Turning the page in first road trip
2020’s opening travel game set against Tulane
Navy football will try to turn the page and put the 55-3 beatdown administered by BYU on Labor Day in the rearview mirror when it travels to New Orleans to take on Tulane at noon Saturday.
The Midshipmen had a bye this past weekend, as a home game against Lafayette was canceled when the Patriot League decided not to play fall sports in July, and it was much needed as coach Ken Niumatalolo made the decision to begin full contact practices.
That gave the Navy coaching staff almost two weeks to conduct a minicamp featuring live scrimmage situations in which the starting offense and defense squared off against each other for the first time.
Off the field, there has been additional drama for the Midshipmen. Sophomore quarterback Perry Olsen left the team Friday and entered the transfer portal, and Niumatalolo apologized Monday hours after blaming the decision to continue the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy series on the Pentagon.
Navy’s focus, however, is on Tulane. With full-contact practices back in the fold, defensive coordinator Brian Newberry was particularly eager to see how the first, second and third defensive units performed when competing against the front-line players on the offensive side of the ball. Newberry acknowledged last week that it would be dramatically different from working against the scout team throughout training camp.
“We need to bang, we need to go good-on-good, we need to see that speed of play,” Newberry said. “We need to learn how to play with better pad level. Some of those things don’t get emphasized enough when you go against the scouts.”
To a man, the Navy players want to make amends for what happened against BYU. It was one of the most embarrassing losses of the triple-option era, which has produced winning records in 15 of 16 seasons since 2003.
Standout inside linebacker Diego Fagot talked about the importance of making an immediate turnaround so the season does not head in the wrong direction. Fagot was a freshman in 2018 when Navy lost nine of its last 10 games to finish 3-10.
“The attitude is this: We’re not going to have a 2018 season again. Whatever we need to do, we’re going to get it done,” Fagot said during a virtual news conference Friday. “Last Monday was an embarrassment and very hard to swallow. Having that bad taste in our mouths for a week and a half leading up to Tulane is something that is going to drive us.”
As part of what Navy football calls its “Kool-Aid” pep talks, Niumatalolo talked about how the New England Patriots opened the 2017 season with a humbling 42-27 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs but rebounded to capture the AFC championship and reach the Super Bowl.