While Navy opened the season Sunday with a 21-7 rout of VMI, Maryland participated in a scrimmage against Cornell on Saturday and will begin the 2015 season by visiting the Midshipmen on Saturday at 12 p.m. at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
And that has Terps coach John Tillman worried.
"When you get a game before, you go into your second game and the guys have been through it," he said Tuesday. "This will be their second home game, and I think some of the nerves, especially when you have young players, that can be a big advantage. You've been through the routine. For us, this will be our first game. So you can look at it as, 'Hey, this is our first go-around, and there's an advantage there.'"
Tillman and his coaching staff watched Navy's victory over the Keydets via the Patriot League Network and were impressed with what they saw. Junior attackman Patrick Keena finished with a career-high nine points on two goals and seven assists, and the Midshipmen won 71.9 percent (23 of 32) of the faceoffs, scooped up 44 ground balls to VMI's 21, and allowed 18 shots, including just five in the first half.
Tillman said Maryland will spend a lot of time studying Navy's performance, which included six new starters and goals from five freshmen.
"It really concerns you," he said of the Midshipmen's new faces. "You always like to be comfortable. Early-season games are tough because you're not where you're going to be in a couple months. So there's all these variables. Your team's not quite gelling yet, the weather plays a big part, you have early-season injuries because you're practicing in the cold and there are a lot of bumps and bruises. So I think all coaches are really guarded early in the season because they know that anything can happen.
"With the way Navy is playing, you just saw so many guys getting involved, they shared the ball very well, and the only thing we can work off is VMI. We read some of the preseason reports and then if you read some of the interviews online, you hear great things about [freshman attackman] Jack Ray and what a talented player he is. He's a guy that didn't even play, and we're expecting him to play. The way people are talking about him, he may be one of their most dynamic players. So you kind of look at that team as being even more difficult to stop with a talented guy like that."