Navy Midshipmen have clear path to a Selected Bowl Game

By: Corey Johns

For those who don’t like change, seeing Navy move from being an Independent after 134-years and into a conference was troubling, but it made sense when they did it and it’s proving to be a great move now.

By moving into the American Athletic Conference, Navy put itself in position to earn a spot in one of the selected Bowl Games as a potential “Group of Five” champion. The highest ranked team out of the AAC, Conference-USA, Mid-American, Sun Belt and Mountain West will be automatically included in either this year’s Fiesta Bowl or Peach Bowl. Right now, that would the undefeated Houston Cougars, ranked No. 16 in the country. The Temple Owls are one spot ahead of the Midshipmen at 21 in AP poll, but Navy is right there and might be better than both of them.

They will have a chance to prove that too. Navy might have a loss on their record but like the Cougars and Owls are one of the three teams without a loss to a conference opponent in the AAC. On Friday Nov. 27, the Mids will travel to Houston to play the Cougars. Should they win they are likely destined for a date with Temple in the conference championship game.

Despite Navy’s lower ranking, The Mids have had the success they have had this year with a much, much tougher schedule. While Temple sits near the bottom of the country with an SOS ranked 212 and Houston’s is even lower at 245, Navy’s is one of the best in the country, ranking at 46.

Their only loss this year was on the road at Notre Dame, a team with legitimate National Championship hopes. They have victories over a good Air Force team, a solid South Florida team, and their crown jewel, a 45-20 dismantling of the Memphis Tigers on Saturday.

Memphis was undefeated before they played Navy and were viewed as the clear favorite to win the AAC and earn that spot in one of those major bowl games, but Navy hammered them and did it in Memphis. Memphis is the team that beat Ole Miss, the only team to beat Alabama this year.

Navy held the Tigers to less than half of their 47 points per game average and forced three turnovers. The Mids rushed for 374 yards in the game. Chris Swain has 108 of them and three touchdowns.

The Midshipmen’s recipe for success is pretty simple. They barely throw the ball and they run almost every down. It sounds too one dimensional but it worked perfectly against Memphis. They tired out the Tigers’ defense and kept their high-powered offense on the sidelines. Houston and Temple could be headed for similar fates and if they are, the Mids will be playing in a major Bowl Game.

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