping the pass right into the arms of cornerback Steven Gilmore.
Xavier Arline replaced Lavatai for the final two series of the first half and came on again after his classmate suffered an apparent knee injury in the third quarter. The 5-foot-9, 176-pound Arline again displayed dynamic running ability, breaking option keepers for gains of 16, 17 and 19 yards.
Arline completed 2 of 3 passes, finding wide receiver Mychal Cooper open in the flat for a 22-yard gain that set up first-andgoal from the Marshall 5-yard line. The Midshipmen squandered that scoring opportunity when Arline got swarmed by three defenders on what looked like a naked bootleg.
Coach Ken Niumatalolo said afterward that Arline should not have run the ball unless he was absolutely certain of scoring. When confronted by three defenders, he should have thrown the ball out of the back of the end zone to stop the clock since Navy had no timeouts.
Based on comparative performance, I would have to say Arline deserves to get the start against service academy rival Air Force next Saturday. It may be a moot point depending on the severity of Lavatai’s injury, but the quarterback they call “X” looked more confident leading the offense.
“Personally, for myself, the game slowed down a little bit. That’s where the experience from last year came into play,” Arline said afterward.
Cooper, one of four offensive captains, called Sunday a “workday” and there’s no doubt Navy has no time to lose in getting ready for Air Force. The Falcons hammered the Midshipmen 40-7 last season and that cannot be allowed to happen again here in Annapolis.
An inspiring victory over a service academy rival would quickly erase the bad taste caused by the embarrassing opener and would lift the fan base, which right now is down in the dumps.
We’ll see how Marshall does the rest of this season, but the opinion here is there are possibly eight teams better left on the schedule.
Navy plays Cincinnati, Central Florida, SMU, Houston, Memphis and Tulsa — the preseason picks to finish first through sixth in the American Athletic Conference. Air Force, Army and Notre Dame are the remaining nonconference opponents.
Based on what we saw on Saturday, Navy has an awful lot of work to do in order to successfully compete against that schedule.