Navy travels to Greenville to take on East Carolina on Saturday at 6pmET in an AAC battle. Last season, the Pirates were victorious 38-35 as a 3.5-point favorite on the road. Navy has won five of the last six games and covered six straight of these meetings.
The Mids have played just two games and have not played since losing to Memphis 37-13 at home on Sept. 10. The Pirates are 2-1 after beating up on FCS Campbell 49-10 last week at home.
Navy has scored just 20 points in home losses to FCS Delaware (14-7) and to Memphis. The Mids will go as far as their option offense takes them. In their opening loss to Delaware, they fumbled the ball four times and lost three. In their loss to the Tigers, they also lost three fumbles so after two games, they are a -5 in turnover ratio. To make matters worse, Navy had a pick thrown by backup QB Xavier Arline and slotback Maquel Haywood on a trick play.
“I take responsibility. I don’t need to put Maquel in that situation. I should’ve called a better play,” Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo said on pressboxonline.com. “That play just changed the complexion of the game. When you’re playing a team like that, you can’t miss those opportunities.”
The starting quarterback is likely still to be Tai Lavatai (6-2, 221), who has the size to be effectiv e in the option game. He just needs to take care of the football. Navy has 399 yards rushing and 199.5 yards per game on the ground. That's basically their only semblance of an offense because they average just 117 passing yards and are completing 8-of-24 passes.
Defensively, Navy needs the offense to take care of the ball and also own the time of possession. They controlled the time of possession against Memphis and allowed just 91 rushing yards. But also allowed 415 yards in the air as Seth Henigan went 24-of-34. The only chance the Mids have against ECU is to control the clock on offense and not turn the ball over. They are going to give up some big plays in the air most likely. A week off will help them make some adjustments on both sides of the ball.