Navy wrapped up its regular season American Athletic Championship slate on Saturday with a thumping 75-31 win over SMU.
PASSING OFFENSE – A
The passing attack for Navy has become a legitimate threat to teams with Will Worth at the controls of the Navy offense. Worth three for over 100 yards again on Saturday and in doing so he became the first quarterback in academy history to run and pass for more than 100 yards each in three straight games. This is an offense that is simply not designed for Navy to complete as many passes as they do, but with the accuracy that Worth brings to the table, he has somehow morphed into a legitimate dual-threat quarterback out of the triple-option.
The passing attack accounted for 104 yards as Worth went 5 of 7 through the air with one touchdown and no interceptions. It is the lack of mistakes in the passing game that has elevated Worth above even the likes of Keenan Reynolds when it comes to throwing the ball and why Ken Niumatalolo trusts his senior quarterback to pass so much (relatively). Worth hit five different receivers with his completions and his touchdown pass to Jamir Tillman just before the break put Navy ahead for good.
RUSHING OFFENSE – A+
The passing offense was good, but the rushing offense was incredible against the Mustangs. The numbers are insane as Navy managed to top their output against ECU (66 points) by rushing for 496 yards and NINE touchdowns against SMU. Navy now ranks second in the country in rushing offense at 342 yards per game and those nine touchdowns against the Mustangs are more touchdowns on the ground than fellow AAC member Cincinnati has scored ALL SEASON.
Navy rushed for 10.3 yards per carry and actually had over 500 yards rushing before a trio of late kneel-downs to run out the clock took five yards away from the performance. The Mids didn’t face many third downs, but when they did they were almost always converted with Navy going 7 for 8 in those situations. The only failed conversion on third down was the final kneel down at the end of the game, so in essence Navy was perfect for the day. Worth rushed for 107 yards and three touchdowns, while the leading rusher on the day was sophomore QB Zach Abbey who ran for 111 yards and a score when seeing extended playing time fo the first time as a Mid.
PASSING DEFENSE – B
SMU piled up the yards through the air, especially in the first half, but the Mids defense tightened after halftime to shut down any chance the Mustangs had of sneaking a win and making it to a bowl game this season. Quarterback Ben Hicks was 31 of 44 on the day for 331 yards and two touchdowns. These are big numbers, but Hicks was having to throw so often just to keep up with the Navy scoring onslaught.
The best aspect of the passing defense was that the interception shy Mids finally got their hand on (and held on to) a couple of passes by the opposition quarterback. The Navy defense has been lacking big plays all year, but on the first SMU possession of the second half, Navy linebacker (and Texas native) Justin Norton picked off a wayward Hicks pass and returned it to the house for six points. This was followed up later in the game by a Tyris Wooten pick of Hicks and the game went from a tight one at 28-24 to a blowout at 62-24 in the process.
RUSHING DEFENSE – A
The Navy rushing defense, much like the Navy passing defense, really put things together in the second half on Saturday. The biggest play in the running game came when SMU was suddenly chasing a big Navy lead but was driving deep into Mids territory in the third quarter. The score was 42-24 and SMU had driven to the Navy 18 when a Braeden West run on 1st and 10 was stuffed for a three-yard loss. SMU passed twice before missing a field goal and the game was over.
On the day the Mustangs rushed for 96 total yards and two touchdowns (one in garbage time). Navy did an excellent job of stopping their running backs getting going with West (48) Kemon Freeman (58) combining for 106 yards. Navy also caught Hicks for losses on multiple plays, with the quarterback having five rushes for -14 yards. Micha Thomas was the Mids leading tackler on the day with 10 total tackles.
SPECIAL TEAMS – C
It is only a grade of C for the special teams because the Mids single worst play of the day came on that unit. Navy was leading 21-17 in the second quarter when Josh Brown III fumbled a kick off back to SMU. This was right after the Mustangs had scored and at that point it was by far the biggest momentum swing in the game. SMU went on to score a touchdown at the end of the drive to go ahead for the final time 24-21). In the grand scheme of things Navy overcame this mistake, but on another day a special teams faux pas could really hurt the Mids. To compound the problems on special teams, kicker Bennett Moehring also missed a couple of extra points.
COACHING – A
This game pretty much took care of itself without Ken Niumatalolo having to make any major decisions to tip the scales one way or the other. Obviously, the preparation was in the right place as Navy rattled off the points and went for over 10 yards per play. Getting Worth out in the fourth quarter to rest him was a good decision too as Navy has the busiest December schedule of any team in the country with the AAC Championship Game, Army, and then a bowl game to come. There were no big decisions to be made on fourth down this weekend as Navy score a touchdown every time it touched the ball on offense with the exception of the late kneel-downs to kill the clock. All in all, it was a successful, and easy, day at the office for Niumatalolo.
OVERALL – A
The only reason this is not an A+ is because of special teams mistakes and a couple of big plays early in the game that the defense could have prevented. The offense on Saturday was truly a machine and the Mustangs could do nothing at all to stop Navy moving the ball at will. This is the sort of performance that the Mids will need this coming weekend to beat Temple in for the AAC Title.