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The Navy football team will be looking to match its best start in American Athletic Conference play when it travels to East Carolina on Saturday.
The Midshipmen, who sit alone atop the AAC standings, are hoping to improve to 3-0 against conference opponents. Navy began its league slate 3-0 in 2017 before losing four of its final five.
Navy has dominated the all-time series with East Carolina, winning six of seven meetings since 2006. The Midshipmen are 3-0 against the Pirates as members of the American.
Paul Johnson and Skip Holtz were the respective coaches when Navy beat East Carolina, 28-23, in the inaugural game between the schools. Since Ken Niumatalolo succeeded Johnson, the Pirates have struggled mightily to stop the patented triple-option offense of the Midshipmen.
Navy has averaged more than 53 points in the last five games of the series, posting some gaudy rushing yardage figures along the way. The Midshipmen have been especially explosive at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium — scoring 76, 56 and 66 points in their past three trips to Greenville.
Offensive coordinator Ivin Jasper said the coaching staff will not even talk to the players this week about what Navy has done to East Carolina on its home field.
“Yes, we’ve played well going down there. We definitely want to continue that trend,” he said.
Mike Houston is the third East Carolina coach to square off with Niumatalolo, who earned his 100th career victory last Saturday night in the fourth game of his 13th season at the helm. Ruffin McNeill and Scottie Montgomery preceded Houston, who lost his debut outing versus the Midshipmen, 42-10, in Annapolis last season.
East Carolina had three nonconference contests canceled because of coronavirus. East Carolina opened Sept. 26 with a 51-28 blowout loss to Central Florida, which was ranked No. 13 nationally at the time.
While that result was somewhat expected, a 49-29 rout at the hands of Georgia State of the Sun Belt Conference the following week was a head-scratcher. East Carolina earned its first victory last Saturday, traveling to Tampa and pounding South Florida, 44-24.
Meanwhile, Navy rebounded from an embarrassing blowout loss to service academy rival Air Force with a determined, gritty effort last Saturday night. Kicker Bijan Nichols booted a 50-yard field goal with just under five minutes remaining and inside linebacker Terrell Adams broke up a 2-point conversion pass with 1:02 left as Navy nipped Temple, 31-29.
“Both teams are feeling better about themselves,” Niumatalolo said. “Whichever team that does a better job of building off the last win will come out on top Saturday.”
Houston and East Carolina offensive coordinator Donnie Kirkpatrick strive for balance on offense, which was severely lacking against Georgia State. The Pirates fell behind and were forced to throw the ball, finishing with only 50 rushing yards.
That formula was on display at USF with ECU passing for 222 yards and rushing for 210. Freshman Rahjai Harris sparked the ground game by rambling for 115 yards, while quarterback Holton Ahlers was well protected in completing 19 of 26 passes for three touchdowns with no interceptions.
“Once they get the running game going and get into rhythm, that’s a really good offensive football team,” Navy defensive coordinator Brian Newberry said.
Newberry noted this is the second season in a new offensive system for Ahlers, a junior who started five games in 2018 under Montgomery. The 6-foot-3, 228-pound Greenville native came on strong toward the end of last season and wound up throwing for 3,387 yards and 21 touchdowns.
“I think he’s outstanding, as good as anybody we’ll see,” Newberry said. “A big, physical lefty that can make all the throws. He’s athletic enough to hurt you with his feet and can throw on the run.”
Newberry said East Carolina needs to establish the run to set up its passing game, which relies heavily on play-action and run-pass-option plays. The Pirates are improved along the offensive line from a year ago and Ahlers has several returning receivers with which he’s comfortable.
“This is the second year of the program and it’s just a more greased up operation. They’re clicking pretty good right now,” Newberry said.
Houston overhauled the program during the offseason, bringing in 54 new players. Last season, Navy and East Carolina met in Week 2 (Sept. 14) and the new coaching staff was still implementing its systems.
Houston, who enjoyed tremendous success at Lenoir-Rhyne of the Football Championship Subdivision and The Citadel, dismissed the lopsided losses Navy suffered at the hands of BYU (55-3) and Air Force (40-7).
The Midshipmen did not engage in full contact scrimmaging during preseason training camp and it showed against the Cougars.
“I think you can toss out the BYU game completely. They were just not prepared for that ballgame,” Houston said. “I wish that was the Navy team we’re going to see, but I know that’s not the case. When I flip on the Temple game, I see about what I expect out of Navy.”
Houston had no doubt Niumatalolo would provide the leadership and direction required to get the Midshipmen on track.
“That staff has been together a long time. There’s a lot of pride in that program, the culture has been intact a long time,” he said. “You’ve seen a veteran coaching staff take a veteran team and overcome adversity. We knew they would get things going and be more like the Navy we’re used to seeing.”
Attendance for East Carolina’s home opener against Central Florida was limited to 350 family members of players participating in the game. Gov. Roy Cooper has moved North Carolina into Phase 3 of his recovery plan, which allows for 7% capacity at outdoor stadiums.
Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium seats 50,000, which means there will be 3,500 fans in attendance Saturday afternoon. Tickets will be distributed among families of coaches and players, select season ticket holders and some students.
“I think it’s going to be good to have more of the Pirate faithful in the stands,” Houston said. “It’s only going to be 3,500 fans, but it will be people that are passionate about the Pirates.”
NAVY@EAST CAROLINA
Saturday, noon
Video: ESPN+
Radio: 1090 AM, 1430 AM
Line: Navy by 3