Oct. 7, 2016 Everyone around the Navy Football program knows the caliber of opponent that awaits them on Saturday afternoon. When the sixth ranked Houston Cougars show up to Annapolis, they will have everyone's undivided attention. With an elite offense, led by quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Greg Ward, Jr., Houston poses a myriad of challenges for Dale Pehrson's defense. Coach Niumatalolo pointed out that his staff is still watching film trying to find a way to slow down Ward and his plethora of weapons, and that "from Oklahoma on, no one has been able to stop them." The Houston offense under the tutelage of second-year head coach Tom Herman has put up over 44 points per game this season.
If Ward's elusiveness, pocket presence, rushing ability, and arm strength weren't enough, the Cougars defense which held Navy to 147 yards rushing on the way to a 52-31 victory last year in Houston is even better this time around. Led by an outstanding linebacker corps and a dominant true freshman defensive tackle in Ed Oliver, the Houston defense is currently the best ranked rushing defense in the country, allowing their opposition to gain a mere 42 yards per game on the ground. Having limited their opponents to just over 11 points per game on the season, this is a team that has won their first five contests by an average of nearly five touchdowns.
The highest ranked team to visit Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium since South Carolina came to Annapolis in 1984, this is a Houston program that has the highest of aspirations for the remainder of their season. This group has legitimate hopes at a College Football Playoff run and a chance at a national title shot come January. To most, Navy is just another quick detour from what is assumed to be a collision course with the seventh ranked Louisville Cardinals in November.
There are plenty of places Coach Niumatalolo could look to for inspiration for his squad, but perhaps the best place to look is inside his own program and that 1984 game against the second ranked South Carolina Gamecocks.
The current state of Navy Football is vastly different from the team that lined up to take on the Gamecocks on the 17th of November, 1984. Navy was in the midst of the second of what would become 13 straight losing seasons. This year's team is looking for a 13th winning season in 14 years.
The stakes couldn't be more different either. Sitting at 3-5-1 in 1984, the Midshipmen were playing mostly for pride. This year's game represents a crucial moment in the American Athletic Conference West Division race.
Though the program is certainly in a different place and the stakes are significantly higher, if you dig a little deeper, there are a few notable similarities that help illuminate what can happen if a team comes to Annapolis expecting the Midshipmen to simply roll over on their way to the National Championship.
South Carolina entered the game against Navy ranked second in the country, averaging over 35 points a game and having just put up 38 points in a defeat of the 11th ranked Florida State Seminoles the week before. All that stood between the Gamecocks and a trip to the National Championship was Navy and archrival Clemson. In fact, representatives from the Orange Bowl were on hand at the Navy game, prepared to extend an invite to South Carolina after what would surely be an easy victory. South Carolina fans had already purchased over 6,000 tickets for the Orange Bowl before the game against Navy even kicked off. To add to the expectations, the only team in front of the Gamecocks, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, had already been defeated that day. With a victory, South Carolina was assured of being the number one team in the country for the first time in program history.
This is a Houston team in a very similar position. Considered a preseason dark horse for the College Football Playoff, the Cougars jumped right into the thick of the Playoff race with a ten point victory over Oklahoma in week one. Since then, they have been dominant in every game and are very much in the conversation for an opportunity at a spot in the Playoff and a chance at making it to the National Championship game.
Navy entered the 1984 game against South Carolina coming off a demoralizing victory in which they were shutout on the road by Syracuse, 29-0, the week prior. The 2016 version of Navy Football enters this week's game coming off of a 28-14 road defeat at the hands of Air Force, one of their biggest rivals and a team that represented the first leg of one of their season goals, the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy.
Members of the 1984 Navy Football team indicated that the week leading up to their game against South Carolina had a sense of urgency because of the way they had lost in their matchup the previous season. Tight end and co-captain Mark Stevens told ESPN in 2011 that the 1983 game against South Carolina was "the most embarrassed I've ever been and the low point of my college football career." While that seems a bit of a stretch for a 2016 Navy Football player to say, there is no doubt that the 2015 loss to the Cougars in Houston still stings. Last year, Houston was the only thing standing in the way of a berth in the inaugural AAC Championship Game, and with a follow-on victory against Army, the potential for a spot in a New Year's Six bowl game.
Finally, in what may be the most emotionally relevant similarity, the 1984 Navy Football team limped into the South Carolina game without two of its most important players who had been lost for the season due to injury. After preseason All-American candidate and all-purpose weapon Napoleon McCollum went down with a season-ending ankle injury in the second week of the season, the Midshipmen then lost starting quarterback Bill Byrne to an injury late in the game just two weeks prior against Notre Dame. As quarterback Bob Misch put it, "We were battered and beaten and everyone was hurting and you figured we had no chance at all." This year's Navy team can certainly relate. After losing starting quarterback Tago Smith to an ACL injury the first week of the season, the disheartening news came out this week that senior co-captain Daniel Gonzales was also done for the season with a Lisfranc injury.
Sports can be cruel sometimes, but just like the 1984 team, there has to be a next man up mentality for the Midshipmen, who have no time to sulk over the loss of one of their top tacklers and leaders in Gonzales.
What transpired in 1984 after all of the injuries, the demoralizing loss the week before, and the embarrassing performance the season prior against the Gamecocks was arguably the biggest upset in Navy Football history and one of the biggest victories for a service academy team in the modern era. It certainly was not a flawless performance as the Midshipmen turned the ball over three times including twice in Navy territory on their first two possessions, but they took a 14-7 lead to the locker room and never looked back. After scoring on three consecutive possessions in the third quarter and opening up a 38-7 lead, Navy was able to hold on for a 38-21 victory that included four interceptions, a fumble recovery, and a blocked field goal.
The Orange Bowl committee who had been there to extend an invite to the Gamecocks ended up simply being there to congratulate the Midshipmen on their gutsy performance. What was supposed to be an afterthought for South Carolina on the way to Miami turned into one of the most disappointing games in school history.
While similarities will not translate into execution on Saturday, there is no denying the opportunity available for Navy to take a similar approach and try and come away with the biggest program upset since 1984, extending their home winning streak to 13 games while they are at it.
The challenge is immense, but it's been completed before, and they don't have to search far for a reminder of what it can look like.
