Navy Coach Ken Niumatalolo said it best–
We got our butts whooped in all facets – coaching, offensively, defensively, special teams. No excuses. We were prepared. We didn’t look like we were prepared having penalties to start drives and inexplicable things. Delay of game on the punt. Kicks blocked. It is the worst that we have been on special teams in a long time. We got our butts whooped.
And some may feel that it may be an understatement.
In the 2021 home opener at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, the Maby Midshipmen fell to the Marshall Thundering Herd–hard. The final…
During the post-game conference, Niumatalolo said tht the team could not perform in the red zone which statistics bore out; Marshall finished the game 6 for 6 in the red zone, while Navy was just 1 for 5.
Navy was sacked 9 times which was a program record followed closely by Air Force last year with 7 sacks. The coaching staff will have to keep that in mind as Navy only has five days to prepare for an inter-academy matchup against Air Force next Saturday.
Of note, was the dismal performance on third-down conversions. The Midshipmen had 21 tries and were only able to convert 8 of them–38%; while the Thundering Herd only had 8 chances, but they converted 5 of them–63%.
This team did not look like a Navy team. In the end the scoreboard reflected exactly how they played, and that will need to be corected by Saturday, September 11, 2021.
What was a lot more like Navy was the atmosphere. Stands full of fans–the attendance was 30, 131 and the Thundering Herd brought a large contingent as well. The March-On, the Flyover, the Parachute team, the recognitions on the field and the cheering fans absolutely screamed “Navy Football is Back!”
Today’s game had several touching moments. Before the game, a moment of silence was held for Michelle Cummings who was killed in an act of random violence in Annapolis while in town dropping her son, Trey, a Navy Football player, off for I-Day.
And former Athletic Director for Navy AND Marshall Head Coach, Jack Lengyal was homored as well. Navy and Marshall had never met on the field and Jack was the Head Coach for Marshall following the tragic plane crash that killed 74 members of the team in 1970. Lengyal was credited with picking up a broken school and rebulding it. Lengyal was Head Coach from 1971 to 1974. In 1988, he landed as the Athletic Director at Navy and served in that position until 2001. Prior to the game, Lengyal and Coach Niumatalolo shared some words. Jack Lengyal had the honors of tossing the coin to start the game!
But the real story was the normalcy as we are emerging from a pandemic. Welcome back and enjoy the images from the game!
Images ©2021 Eye On Annapolis
Up next, Navy takes on Air Force on Saturday, September 11, 2021. This is the 20th Anniversary of 911 and both Navy and Air Force have special uniforms and there are many remembrances and memorials planned to honor the bravery and memories of thos sevie academy graduates that were killed twenty years ago.
