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USF (4-4; 2-2 American) vs Navy (6-2; 4-1 American)
Saturday, Nov. 9 • 12:00 P.M. (ET) • Raymond James Stadium (65,000) • Tampa, Fla.
SURFACE: Natural, Bermuda
TV: ESPN2: Roy Philpott (P-by-P), Sam Acho (analyst) & Taylor Davis (sideline)
AUDIO: 102.5 FM/102.5 HD2 The Strike & Bulls Unlimited (TuneIn)
SERIES: Tied, 2-2
IN TAMPA: USF leads, 1-0, won 52-45 in 2016
IN ANNAPOLIS: Navy leads, 2-1
LAST TIME: USF won, 44-30, in Annapolis in 2023 - was the first conference road win since 2019
STREAK: USF, won one
LAST NAVY WIN: 2019, 35-3 in Annapolis
USF GAME NOTES
At USF this week, the practices have demanded full attention and sharp precision. It has been like taking a funky new class — maybe with a different language — in your familiar major. You know it's not a typical week of football preparation when the U.S. Naval Academy — the Navy Midshipmen — comes calling.
In short, the USF Bulls (4-4, 2-2 American Athletic Conference) have their work cut out Saturday afternoon when challenging Navy (6-2, 4-1) at Raymond James Stadium.
Navy's offense has been described as a hybrid Wing-T system that incorporates elements of the triple-option, along with run-pass option concepts. Expect multiple formations. Expect some football magic tricks, some sleight of hand, designed to catch you off-guard. Expect the quarterback, whether under center or in the shotgun, to keep you guessing.
When second-year head coach Brian Newberry brought in offensive coordinator Drew Cronic, the former head coach of Football Championship Subdivision member Mercer, Navy's world changed forever. The familiar triple-option still exists, but there is so much more.
"What Navy does is so unique,'' said Bulls head coach Alex Golesh, a big fan of offensive innovation, speaking in equal parts of curiosity and admiration. "I had not watched the Mercer stuff, but I knew they had success. When he (Cronic) got hired, it was almost like, 'Wait until you see this!'
"I love offense. I love seeing unique things. From a coaching standpoint, it's like watching the Kansas City Chiefs' stuff, when you see some crazy, unique things when they get in the red zone, some of the screen-game stuff. You get fascinated by that. Well, this Navy stuff, I look at it like, 'What can I steal?' It's really, really good stuff and it's fascinating.''
Fascinating … to a point.
When you're charged with stopping the Midshipmen, that fascination can quickly shift to frustration.
The Bulls are rolling after Friday night's 44-21 win at Florida Atlantic, which included 525 total yards (319 rushing), six straight scoring possessions in the second half and a menacing defense that forced a program-record-tying seven sacks and 13 tackles for a loss.
USF is chasing a third straight victory — and even more momentum — to pull closer to the program's second straight bowl bid.
But this won't be easy.
Here are the keys to USF defeating Navy, which was ranked No. 24 nationally before back-to-back defeats against Notre Dame (51-14) and Rice (24-10):
Discipline
Good luck in out-disciplining the players at Navy, which requires military training, mandatory room and uniform inspection and formation, in addition to a rigorous course schedule and football activities.
"We have a ton of respect for what they do at the service academies,'' defensive coordinator Todd Orlando said. "If our (USF) players think it's hard here … just compare it to a normal day of a kid over there. When you understand why they are there, what they get accomplished, how hard they play and what they represent, it's discipline at the highest level.''
On the field, the Bulls must display an extraordinary level of discipline to contend with the Midshipmen.
"You've got to be gap-sound for the whole game,'' Golesh said. "You've got to physically match their personnel, when guys are running all over the place, then they formation you to death and motion you to death.
"When you add a little bit of tempo to it … you better be disciplined. You better know exactly what's going on. If you've misaligned a front or you're short a gap, you've got a problem.''
Orlando said the level of practice-field coaching can be challenging as well.
"There's so much you need to be careful about, like how much information you're giving the kids,'' Orlando said. "It's like what we do, from a pressure standpoint, with a whole bunch of blitzes and stuff. We might not necessarily run it, but it's on tape, so you've got to actually teach it.
"All that information goes into a kid's head. They (Navy) could run the simplest of plays and the kid doesn't know what he's doing because he has all this stuff in his head from the hundred different things you've taught him. That (information overload) is real. We've got to be good with our eyes. We've got to be disciplined. And everybody has to do their job without trying to freelance it. Read it, then react to it.''
Play Complementary Football
When the Bulls hit that second-half jet stream at FAU, it was a beautiful thing.
USF scored on six straight possessions, while running the ball at will. The defense collapsed on the Owls, applying constant pressure and stopping the backs before they got under way.
It was the textbook version of complementary football.
Offense helping the defense.
Defense helping the offense.
"It's what you want, producing on both sides of the ball, taking care of your business, creating opportunities for the other side of the ball,'' offensive coordinator Joel Gordon said. "That's the team feeding off each other. When you have a bunch of guys who are playing really fast and playing with a lot of confidence, the guys who aren't overthinking things, those are going to be the best teams on the field with the juice and the energy.
"What happened (in the second half) at FAU, that's 100-percent the goal every week. Everybody is trying to find that and we're no different. We're trying to figure out how to get it and how to sustain it.''
Get After the QB
The Bulls must contend with Navy quarterback Blake Horvath, who appeared in USF's 44-30 victory at Annapolis last season before suffering a season-ending thumb injury a few weeks later.
Horvath has thrown 10 touchdown passes (the Navy record is 13 by Ricky Dobbs in 2010). He also has a 90-yard touchdown run (against Memphis, when he accumulated 416 yards of total offense). He's completing 59.4 percent of his passes for 1,096 yards and he's also leading the Midshipmen in rushing (814 yards, 7.5-yard average, 12 touchdowns).
Horvath poses a different challenge than many of the Navy QBs that USF has seen in four previous AAC meetings. Horvath can — and will — throw the ball.
"We're preparing for essentially spread dynamics along with a modern-day passing game,'' Golesh said. "You're getting ready for both things, then you have a quarterback like Blake, who can beat you with his feet. It's not like he scrambles around. He can (legitimately) run. He's physical. When he takes off … he had two (runs) against Memphis where you're looking and there ain't nobody catching him.
"He can throw it, obviously. He has dynamic weapons on the outside. They have a young man (Nathan Kent), who ran (the 400 meters) in the Olympic Trials. They have a guy (running back Eli Heidenreich) with (551) yards receiving in just eight games. It's a lot for what we're used to seeing from old-school, traditional Navy. But it starts with the quarterback.''
And that's the player USF must hold in check.
Start Fast
USF hasn't scored in the first quarter since Sept. 21.
During that four-game stretch, the Bulls have been outscored 68-24 in the first half.
The manner in which USF starts games has become an issue.
"It has been (lack of) execution, it has been penalties, and I think it has been a lack of focus in a lot of ways early,'' Golesh said. "We've tried to really focus on that. We've tried to attack that.
"That's the biggest point of emphasis. Something has to give. We've studied it. We've tried some different things at practice. I've even changed up a little bit of our Friday night-into-Saturday morning routine to try to get us going early, almost like we're feeling things out. Against really good teams, like the one (Navy) coming in Saturday, if you get down, it's harder to come back.''
Ironically, USF was down 14-0 at Navy last season and roared back with authority. But Golesh wants to break the start-slow habit. And the Bulls must accomplish that with a noon kickoff in a situation where teams often have to create their own energy.
"You watch the game from last week (FAU) and we had limited possessions in the first half, mainly because of us, and we had so many opportunities left out there,'' Gordon said. "It's kind of like a broken record. It's a hard way to live. We were stumbling around, making self-inflicted mistakes, before we really got it going in the second half.
"Most of the time, (starting fast) can be triggered by one play, where everybody is on the same page and it's not called back by penalty. When things start clicking, when you get that confidence, players start to feel invincible. It becomes contagious. That's what we're looking for. The reality of it is we're still searching to play better earlier in the game, so hopefully it can become so ingrained in our detail that it clicks right away.''
–#GoBulls–
