“We understand we’ve got to get this thing turned around before it’s too late,” senior fullback and co-captain Alexander Teich said.
After a series of excruciatingly close losses that were compounded by a rash of injuries, hope for a turnaround may be fading. Last weekend, starting quarterback Kriss Proctor dislocated his left elbow in a 38-35 loss to East Carolina. Navy Coach Ken Niumatalolo has ruled out the senior for Saturday, meaning sophomore backup Trey Miller is in line to make his first career start against the Fighting Irish (4-3), a team Navy has defeated two straight times but one that will enter Saturday’s game as a heavy favorite.
Proctor’s injury was merely the latest in a collage of misfortune and self-inflicted damage that has ravaged the Midshipmen to the point where they appear to be running out of inventive ways to break down. Navy (2-5) is one of four Football Bowl Subdivision teams to have lost four games by a combined eight points, including two by one point. In the previous three years combined, Navy had just three such losses.
“We are at the lowest of the lows,” senior defensive end and co-captain Jabaree Tuani said.
After Navy fell to then-No. 10 South Carolina, 24-21, on Sept. 17 to start the slide, the most difficult losses to stomach began on the first of this month, when the Midshipmen rallied from an 18-point second-half deficit against rival Air Force to force overtime, where they scored the first touchdown.
But Proctor was called for unsportsmanlike conduct moments after reaching the end zone, forcing place kicker Jon Teague to try a 35-yard extra point that was blocked. Air Force scored a touchdown and made the winning extra point on the ensuing possession, and Navy had its aspirations of regaining the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy doused for at least another year.
The following week in a 63-35 loss to Southern Mississippi, Teague’s 29-yard field goal attempt on the opening drive of the game was blocked and returned 79 yards for a touchdown. Navy advanced to the Golden Eagles 1-yard line on its next series, but Proctor ran for no gain on fourth and goal. Southern Miss proceeded to march 99 yards to the end zone in what was just the early stages of the Midshipmen’s most lopsided defeat since 2004.
Teich, meantime, watched Navy’s red-zone struggles from the sideline during that game even though he was fully capable of playing. Niumatalolo had suspended his goal-line specialist and leading rusher at the time for a violation of team rules.
Another blocked field goal, this one from 34 yards, contributed to a 21-20 loss to Rutgers on Oct. 15, and last week Navy had a chance to force overtime against East Carolina, but Teague’s 42-yard field goal attempt clanked off the right upright as time expired.
Included in that loss to the Pirates were a pair of calls that had Navy coaches and players befuddled. The first came on a Navy punt, when the ball initially made contact with an East Carolina player early in the second half. Officials ruled the Pirates player was blocked into the ball, meaning by rule the play was not eligible for review.
Then, shortly before Teague’s missed field goal, wide receiver Matt Aiken caught a pass from Miller at the 2 and reached the ball across the goal line before losing possession upon landing hard. Officials ruled that it was an incomplete pass, saying Aiken failed to maintain possession through the entirety of the catch.
But the game need not have come down to that play or required a hurried field goal attempt had Navy been able to blunt East Carolina’s final drive that produced the go-ahead points. That 77-yard scoring march pushed the Pirates’ total yardage for the game to 504, marking the second time in three weeks Navy has yielded at least 500 yards of total offense.
“Especially being a defensive guy, we feel that it’s more our fault that we’re in this position in the season,” senior safety Kwesi Mitchell said. “But we’ve just got to let it go because the season keeps going on. We’ve got three days to prepare in a week, and if you keep dwelling on that last Saturday, then more bad things will happen.”
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