Mids resume rivalry with Lehigh after long hiatus
Way back when the Naval Academy began playing football, Lehigh was a traditional opponent.
Those schools, located approximately 180 miles apart, first met on the football field in 1889 with Lehigh winning the inaugural matchup, 26-6.
There would be 17 games between 1889 and 1913 with the Midshipmen eventually gaining the upper hand. Lehigh captured four of the first five matchups, but Navy won 10 of the next 12.
For unknown reasons, the series was abruptly halted and did not resume for another 70 years. Navy and Lehigh played four times between 1983 and 1987, and by that time the schools competed at different levels of college football.
Navy beat Lehigh, a Division I-AA opponent, badly in 1983 (30-0), 1984 (31-14) and 1986 (41-0). However, the Engineers turned the tables on the Midshipmen in1987, winning 24-9 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
That loss might have been the most embarrassing of a dismal season in which the Mids finished 2-9 under first-year head coach Elliott Uzelac, who didn’t last long in Annapolis. Lehigh was abruptly dropped from the schedule, but Navy got beaten by The Citadel in 1988 and 1989 and Uzelac was fired after com- Saturday, 3:30 p.m. TV: CBS Sports Network Radio: 1090 AM piling a 8-25 record over three years.
Interestingly, all 21 games between Navy and Lehigh have been played in Annapolis. Not even the early meetings were held in Bethlehem, Pa.
That history lesson is applicable because Navy and Lehigh will be resuming the old rivalry this Saturday. Navy has routinely played a Football Championship Subdivision opponent over the years and Lehigh follows in the footsteps of Delaware, Virginia Military Institute, Colgate, Fordham and others.
There has been one notable change since the schools last met. Lehigh now goes by the nickname Mountain Hawks, having dropped Engineers in 1995.
Of course, most Navy fans know that since the schools compete regularly against each other in numerous other sports as members of the Patriot League.
Lehigh has been one of the dominant football programs in the Patriot League, capturing five championships during the 12-year tenure of head coach Andy Coen. The Mountain Hawks are the two-time defending conference champs.
This marks the first time in 15 years that Lehigh has played a Football Bowl Subdivision school. Last time came in 2003 when Lehigh lost to current American Athletic Conference member Connecticut, 35-17.
Meanwhile, Navy has not lost to a Football Championship Subdivision opponent since getting upset by Delaware, 59-52, in 2007. The Blue Hens, who were led by current Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, wound up losing in the FCS championship game that season.
Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo is 9-0 against FCS competition. Last season marked the first time since 2006 the Midshipmen did not face an FCS foe. Niumatalolo said the distinction between the two levels of competition is not as great as most fans think.
“Whether FBS or FCS, every team has good athletes, good coaches, good strength programs, good nutrition programs,” he said. “We’re the Naval Academy. We don’t act like we’re any better than anyone else. We just come to work every week. It would be very foolish for us to think any differently about who we are.”
Navy is coming off a thrilling 22-21come-from-behind victory over Memphis, which was favored to repeat as West Division champion in the American. The Midshipmen rebounded nicely from a disappointing 59-41 loss at Hawaii in the season opener.
“People talked about last week showed the character of our team by bouncing back. To me, this week is a big character game for us because we’re still the Naval Academy. We’re not a football power or anything like that,” Niumatalolo said. “We have to recognize that we have to come to play and be at our best every week. That has always been our approach.”
Lehigh (1-1) comes into the contest off a resounding 31-9 loss to Villanova, which is ranked No. 10 in the latest FCS Coaches Poll. Villanova is proof that an FCS school can beat an American Athletic Conference member, having stunned Temple, 19-17, in the season opener.
Niumatalolo does not feel the need to bring up that particular result in order to convince the Navy players to take Lehigh seriously.
“We don’t look at our opponent and say we have to be up for Memphis and not this team. That gets you beat in a hurry,” he said. “We have to bring it every week. You don’t look at opponents; you look at your own preparation. If you have to try to find motivational stuff then you’re in trouble anyway.”