Opponent Preview: Navy

Tomorrow's Opponent, but Future American Heroes

Navy has become one of Rutgers most common out of conference opponents, and that makes sense. They are located in the northeast and provide an interesting and tough test for the team year in and year out before conference play kicks into full gear. Tomorrow will be the 16th meeting between the two programs in the last 22 years, and Rutgers leads the all time series against the Midshipmen 12-7.

The Midshipmen So Far...
Navy is off to a 2-1 start, with road wins over Temple and Texas State after a season opening home loss to Ohio State. They gave the Buckeyes quite a scare in week one, as they trailed by only three points for much of the fourth quarter, before Ohio State eventually pulled away.

Coaching
Ken Niumatalolo is in his seventh year as the head man in Annapolis and he owns a 51-31 record, with five bowl appearances and two bowl wins. Niumatalolo is from Hawaii and played for the quarterback for the Rainbow Warriors before becoming a long time offensive assistant at Navy, taking over the head coaching position from Paul Johnson who left for Georgia Tech after the 2007 regular season.

Offense
Niumatalolo runs the triple option offense out of the flexbone, and it has worked so well under him and Johnson that the other two service academies copied the Navy model on offense in their rebuilding efforts. The triple option was once the most en vouge offense across college football 30-40 years ago, and it only stopped for the most part because of the recruiting disadvantages it put some power programs in (not going to get you to the NFL! Most opposing coaches say). The service academies don't have to worry as much about recruiting for obvious reasons. This offense still works though, despite only being run by the three service academies, Georgia Tech and Georgia Southern at the FBS level.

Defending Navy's offense and the triple option in general is extra difficult because you not only have to account for the fullback, quarterback and slot back, all of whom are potential ball carriers on most plays, but the counters and traps and the occasional pass plays that will gash you if they get you off guard as well. It is incredibly tough to defend if you do not have experience defending it, but Joe Rossi and some of Rutgers players have experience against it after playing Army in 2012 and Navy in 2011.

The Navy offense is led by quarterback Keenan Reynolds, who rushed for 1466 yards and 31 touchdowns a year ago. The junior signal caller is a very elusive runner and a master ball handler, making him the perfect quarterback for this type of offense. He is not a major passing threat, but he has thrown for 13 touchdowns against only 4 interceptions while averaging over 8 yards an attempt in his 2+ years as a starter. He missed last week's game against Texas State with a knee injury, but he is expected to start tomorrow.

Navy's offensive line is pretty experienced, led by third year starting guard Jake Zuzek. Most triple option teams are pretty small lines(I remember a few years ago Georgia Tech started a running back at right tackle after a few injuries), but all of the Midshipmen starting five are north of 275. They are smart players and will get great angles on their and they will cut block you. You have to watch out for that. This group is not over powering though, and they really don't need to be.

Senior slot back Noah Copeland is Navy's leading rusher and sophomore Jamir Tillman is their leading receiver.

Defense
Navy runs a 3-4 defense, and they lost a lot of starters from last years group, including appropriately named rover Wave Ryder. They still have a lot of experience on this side of the ball, however, as their top six leading tacklers are upperclassmen.

Navy is bigger upfront than you would expect, and they are of course very disciplined. Not many explosive play makers in this group, and they will give up a lot of yards, but they are usually able to prevent you from making big plays and lock it down in the redzone.

Conclusion
Navy always presents an interesting challenge with their now rare triple option offense, and I think there are a ton of benefits to playing a team like this. Having to stop the option can teach a normally fast and attacking offense to stay back and stay disciplined in your run fits, and that should carry over into conference play. They are also not a great team on defense and could boost the offense's confidence after last week's disaster. The Midshimpmen are a regional rival and a normally solid team, they are exactly the kind of program Rutgers should play in their out of conference slate, even when they go to a 9 game conference schedule.