What to Make of Navy’s Loss to SMU
Saturday’s loss in Dallas was a bludgeoning from the word go. SMU came out fast and almost before Navy even realized the game had started they found themselves down 28-0. It would be easy to look at this loss and think that Navy should have done better and just didn’t compete at all. While it wasn’t the Midshipmen’s best effort, that’s an extremely oversimplified take. Here’s just a few takeaways from the game and what it means for Navy moving forward.
What Went Wrong Early?
When this game started it seemed like Navy had never defended a forward pass before. SMU’s quarterback Preston Stone racked up 275 first quarter passing yards. The reason that SMU was able to light up the Navy secondary is because Navy had to play a lot of basic zone coverage looks. Navy doesn’t have the talent to matchup man to man with the SMU receivers, so playing zone allowed them to tighten coverage windows and force harder throws while preventing anyone from getting wide open. One of the disadvantages to playing zone is that it leaves holes that can be exploited by good offenses. SMU seemed to find the holes in coverage on every play early on.
Navy would switch to playing some man coverage and bringing pressure. The problem with this is that the SMU offensive line picked up every blitz and allowed Preston Stone to be patient while his receivers got open. Navy got burned on this as well. No matter what they tried to do defensively, SMU had answers and handled it perfectly.
Once they got into a hole, they were stuck in an offense that has a hard time trying to go fast and make up points. They never really had a chance to fight back in the game at that point.
Injuries
The theme of this game for both sides was injuries. Navy seemed to have someone else get hurt on almost every play early. It started with Alex Tecza, the team’s leading rusher, injuring his shoulder on the first offensive series. Then it was multiple wide receivers that left them with only one healthy receiver for most of the game. Then starting quarterback Xavier Arline left with an injury leading to freshman Braxton Woodson entering the game. On top of that one of the leaders of the defense Xavier McDonald also got hurt in this game.
SMU probably suffered the most significant injury when Preston Stone went down with what seemed to be a very severe ankle injury that left him screaming in pain. In terms of the outcome of this game however, Navy was handcuffed early and the game was already well in hand for SMU when Stone left.
Braxton Woodson
Freshman Braxton Woodson was forced into this game early and had a lot of time to prove himself. One of the few bright spots for Navy in this game was that Woodson did not disappoint. He looked much improved compared to his early start against Air Force this season. Woodson extended multiple plays including scoring a touchdown on a 69 yard run.
While he wasn’t perfect, it was promising to see him perform well in an opportunity like this. The potential is very clear. The one thing he really struggled with in this game was identifying coverages post-snap. His one interception that was returned for a touchdown came when SMU showed a two high safety coverage pre-snap, then shifted into a cover three zone defense post-snap. Woodson failed to recognize this and threw the ball right to SMU safety coming down to the underneath zone. Several times in the game Woodson made bad throws and held onto the ball for too long when SMU disguised coverages on him. However, getting better at identifying this just comes with experience, and the athleticism that he showed is hard to find.
Navy Run Defense
While Navy got lit up by SMU’s passing attack, the Navy run defense actually held their own. They held SMU to just 118 yards and 3.5 yards per carry. When SMU wanted to run the ball, Navy was swarming to the ball and held SMU to short gains on the ground all day.
Navy’s Aggressiveness
It’s tough to see the Midshipmen fall out of bowl eligibility, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. Head coach Brian Newberry called an extremely aggressive game all day. He tried an onside kick when they were down 28-7. He also called a double pass trick play that SMU sniffed out and a fake punt on fourth down. It wasn’t enough to turn the tides in the game, but Navy aggressively tried to fight back all day.
Heading into the Army-Navy Game
SMU putting up a ton of yards through the air isn’t all that concerning with regards to the Army game because Army isn’t going to be able to throw the ball around the same way the Mustangs could. The run defense for Navy has been great all season and that’s really promising for the Army game.
It’s also going to be important to get Xavier Arline back healthy. He’s done a great job after stepping in this season. While Woodson looked good, I don’t know if he’s ready or not for the biggest game of the season. Having two weeks off is helpful and getting guys back from injury is going to be the biggest key. If they can come into the game relatively healthy, this game will be, as it always is, a heavy weight slug fest that both teams are well prepared for.
