Mids’ next objective is first AAC win on road
Potent triple-option offense must get ready for Huskies’ conference-leading defense
Navy made a successful football debut as a member of the American Athletic Conference, routing East Carolina, 45-21, on Saturday in Annapolis.
The next milestone is to earn a road victory over a conference opponent.
The first opportunity comes Saturday whenNavy travels to East Hartford to take on Connecticut at Pratt & Whitney Stadium.
The Midshipmen are looking to start a season 3-0 for the first time during the eight-year tenure of coach Ken Niumatalolo and the first time since 2006.
Meanwhile, the Huskies are looking to knock off a service academy for the second time in three weeks, having handed Army a 22-17 defeat Sept. 12.
Navy enters the contest ranked second in the AACin scoring offense with an average of 46.5 points per game and fourth in total offense with 447 yards per contest.
The Mids, led by senior quarterback Keenan Reynolds, who was named AAC Offensive Player of the Week, lead the nation in rushing offense with 393 yards per game.
Connecticut coach Bob Diaco called Reynolds “an awesome player” and also praised Navy’s fullback tandem of starter Chris Swain and backup Quentin Ezell.
“The biggest problem right now is the Swain Train and Ezell. Both of those players are very physically imposing. They are two of the best fullbacks I’ve seen in a while,” Diaco said during Monday’s AAC coaches’ teleconference.
“The combination of those two fullbacks and Keenan is pretty profound as far as the first two options of their offense.”
Meanwhile, Navy must contend with a tough, physical defense that leads the AAC in the two most important categories. The Huskies are holding opponents to 13.7 points and 279.3 yards per game.
“Coach Diaco has them playing really well, which is not a surprise. I know Bob, he’s a really good football coach,” Niumatalolo said. “We have a tough challenge ahead of us.”
Connecticut helped the AAC gain some respect last Saturday, traveling to Columbia, Mo., and falling to Missouri by only a 9-6 score. The host Tigers managed just 270 total yards and scored their lone touchdown with 5:03 left in the third quarter.
The Huskies, who gave up a safety in the first quarter, had a chance to tie the score with 45 seconds left, but a fake field goal went awry as holder Tim Boyle’s pass down the middle was intercepted.
“We’re proud of our effort and proud of the way our players we played. Weneed to do a better job of executing and communicating,” Diaco said of the near-upset of a powerful Southeastern Conference school.
“In a tight gamelike that, there’s no margin for error. We didn’t play as clean as we needed to get the win. There’s no feeling of victory, no consolation prize. We went down there expecting to win and when you don’t it hurts.”
Diaco knows Connecticut (2-1) cannot dwell on the loss and must regroup quickly to take on a Navy program that has won at least eight games in 11 of the past 12 seasons.
“Great team. Special team. Best Navy team I’ve seen,” Diaco said. “Been playing Navy for a while now and this is the best Navy team I’ve seen in all three phases to date.”
Diaco served as defensive coordinator at Notre Dame from 2010 to 2013 and therefore game-planned against Navy and its patented triple option in four straight seasons. He experienced mixed results with the Midshipmen being limited to 196 and 149 yards rushing in the 2011 and 2012 meetings.
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However, the Fighting Irish were shredded for 438 yards in a 35-17 loss to the Mids in 2010 and allowed 419 total yards while escaping with a 38-34 win in 2013.
Diaco readily admitted he would rather not face Navy and its triple option, particularly because of the cut-blocking schemes involved. “It’s an awesome offense, but I don’t like defending it,” Diaco said.
Navy and Connecticut engaged in a two-game, home-and-home series during the tenures of head coaches Randy Edsall, now with Maryland, and Paul Johnson, now with Georgia Tech. In 2002, the Huskies held the Mids to just three first downs and 82 total yards in a 38-0 rout at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
That game still ranks as one of the worst offensive performances of the triple-option era at Navy and Edsall irked Johnson with what he whispered during the postgame handshake between the two.
“Don’t worry, I won’t share this tape to anyone,” Edsall reportedly told Johnson, implying that he had solved the triple option.
It was a completely different story in the rematch at Rentschler Field four years later as Navy exploded for 605 total yards (464 rushing) in a 41-17 rout of Connecticut. During his postgame news conference, Johnson revealed what Edsall had previously said and conceded he couldn’t resist a rejoinder.
“You can send this tape to anyone you want,” Johnson told Edsall when they met at midfield afterward.