Mids keep wary eye on foe, try to avoid complacency
Lou Holtz was famous for pumping up inferior opponents while he was coach at Notre Dame.
With a completely straight face, Holtz would tell the media assembled at his weekly press conference how worried he was about a 28-point underdog. Take for instance, the 1990 matchup with Navy when Notre Dame was ranked No. 2 in the country.
“I told our team this game is for a bowl game, and hopefully we can find a way to win on Saturday,” Holtz said. “You look at the film and you’re very impressed with the Naval Academy defense. Their defense can be the kind that disrupts your offense.”
Listening to Holtz, one would never have known Navy had a losing record and was coming off an embarrassing16-7 upset at the hands of Division I-AA James Madison.
Of course, the Fighting Irish scored 52 points in beating the Midshipmen handily at The Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J., that season.
Navycoach Ken Niumatalolo seemed to be taking a page out of the Holtz playbook this week when he discussed Saturday’s matchup with Lehigh, a member of the Football Championship Subdivision.
“Lehigh is the two-time defending champion in the Patriot League and has won a ton of football games over the years,” Niumatalolo said. “Obviously, you don’t win that many games and that many conference championships without have a strong program with good coaches and talented players.”
Indeed, Lehigh has been one of the premier programs in the Patriot League, capturing five championships during the 12-year tenure of coach Andy Coen. The Mountain Hawks are the two-time defending conference champs and have made a total of 14 NCAA playoff appearances.
Navy rebounded from an ugly 59-41 season-opening loss at Hawaii by upsetting Memphis, 22-21, last Saturday in an important meeting of top contenders in the West Division of the American Athletic Conference.
Niumatalolo was angry about the way Navy practiced this past Wednesday, believing the players were just going through the motions. The 11th-year coach worried his troops had allowed last Saturday’s big victory to go to their heads and was miffed the Mids had already forgotten how poorly they played at Aloha Stadium on Sept. 1.
“We win one game by a point and you practice like this?” Niumatalolo yelled while giving the team a real tonguelashing after practice.
Navy (1-1) will be a heavy favorite today when it hosts Lehigh (1-1), which has not played a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent since 2003. Niumatalolo did not think Wednesday’s subpar practice performance was a case of taking the upcoming opponent lightly as much as players getting complacent.
“Really, I don’t think it has anything to do with Lehigh. It has to do with our players not bringing it today,” Niumatalolo Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo, whose team rallied to beat Memphis, gave his team a tongue lashing after a poor practice. added. “We can’t have that. We have to bring it every day. Lehigh is a really good football team and very capable of beating us.
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 Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, wound up falling in the FCS championship game that season.
Niumatalolo, who is 9-0 against Football Championship Subdivision competition, believes 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. It would be very foolish for us to think any differently about who we are.” Niumatalolo isn’t totally blowing smoke when it comes to talent level. Navy routinely recruits against FCS programs and you can beat there are a few players on the current roster who were offered scholarships by Patriot League schools.
“I’m hoping there isn’t a big gap in terms of athleticism. I think we’ve got some pretty good athletes here. I imagine some of our players might have been recruited by Navy to some extent,” Coen said. “I think we’ll see some players that are somewhat similar to what we have, albeit a bit bigger and stronger.”
Lehigh 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 an FCS school can beat an AAC member, having stunned Temple, 19-17, in the season opener.
However, last Saturday’s result shows the difference between the Patriot League and the top end of the FCS (formerly Division I-AA). Colgate, which lost to Delaware in the 2003 final, is the only Patriot League school to ever advance past the second round of the FCS playoffs.
Navy is a member of the Patriot League in most of the other major sports such as basketball, lacrosse and soccer. That affiliation is the main reason why the Midshipmen began playing Patriot League schools in football, beating Colgate, 48-10, in 2015 and Fordham, 52-16, in 2016. Today, 3:30 p.m. TV: CBS Sports Network Radio: 1090 AM