Lack Of Consistency Costs Navy In A 37-21 Loss To Houston
The Navy offense has struggled to stay consistent all season. That continued today. They had a couple big plays through the air but the option was shut down by a tough Houston defense. Nelson Smith after back to back big games was held to 51 yards rushing. Navy (3-3, 3-1 AAC) as a team was held to 166 yards on the ground. Dalen Morris had 206 yards passing including a 60 yard touchdown pass to Ryan Mitchell. He also moved a pile of players into the end zone for a two point conversion after the game was decided showing a ton of effort.
Clayton Toon was 24-34 for 316 yards and 3 touchdowns for Houston (2-1, 2-0 AAC). Two of those went to Marques Stevenson. He had 9 catches for 129 yards. Despite those numbers the Navy defense played well considering the short fields they were given by the offense. Kevin Brennan had 11 tackles, Diego Fagot added 10 including a sack.
The key to the Navy offense is the quarterback. Morris continues to struggle with his decision making. He seems tentative when he tries to go outside. His pitches aren’t consistent. He also has made some bad decisions about when to give the ball to the fullback or keep it himself. This needs to get better if they are going to win games. It gets no easier for the Midshipmen. They head to Dallas to play 16th ranked SMU next Saturday night at 7:30 eastern.
