Navy Looking To Get Back Winning Ways vs #20 UCF
ANNAPOLIS, MD – Coming off thei
r first loss of the season and without a doubt, their poorest offensive showing in years, Navy will look towards the home crowd to energize them when #20 UCF comes to town on Saturday (3:30 PM CBSSN).
Looking to get back into the win column, Navy (5-1; 3-1 American Athletic Conference) will look to cut down on the penalties and miscues that are very uncommon for the offense to commit. But, standing in their way, is by far the hottest team in the AAC this year, the UCF Knights (5-0; 3-0). The Knights have won every game this year by at least 27 points.
The Knights are lead by Sophomore QB McKenzie Milton. After having a stellar Freshman season that saw him pass for 1983 yards, 10 touchdown and 7 interceptions, he has almost passed his totals and they’ve only played five games so far. He has completed more than 70% of his passes (90 for 128), but what’s more impressive is he’s thrown 15 TDs already and has been picked off only twice. His QB rating of 203.6 is one of the highest in the FBS. This is the same program that went did not have a victory in 2015 and improved to 6-7 last year.
For the Midshipmen, every thing depends on how well they run their triple-option offense. Last week in the 30-27 loss at Memphis, though the Tigers gave up more than 300 rushing yards, they forced five Navy turnovers (3 fumbles and 2 interceptions). Navy, one of the least penalized FBS schools out there, had five of them for 65 yards. Leading the Midshipmen offense is Junior QB Zach Abey. He will need excellent ability to read the Knights defense and hopefully rely on his running partners, Senior FB Chris High and Sophomore RB Malcolm Perry. The team has combined for a total of 23 rushing touchdowns and if they can keep the mistakes down to a slight handful, they should be able to match UCF in offense and points.
Navy doesn’t want UCF to repeat their last performance in the state of Maryland earlier this year. Back on September 23, after not playing for two weeks because of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the Knights played in College Park against a Maryland team that, at the time, had shocked then-ranked #25 Texas and destroyed FCS in-state rival Towson.
The Knights controlled the entire game and wound up with an easy 38-10 victory. If Abey is back on top of his game Saturday, Navy stands a chance of pulling off the upset, though it’s a very slim chance if you ask me.
