Navy navigates its way through AAC while keeping proper perspective
They began the year in uncharted waters, but that hasn’t stopped them from navigating their way to one of the most successful seasons in school history. What else would you expected from a team called the Midshipmen?
After 135 years of playing football as an independent, Navy joined the American Athletic Conference in 2015 and it didn’t take long for it to get adjusted to its new surroundings.
The No. 15 Midshipmen (9-1) have cruised to a 7-0 league record and can clinch a spot in the first AAC title game if they can navigate their way past Houston (10-1, 6-1) on Friday.
“I think being in a conference was definitely exciting for our players and our program,” said Ken Niumatalolo, Navy’s eighth-year coach and all-time wins leader. “When it first started we didn’t really know what to expect, but I think as conference play started and the season started it was pretty exciting.”
Led by senior, record-setting quarterback and Heisman candidate, Keenan Reynolds, the Mid’s high-powered, triple-option offense has churned out 348.4 rushing yards per game, the second-most in the country, while tallying 38.2 points per contest.
On the other side of the ball, defensive end Will Anthony and nose guard Bernard Serra anchor a stingy unit that surrenders a mere 19.2 points per game to rank 19th in the nation in scoring defense.
Reynolds, whose 82 career rushing touchdowns is the most in FBS history, said the team was quick to embrace conference play.
“It gave us something else to play for. We have our team goals of beating Army, beating Air Force, get to a bowl game, but being in the American Athletic Conference gave us an opportunity to play for a conference championship,” said Reynolds, who has been invited to attend the Heisman presentation ceremony in New York. “… Playing these conference games, they’re almost like playoff games. Win or you go home. So we try to approach each game that way.”
So far so good. Navy, which suffered its lone defeat to Notre Dame, has passed every league test it’s taken this year to achieve its highest ranking since 1978.
It gets better. The Midshipmen are currently the highest ranked Group of Five team in the country and can play in a New Year’s Six bowl if they win out their schedule.
The path is trickier than one would imagine. First, Navy must clinch the AAC West by beating Houston, then go on to top either Temple or South Florida in the conference title game. After that, Navy will finish its regular season on Dec. 12 when it takes on Army. Should that scenario play out, it would be a rare instance of a team having to play its conference championship game before its regular season finale.
“I’ve never heard of anything like that and if we’re fortunate enough to be able to do that, and fortunate enough to beat a very good Houston team it will be exciting,” Niumatalolo said. “You just roll with the punches. It just is what it is.”
If Navy can get past all the potential pitfalls it will play in a major bowl game for the first time since the 1963-64 season. That’s when eventual Heisman trophy-winning quarterback Roger Staubach led the No. 2-ranked Mids to the Cotton Bowl against No. 1 Texas in a contest that served as the national championship game.
“I think that would be huge and I think it would be great for our country to see a school that still stands for the right things (play in a major bowl),” said Niumatalolo, a coach of the year semifinalist. “We have great young men on our team. At this school football’s not everything. It’s a part of what we do, but football is not the main thing here. The main thing here is to prepare our young men and women to serve our country.”
Despite the historic season, the players never lose sight of what their main purpose is at Navy. While some schools deal with distractions stemming from playing calling or a player not getting enough touches, those kinds of things are trivial to military schools like Navy. Especially in light of the recent terrorist attacks in Parris, which Reynolds acknowledged weighed on the minds of he and his teammates.
“I think every guy kind of thought about it and had been keeping up with it because we understand that us seniors, once we graduate, that’s the world we’re going into,” Reynolds said. “That’s what we signed up for, to protect our country from those kinds of attacks. To try to protect the world, really, from that type of evil so it’s definitely been in the back of guys’ minds.
“But the main focus has been on what we can control right now. We’re definitely aware of it. Our thoughts and prayers and concerns go out to all those families that were affected, but the guys have done a good job of focusing on what they can control.”
With that in mind, Navy makes sure to maintain the proper perspective when it comes to conference championships and major bowl games.
“It’s just a football game. When you put it in perspective these are human lives. It’s family, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, mothers, fathers that were lost,” Reynolds said. “It just definitely brings you back down and helps you realize what’s important: family and being there for each other and having those relationships. That’s what’s really important in life.”