Navy Comes Back To Beat Tulane 27-24
After being outscored 79-3 in the first six quarters of the season the Navy Midshipmen (1-1) finally got it going in the second half against Tulane (1-1) today in New Orleans. The Mids were held to 59 yards of offense in the first half and struggling to block the Green Wave defense. On the defensive side of the field the Mids gave up 291 yards to the Green Wave and committed a key penalty on third down to keep a Green Wave drive alive that resulted in a touchdown. Cameron Kinley picked off a pass to thwart another drive at the Navy three yard line. It was 24-0 Tulane at halftime.
Coach Ken Niumatalolo said he didn’t give a big speech at halftime but something changed. Tulane started the half with four straight punts while Navy scored two touchdowns to cut the lead to 24-14. After a great roll on a Daniel Davies punt that gave Tulane the ball on their one their own one yard line the defense stuffed a running play for a safety to make it 24-16. Navy returned the ensuing free kick to the 43 yard line. Dalen Morris hit Mychal Cooper on a 32 yard touchdown pass. A Morris pass to Devin Mathews gave the Mids a two point conversion and tied the game at 24. The defense got 4th down stops on the next two drives to keep the game tied. Navy took over with 4:41 left in the game. They drove to the Tulane 16 yard line and Bijon Nichols came on to kick the winning 33 yard field goal as time expired to complete the greatest comeback in Navy football history.
Jamale Carothers had 25 carries for 127 yards including a 48 yarder and a couple big runs to keep drives alive. Morris was 6-11 for 139 yards and a touchdown passing. He also rushed for 23 yards on 13 carries. Cooper had 3 catches for 71 yards and the 32 yard TD. Tyjae Spears had 18 carries for 119 yards for the Green Wave. Cam Carroll added 11 carries for 62 yards but scored two touchdowns. Tama Tuitele had 11 tackles for the Navy defense. Diego Fagot added 9 tackles including a sack for the Mids.
Navy returns to action on October 3rd when they travel to Air Force to start the 2020 Commander In Chiefs trophy battle. The Falcons are only playing Navy and Army this season after the Mountain West conference suspended play for the fall due to Covid 19. There are also reports from the Colorado Springs Gazette that as many as 40 players have dropped out of school for the fall semester to save a year of eligibility. There has been no comment from Air Force about this report. The bottom line to all of this is Navy won’t have much information to use in preparation for this game. Kickoff will be at 6pm eastern on the CBS Sports Network.
