Navy serves as the opener for Temple
Owls are another opponent playing its 1st game vs. Mids
For the second straight Saturday, Navy football will face an opponent that has not played a game to date.
Temple, which has three nonconference games canceled because of the coronavirus, kicks off its season at 6 p.m. at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
This game was originally scheduled for Sept. 26 but was postponed by two weeks because the Owls were unable to practice as an entire team due to restrictions imposed by the City of Philadelphia.
As a result, Navy once again must rely on tape from last season to evaluate an opponent’s personnel. That was also the case for last Saturday’s game against Air Force, which opened its season by whipping Navy 40-7.
“From a preparation standpoint, there’s no question we have the advantage there because we’ve seen three games of theirs and we haven’t played,” Temple coach Rod Carey acknowledged. “How does that translate into a competitive advantage? We don’t know.”
Navy defensive coordinator Brian Newberry talked about the difficulty of scouting a team based of tape that is a year old. Temple has added several graduate transfers and numerous players have changed numbers. This is Carey’s second season at the helm and the Owls have no doubt evolved offensively during the offseason.
“It presents a handicap, no question about it. Teams make changes schematically during the offseason. I’m sure they’re going to have some new wrinkles,” Newberry said. “We’ll have to do a great job of adjusting to anything new we see over the course of the game. It’s a disadvantage for sure.”
Temple, which was picked to finish eighth in the American Athletic Conference in the preseason media poll, is led offensively by quarterback Anthony Russo. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound redshirt senior threw for 2,861 yards and 21 touchdowns last season.
Coach Ken Niumatalolo admitted earlier this week that Navy does not really have a quarterback on its roster that can imitate Russo to give the defense a good look. Newberry used the word “efficient” to describe Russo, who passed for 300 yards and a touchdown to lead Temple to a 24-17 victory over Navy in 2018.
“He’s got a big arm and can make all the throws,” Newbery said of Russo, who will be making his 24th career start.
Russo has two outstanding wide receiv
ers in Jadan Blue and Branden Mack, both of whom are returning starters. Blue is a Biletnikoff Award nominee after setting single-season school records with 95 receptions for 1,067 yards. Mack, who had 56 catches for 904 yards and seven touchdowns in 2019, is a 6-foot-5 matchup nightmare.
Temple boasts one of the nation’s brightest young tailbacks in Re’Mahn Davis, who rushed for 936 yards and eight touchdowns as a rookie. The rugged 5-foot-9, 215-pound sophomore is also an adept pass catcher coming out of the backfield.
The Owls have a huge offensive line that has been bolstered by two graduate transfers in center C.J. Perez (Northern Illinois) and right tackle Michael Niese (Dayton). Junior right guard Adam Klein (6-5, 290), a preseason All-American Athletic Conference selection, is the top returning lineman.
Traditionally, Temple has played smashmouth football with the intent of wearing teams down with a punishing ground game, while mixing in play-action pass.
“They’re a blue-collar operation. They’re a tough, gritty football team with a big, physical offensive line,” Newberry said. “It’s going to be a huge challenge coming off a very physical football game against Air Force.”
Navy’s defense could be depleted due to injuries sustained against Air Force. Four starters left that game and their status for Saturday night is unknown. Nose guard
Alefosia Saipaia, inside linebackers Diego Fagot and Tama Tuitele along with safety Evan Fochtman (Archbishop Spalding) are all questionable.
A fifth starter, Kevin Brennan, must sit out the first half after being disqualified for targeting against Air Force. Fagot, Tuitele, Brennan and Fochtman are Navy’s top four tacklers. Newberry said the Midshipmen had 45 missed assignments on Saturday and that issue needs to be corrected immediately.
“We have to come out and execute. It’s not good enough to play with fanatical effort,” Newberry said. “If you’re not playing with great fundamentals and you’re not tackling well, it doesn’t matter how hard you play.”
Temple’s defense will have at least six new starters, adding to the difficulty for the Navy offensive staff to develop a scouting report. The Owls have one of the nation’s top defensive tackle tandems in first team All-AAC choice Ifeanyi Maijeh (6-2, 285) and Dan Archibong (6-6, 300).
Temple sustained an unexpected loss when defensive end Quincy Roche, the AAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2019, transferred to Miami. The Owls picked up a transfer in return with Manny Walker coming from Wake Forest.
Last season, opponents had a hard time running inside against those two players and that is not good news for Navy, which desperately needs to get its fullbacks going.
Temple must replace three linebackers that are now in the NFL — Shaun Bradley, Chapelle Russell and Sam Franklin. However, redshirt senior Isaiah Graham Mobley saw significant action a year ago before suffering a season-ending ankle injury.
There are question marks in the secondary, where junior Christian Braswell is the top cover-corner. Yet another transfer, junior college product Jalen Ware, is slated to start at safety.
Temple has a well-earned reputation for fielding a tough, physical, hard-hitting defense. The Mids know that well after losing four offensive starters during the 2016 AAC championship game against the Owls. Niumatalolo called Temple the “flagship” program for toughness within the American.
“Year-in and year-out, if you think of toughness in our league everybody would point to Temple,” he said.
Navy’s offense has struggled through three games this season, ranking second-tolast nationally in average yardage (246.7 per game). The Midshipmen stand 72nd out of 74 Football Bowl Subdivision schools in scoring offense (12.3 points).
Starting three different quarterbacks in as many games has hampered the unit’s ability to develop consistency. There are also issues along the offensive line, which has already used six first-time starters.
Justin Self started at center, while Luca Fratianne and Sean Rattay started at left tackle and left guard, respectively, in the season opener. That group was restructured for the second game against Tulane with Self switching to left tackle and being replaced at center by Pierce Banbury. Bryce Texeira replaced Stengel at left guard.
Niumatalolo and offensive coordinator Ivin Jasper are hoping the return of Dalen Morris as the starting quarterback will give the offense a lift. Morris missed the Air Force game because he could not travel to Colorado due to an undisclosed medical condition.
“I was encouraged by our practice [Tuesday]. It seemed like Dalen being back had a positive effect on our offense. There was some life, some energy,” Niumatalolo said. “I thought Dalen showed some leadership. First play in the huddle, I heard him say, ‘This is a new week, we’ve got to get better, let’s get it done.’ I was encouraged by his fortitude in leading us and I thought he gave us a spark. I saw our players rallying around Dalen and that positive leadership.”