Holy Cross Crusaders at Navy Midshipmen - the first meeting between these two gridiron squads
Saturday 31 August 2019
1530 ET

CBSSN (John Sadak, Randy Cross, Sheehan Stanwick Burch)

Navy Radio Network (Pete Medhurst, Joe Miller, Keith Mills, Scott Wykoff):
WBAL 1090 AM / 101.5 FM (Baltimore)
WNAV 1430 AM, 99.9 FM (Annapolis)
WJXL 1010 AM, 92.5 FM (Jacksonville)
WXTG 102.1 FM / 1490 AM (Norfolk, Va.)
W270DA 101.9 FM (Norfolk, Va.)
WQBK 107.9 FM (Williamsburg / Yorktown, Va.)
KWFN 97.3 FM (San Diego, Calif.)
WFED 1500 AM
WFED 104.5 FM (Western Fairfax / Loudon, Va.)
WFED 820 AM, 94.3 FM (Frederick, Md.)
WBQH 1050 AM, 93.5 FM (Washington, DC / No. Virginia)
Sirius Ch. 105 / XM Ch. 202

• The March-On of the Brigade of Midshipmen will begin at 3:12 pm.
• The National Anthem will take place at 3:21 pm, followed by a flyby at the end of the National Anthem.
• Saturday’s flyby will feature two Boeing F/A-18 Hornets from the “Salty Dogs” of VX-23 based out of Naval Air Station
Patuxent River, Md. Piloting the lead aircraft will be Lt. Matthew Dickens, USNA Class of 2009 with Weapons Systems Officer
Lt. Cmdr. Daniel Tantillo, USNA Class of 2008. The wing aircraft will be piloted by Lt. Jonathan Larsen, USNA Class of 2009
with Weapons Systems Officer Lt. Alan Helm, USNA Class of 2009. The Salty Dogs are responsible for test and evaluation of
the Navy and Marine Corps’ fixed wing tactical aircraft and their associated weapon systems. These aircraft include the F-35,
F/A-18, E/A-18, MQ-25, and T-45. (The pilots from the flyby will be recognized between the third and fourth quarter.)
• There will be a parachute jumper from Team Fastrax that will be carrying an American flag at 3:25 pm.
• Kickoff on Saturday is slated for 3:33 pm. Please note there is a chance kickoff and all activities noted above could be pushed
back by five minutes if the first game on CBS Sports Network (Indiana vs. Ball State) is running long. That decision will be
made before the 60-minute clock starts at 2:33 pm.
• The Patriot League Presidents’ Cup will be presented between the first and second quarter by Patriot League Commissioner
Jennifer Heppel. Navy captured its sixth-consecutive Patriot League Presidents’ Cup this past year, winning eight league
championships during the 2018-19 academic year to lead the overall standings. The Midshipmen tied Boston University
atop the women’s standings, as well. The Mids have won seven of the last eight Patriot League Presidents’ Cups and have
finished no lower than second in each of the last 13 years. Over the last eight years, Navy has won 60 Patriot League titles
while Bucknell is the next closest with 27.
• At halftime, there will be a tribute video played for former Navy football head coaches George Welsh and Rick Forzano, who
will be honored at a sold-out dinner on Friday night at Akerson Tower.
• Following the game, Navy’s alma mater, Navy Blue & Gold, will be played as the team stands at attention in front of the
Brigade of Midshipmen. It is one of the best traditions in all of sports.

Navy is 10-1 (.909) in home openers under head coach Ken Niumatalolo with its only loss a 31-24 decision against Rutgers
in 2014. The Mids own wins over Towson, LA Tech, Georgia Southern, Delaware (twice), VMI, Colgate, Fordham, Tulane
and Memphis.
Navy is 6-5 (.545) in season openers under Niumatalolo (home or away) with wins over Towson, Delaware, at Indiana,
Colgate, Fordham and at Florida Atlantic. Navy’s losses in season openers have all come either on the road or at neutral
sites - Ohio State (twice), Maryland, Notre Dame and Hawai’i.
This will be just the fifth time in Niumatalolo’s 12 years that Navy has opened at home. The Mids are 4-0 in those games
with wins over Towson, Delaware, Colgate and Fordham. The combined score of those four games was 181-46.

- On offense, I'm looking for execution. After the Lehigh game last year, Coach Niumat said: "But I just felt like we didn't play clean, a lot of mistakes in all three phases. I mean we got a penalty on a delay of game, a punt. That should never happen." 8 penalties in that game, so minimize.
- I want to see true triple option and I want to see it executed quickly and precisely with good reads, and minimal missed assignments.
- Passing game: 50% and around 150 yds would be nice I suppose, but I just want to see the new run and shoot packages at work.
- On defense, like the R&S wrinkles, looking forward to seeing our new DC's creation live.
- Crowd should be "announced" right around 30,000, a little higher maybe. It may seem that tailgating lots are fuller than seats, especially second half.

I expect to see precision and execution....that's where Navy seems to have the advantage in their best years against even the toughest competition.

(08-30-2019 12:50 PM)Foreverandever Wrote:  I expect to see precision and execution....that's where Navy seems to have the advantage in their best years against even the toughest competition.

Yes, but it is what was severely lacking the last two years.

midshipmen going into battle against crusaders. godspeed.

(08-30-2019 01:01 PM)slhNavy91 Wrote:  

(08-30-2019 12:50 PM)Foreverandever Wrote:  I expect to see precision and execution....that's where Navy seems to have the advantage in their best years against even the toughest competition.

Yes, but it is what was severely lacking the last two years.

I agree. Although two years ago was more injuries and outside forces. Last year seemed uncharacteristic of the program the last 10-15 years. I will be watching for mistake (penalties and turn overs) free football and the offensive flow more than the seemingly inevitable win.

Hope we see lots of this!

Holy Cross has the personnel on offense to potentially do damage. It all comes down to their junior QB. Their skill guys and OL are quite good by FCS standards. Navy will definitely be able to light up the Crusaders inexperienced defense.

My Holy Cross preview for TheFCSwedge.com
http://thefcswedge.com/a-look-at-what-is...oly-cross/

(08-30-2019 12:16 PM)slhNavy91 Wrote:  1 On offense, I'm looking for execution. After the Lehigh game last year, Coach Niumat said: "But I just felt like we didn't play clean, a lot of mistakes in all three phases. I mean we got a penalty on a delay of game, a punt. That should never happen." 8 penalties in that game, so minimize.
2 I want to see true triple option and I want to see it executed quickly and precisely with good reads, and minimal missed assignments.
3 Passing game: 50% and around 150 yds would be nice I suppose, but I just want to see the new run and shoot packages at work.
4 On defense, like the R&S wrinkles, looking forward to seeing our new DC's creation live.
5 Crowd should be "announced" right around 30,000, a little higher maybe. It may seem that tailgating lots are fuller than seats, especially second half.

Wrapping up this gamethread - big picture is we remain cautiously optimistic; plenty to work on in two weeks we have before the Pirates come to town.
1. Clean overall. Three penalties for 25 yards. Big one was a blindside block (area of emphasis this year) on a punt return, but it actually ended up erasing a muffed punt turnover and despite resulting in a first down, HC ended up punting from midfield. Another penalty was taking a delay to give punter room - HC ended up starting on their 8 yd line. I can't recall the third.
2. " I was pleased with Malcolm. I was proud of the way he operated, the way he ran our offense and the way he threw the ball. I thought he executed our offense and did a lot of good things. I was very proud of Malcolm's decision-making. I thought he played very smart and threw the ball well. If he operates on that level, we'll have a shot to be a good football team this season." - Coach Niumat
Also, slotbacks as a group got 270; fullback Nelson Smith rushed for 96.
OC Ivin Jasper on the sidelines for the first time...
3. passing 6/9 for 103 yards. Not sure how much was the new packages - seemed like our existing plays, but successful passes off rollouts both directions. We'll see.
4. DC Newberry: "Our kids played really hard; I knew they would. Little disppointed in our execution at times, but sometimes that's to be expected in the opener...A lot of things we really need to clean up, but a lot of good teaching moments during the game...we have a long ways to go but I feel confident that we'll get there."
5. Announced attendance 28,531. That's actually what we usually get for Labor Day Patriot League opponent...I may have been overly optimistic in my prediction. Bring some fans up, Pirates!

Nays turnaround from last season has started.