Midshipmen offense finds footing by airing it out
NEW ORLEANS – Navy’s coaching staff correctly predicted how Tulane would defend the triple-option. The Green Wave put 10 men in the box and used the safeties and assigned specific defenders the quarterback and pitch.
So it was disturbing to quarterback Zach Abey that Navy struggled offensively during the first half of Saturday’s 29-28 loss at Yulman Stadium. The Midshipmen were 0-for-8 on third-downconversions in gaining only 97 total yards by halftime.
“Weknew what they were going to do. We practiced against that defense all week,” Abey said. “We just couldn’t execute. They did a really good job on run defense.”
Tulane employed an odd front with three down linemen and a stand-up defensive end pushed up close to the line of scrimmage. The Green Wavestarted three safeties, which flowed fast to the play side of the field.
“It was the same as a lot of the teams that play us do defensively. They were being really aggressive in the secondary,” Navy offensive coordinator Ivin Jasper said. “They know who has the quarterback and who has the pitch because they matched up man-to-man. We’ve seen that look before. I needed to be more aggressive early on with my play-calling to try to take advantage of that.”
It was a strategy that made it almost impossible for Navy to run the ball between the tackles. Abey found no openings on keepers, repeatedly getting met at the line of scrimmage by one of the safeties. The Archbishop Spalding graduate finished with just 11 rushing yards on14 carries.
Jasper and the rest of the offensive staff knew Navy had to do something different, so the decision was made at halftime to throw the football. That strategy worked better than anyone might have expected with Abey establishing career highs for passing yards (167), attempts (13) and completions (seven).
“We had to start throwing the ball. They were playing very aggressively against the run and daring us to throw,” Jasper said. “We talked about it at halftime and came out with a more aggressive mindset in the second half.”
After inserting backup quarterback Garret Lewis into the game to pass on the final possession of the first half, Jasper went back to Abey to start the second half. Lewis is the better passer of the two, but putting him into the game would have telegraphed Navy’s TV: Radio: intentions and possibly led to Tulane to alter its defensive approach.
Abey rewarded his coach’s confidence and made that decision look good by throwing the ball more accurately than he did at any point during his nine starts at quarterback last season. Dropping a ball over a defender and into the hands of slotback CJ Williams on a wheel route was a real confidence boost for Abey, who quickly identified the open target and stepped into his throws.
“Zach made some great decisions, some great throws and we had guys make plays as far as catching the football,” Jasper said. “I’m not surprised. Zach can throw the football. Sometimes it comes down to the decisionmaking. Today, he did a great job with being smart and decisive about where to go with the football.”
When all was said and done, Navy had more passing yards (204) than rushing yards (117), a rarity during the current triple-option era.
“We had drives going in the first half and couldn’t finish them. We came out in the second half and started to put things together, hit a couple big plays and momentum shifted,” Abey said.
Jasper was mad at himself for not throwing the ball early and often to counteract Tulane’s defensive game-plan. Navy’s defense forced punts on three straight possessions to start the game and the offense could not capitalize on those opportunities.
“We should have done better in the first half. Defense gave us a bunch of big stops and we didn’t take advantage,” Jasper said. “If we had gotten things going we might have been up a few scores. We can’t take that long to get started.”
Going bowling: Bowl games have been few and far between for the Tulane football program. So the wild celebration that ensued on the home team’s sideline as the final seconds ticked off the clock on Saturday was understandable.
Tulane is bowl eligible for just the second time in 16 years and third-year head coach Willie Fritz said that accomplishment is a tangible sign of progress.
“All of our loyal fans, which we’ve got a ton, they’ve had some tough times here, and it’s about time we got the opportunity to win and celebrate like that,” Fritz said afterward. “I’m really happy for the young men in our program. They’ve worked extremely hard. We were 2-5 at one point, we had one of the tougher schedules in the country, and we came back and kept fighting and scratching and clawing.”
Tulane lost to Louisiana-Lafayette in the 2013 New Orleans Bowl. That was the first postseason appearance for the Green Wave since the 2002 Hawaii Bowl.
Coming up empty: Abey completed a 26-yard pass to Ryan Mitchell on Navy’s third possession of the game. Mitchell picked up a great block from freshman wide-out Mychal Cooper and gained considerable yardage after the catch as a result.
That pass play gave Navy a first down at the Tulane 9-yard line, but a direct handoff to slotback Malcolm Perry on a misdirection play did not work well and resulted in a 4-yard loss.
It was a costly negative play that derailed a promising drive and forced Navy to send in field goal kicker Bennett Moehring, who promptly missed wide left on a 26-yard attempt.
Moehring’s second missed field goal of the season brought an abrupt end to Navy’s perfect run in the red zone. The Midshipmen came into the game ranked No. 1 nationally in red zone efficiency, having converted on 33 of 33 opportunities.
Mid bits: Inside linebacker Taylor Heflin led Navy with nine tackles and now has a team-leading 93 on the season. Safety Sean Williams and backup inside linebacker Pepe Tanuvasa made six tackles apiece… Slotback Tazh Maloy scored his first career touchdown on a 9-yard scamper off a quick pitch late in the fourth quarter… Fullback Anthony Gargiulo led Navy in rushing with 44 yards on 12 carries… Navy great Roger Staubach was a special guest of Tulane and performed the pregame coin flip… Punter Owen White had a strong outing, setting a school record with a 51-yard average. White boomed a season-best 58-yard punt early in the first quarter. That was one of three punts of 50 yards or more for the junior, who knocked Trey Calisch out of the Navy record book. Calisch had averaged 50.3 yards on six punts against Army in 1999…. Sophomore Jake Springer had a 21-yard punt return, the longest of his career.