After getting off to a shaky start on their first two possessions, the Navy offense erupted for 409 yards. Meanwhile, the defense held Temple in check all afternoon as Navy (2-0, 1-0 AAC) topped Temple (0-2, 0-1), 38-11, before 28,889 in Annapolis. Quarterback Blake Horvath ran for 122 yards and three touchdowns to go with 112 yards and another touchdown on 5-9 passing. Alex Tecza added another 92 rushing yards, and Eli Heidenreich had 98 receiving yards and a touchdown. Colin Ramos had 15 tackles for the defense, while Jaxson Campbell had seven tackles, an interception, a pass breakup, and a QB hurry. The win moved Navy to 2-0 for the first time since 2019.

“I’m really happy for our players and talked to them in the locker room about the way we prepared during the week” said Navy head coach Brian Newberry. “It was great to see that hard work pay off on Saturday.”

Navy’s defense forced a three and out on Temple’s first drive after cornerback Ira Oniha stopped wide receiver Dante Wright for a three-yard loss on a pass to the left flat. The Mids picked up a first down after the punt, but a bad pitch from Horvath on an option play led to a loss of five yards and killed the drive.

It was definitely self-inflicted wounds on the first few possessions of the game,” said Horvath. “But after that, we got an idea of what they were going to try to run against us.”

Riley Riethman’s fourth-down punt went 51 yards and was downed at the Temple two-yard line. The Owls appeared to pick up a first down on a swing pass to Reese Clark on third and nine, but Oniha forced a fumble that was recovered by Temple but behind the line to gain. Temple’s punt only went 27 yards, giving the Mids excellent field position at the Temple 36. A fumbled snap on the first play of the series, however, put the Mids in a hole, and they were forced to punt. A fair catch by Wright gave Temple the ball at the nine.

The game’s first points came on Temple’s next drive, but they came on a safety. Justin Reed busted into the backfield on first down and stopped running back Antwan Littleton II for a loss, and the Owls were knocked back even further by a personal foul after the play. On third down, Reed got credit for the safety after forcing quarterback Forrest Brock out the back of the end zone following a bad snap.

Improving special teams play was a point of emphasis for Newberry after last week, and he was pleased with the way his team responded.

“Riley did a nice job pinning them down on a couple punts,” he said. “One of those resulted in the safety. I just thought the effort was much better. Attention to detail was much better. We made a few personnel changes here and there and the guys responded. I was really proud of that.”

The Navy offense found the end zone on their next possession, with Horvath taking the ball five yards on a keeper to cap an 11-play, 58 yard drive. Horvath’s arm was the catalyst on that series as he went 3-3 for 30 yards through the air, including a 14-yard pass to tight end Myles Slade.

After the kickoff, Temple advanced to Navy territory on a 15-yard face mask penalty by Oniha. But Jaxson Campbell read a slant pattern to step in front of a Brock pass and intercepted the ball at the Navy 42. One play later, Horvath took an option keeper 62 yards up the left sideline to give the Mids a 16-0 lead.

“We were playing cover two,” said Campbell. “I can’t let #2 come inside of me. I’m just trying to be physical, just trying to do my job.”

The Owls picked up a pair of first downs on their next possession to advance to their 44, but a penalty for offensive pass interference knocked them back to the 29, and they punted four plays later. Navy took over at their 35 and promptly blew the game open as Tecza took the first play 65 yards on an option dive, running through an arm tackle and breaking loose up the left sideline to the end zone. Nathan Kirkwood’s extra point made it 23-0 with 8:04 left in the second quarter.

Temple caught a break on their next drive after an apparent interception by Rayuan Lane was wiped out by a pass interference penalty. That put the ball on the Temple 43, but the Owls were set back by two penalties of their own and were forced to punt on fourth and eight from their 45. The Mids took over after the punt from their 17 with 3:04 remaining in the half, but couldn’t pick up a first down and punted after Horvath’s rollout scramble fell a yard short on third down.

With 1:32 on the clock, Temple took the ball at their 45-yard line and put together their first productive drive, resulting in a 36-yard field goal to close out the half. The Owls drove 37 yards in seven plays, all coming through the air. The teams went into the locker room with Navy holding a 23-3 lead.

Navy responded after halftime with a nine-play, 81-yard drive that ended with Horvath connecting with a wide-open Heidenreich on a 31-yard play-action pass up the middle for a touchdown. The drive opened with a reverse by Nathan Kent that went for 17 yards. The Mids ran the option out of the shotgun twice on the drive, which set up the play action on the touchdown. The Mids went for two and converted on a rollout from Horvath to Chatman, making the score 31-3 with 11:01 remaining in the quarter.

On the ensuing Temple drive, the Owls moved the ball to the Navy seven-yard line receiver Ashton Allen broke a tackle on fourth down and raced down the sideline before getting forced out of bounds. They came away with no points after Oniha broke up a third-down pass and Colin Ramos made a diving pass breakup on fourth down.

The Mids took over and promptly completed a 51-yard pass from Horvath to Heidenreich to move to the Temple 45. The drive stalled, though, and the Mids punted. Temple took over on their 24, then faced fourth and 6 from the 28. Facing a 28-point deficit, they went for it, but Brock’s pass fell incomplete as he was being pressured from behind by Campbell. Four plays later, Horvath kept the ball on a shotgun option run and ran 18 yards for a Navy touchdown. The extra point made it 38-3 Navy with 2:58 left in the third quarter.

Temple would make the score 38-11 on a diving catch by Dante Wright in the end zone from 23 yards out followed by a two-point conversion with 10:02 remaining. Navy closed out the game with the second team unit the rest of the way.

After the game, Newberry was excited to get to work building on the momentum his team has earned.

“We’re going to come back on Monday and go to work. Go 1-0 on Monday and get a little bit of a head start on Memphis, work on some things we’ve got to get better at. So I’m really, really pleased. It’s a good feeling to go into a bye week 2-0. I’m excited about the opportunity we have here in two weeks.”