Last week, I wrote that Navy's win over North Texas was a good reminder that the object of the game is not to look good statistically. The goal is to win. I suppose the same could be said about Navy's 14-0 win over Charlotte on Saturday.

In the preview, we discussed how this game was the opposite of the North Texas matchup. In that game, the Mids had to be ready to outscore the league's most prolific offense. Against Charlotte, we knew it would be more of a low-scoring dogfight. I don't think anyone expected this, though. Navy was limited to 173 rushing yards, was 3-15 on third down conversions, and went three and out seven times. They never ran a play in the red zone. Until their last possession, the only plays Navy ran in Charlotte territory came on drives that started in Charlotte territory. And yet here we are, talking about Navy's second win in a row.

Once again, the object of the game is to win, not to be pretty. That's a good thing because as ugly as it was, the Mids did just enough to win.

It wasn't pretty on offense, at least. Defensively, Navy pitched their second shutout of the season and their first ever against a conference opponent. Sure, Charlotte isn't exactly the greatest show on turf, but shutouts are hard to do in modern college football no matter who you're playing.

Indeed, in the first half, it seemed almost inevitable that Charlotte would eventually put points on the board. In the team's weekly press conference, running back Joachim Bangda offered a frank assessment of the Navy defense:

"We're looking to exploit them downhill. They're not very great tacklers on the back end."

Sure enough, Bangda told everyone exactly what his team's plan was, and he wasn't wrong about Navy, either. Most of Charlotte's first-half yardage came on zone runs to the backside of the line.

However, the 49ers weren't very successful when they tried anything else. Other running plays didn't go anywhere, and quarterback Trexler Ivey completed only three passes for 11 yards in the first half.

In the second half, Navy adjusted to those successful backside runs by firing the corners.

That was all it took. Charlotte had 103 rushing yards in the first half. They finished with 123. Ivey did connect on a pair of long pass plays in the fourth quarter-- I suspect Charlotte was hoping to catch a safety out of position on those CB blitzes-- but the offense could not finish those drives. Ivey finished the game completing only 41% of his throws for 142 yards. The Mids also had four sacks and grabbed an interception in the third quarter (and on the Hail Mary at the end of the game). With 12 sacks in the last two weeks, Navy is now tied for 13th in the country in sacks per game.

Of course, Navy didn't look much better when they had the ball. Tai Lavatai was knocked out of the game after the first series, so Braxton Woodson took the snaps the rest of the way. For many Navy fans, this was the moment they'd been waiting for. Woodson has been getting rave reviews from those who have seen him in practice. He's fast and has a strong arm, and we saw glimpses of both on Saturday. However, we also saw a few things that hint at why the coaches aren't rushing to put him into a game. Some of those things might have been first-game jitters. Some were more fundamental. And there were plenty of problems with the offense that would have been there no matter who the quarterback was.

Before we get into that, though, I think it's important to point out one thing that Woodson did well: he didn't make the game-altering mistake. He didn't turn the ball over. There was one mishandled snap, but even that might not have been his fault, and he fell on the ball immediately as he should have. It might sound like this is damning with faint praise, but it isn't. In a game like this, the longer it stays scoreless, the more pressure you feel to make something happen, which ultimately leads to mistakes. Indeed, we saw this from Charlotte. Navy scored on the opening possession of the third quarter, and Ivey threw an interception three plays later, trying to throw into coverage. Ivey then fumbled the ball on a fourth-quarter strip sack. Both plays came on third down as Ivey tried to keep drives alive. This isn't a criticism of Ivey but rather an appreciation of Woodson's ability to keep his composure. Ivin Jasper came down from the booth so he could talk to Woodson on the sideline, and I am sure that was a big part of it.

I had three takeaways from this game. One, the coaches know what they are doing regarding the quarterbacks. Two, plenty of problems have nothing to do with whoever lines up under center. And three, Charlotte deserves a lot of credit.

The 49ers lined up in a 4-4 with the safety following the pitch. This is among the most common defenses Navy sees against the option, including this year. The one wrinkle that Charlotte added was that they usually-- but not always-- scraped the playside ILB. We can see that on the first play that Navy ran from scrimmage, an inverted veer. Lavatai missed the read, but you can see that the linebacker scraping outside:

If it's read correctly, the inverted veer is actually a great play to run against a scraping linebacker because the quarterback runs right where that linebacker is running away from. Navy's problem is that they almost never read the play correctly. Charlotte's defensive ends ran right to the mesh point, which made it difficult for the quarterback to make a decision. Even in the rare case where the quarterback read the play correctly, the DEs were athletic enough to recover and make the tackle from behind.

In the preview, I wrote about the talent that Charlotte had on defense. I don't think I gave them enough credit. The 49ers had some dudes, especially on the defensive line. They often lined up the defensive ends relatively wide so that they wouldn't be cut by the backside tackle. Those ends were then fast enough to run the play down from behind.

We saw this on the first play here. One of the first adjustments that the offense made was to run a double option, pitching off of the playside DE and using the fullback to block the scraping linebacker. The first time they tried it, the backside DE ran all the way to the other sideline to make the tackle.

Another problem with that play was that it was very difficult for the fullback to get leverage on the scraping linebacker. Because the ILB was already running outside, the fullback couldn't get out in front of him to deliver a real block. The play would get strung out.

Since it was hard to block the ILB, the Mids tried reading him as the pitch key. On this play, the ILB did not scrape; instead, he shot the B gap. Lavatai read that correctly and pitched the ball immediately. However, the Mids didn't block the play correctly. Two players blocked the outside linebacker, leaving nobody to take the safety. Even if the pitch man didn't slip, the play wasn't going anywhere.

What probably should have happened was for the receiver to block the linebacker since he had outside leverage. The slotback should have arced out to the safety to get inside leverage, and the running lane would be between the two.

The Mids tried running the same play a little later, and this time they blocked it correctly. The play still didn't get much, though. The scraping linebacker was still able to string the play out to the sideline.

Woodson was part of the problem there. After the first read, the quarterback is taught to run as close to parallel to the line of scrimmage as possible. Woodson didn't; he bounced backward, perhaps because of the way the DEs were playing. If he ran right at the pitch key, it would have forced him to decide one way or another. Instead, the pitch key had his cake and ate it too. If the pitch key is the guy who makes the tackle after you pitch, it defeats the whole purpose of leaving him unblocked.

Another play often run against a scraping linebacker is the inside zone since the fullback attacks the middle of the field. The offense tried running that, too, but the fullback made the wrong read. With the inside zone, the fullback is supposed to read the first down lineman over or outside the A gap. If he goes left, the fullback goes right, and vice versa. If the fullback makes the wrong read, he'll run into a pile, which is what happens here.

The fullback is also supposed to make that read in the triple option, and they struggled with it there, too. On these plays, the quarterback made the right read, but the fullback ran into trouble.

The Mids then tried to take the read out of the fullback's hands by running to an outside gap with the pin and pull. If the ILB was scraping outside, the fullback would still run inside of him. However, when they tried this, the ILB didn't scrape.

Maybe a more seasoned quarterback would have had the authority to check to a different play.

After trying to pitch off of the scraping linebacker, the Mids then shifted to trying to pitch off of the cornerback. A tight end was brought in to block the ILB. Woodson made the right reads here, but the play ended up getting strung out because the deep safety was unblocked and made the stop.

Finally, Navy ran the midline option. In the past, the midline was Navy's go-to play against a scraping linebacker, especially against an even front. That's even more true against slanting defensive tackles. However, the first time they tried it, the inside linebacker didn't scrape. Instead, both ILBs shot the gap, anticipating where the ball would go if the right reads were made.

Other attempts were more successful. On this play, Woodson makes the right read, but every defender followed the two slotbacks and the fullback inside. It caused Woodson to hesitate for a split second, but he had the presence of mind to bounce outside and was too fast for the defenders to recover.

Alex Tecza's touchdown was another midline option, this time a midline triple. The defensive end is the pitch key, and the defensive tackle is the dive key. Woodson made the correct read, and this time, the ILB did scrape, giving Tecza a clear path to the third level. The playside tackle did a fantastic job getting to the safety, which was the last obstacle before reaching the end zone.

On the last drive, the Mids went back to the midline triple, again pitching off of the defensive end. The playside tackle got just enough of the scraping ILB to give Eli Heidenreich a chance to turn the corner on him. The receiver and playside slotback blocked the play correctly as well.

After that, we saw a play where both ILBs looked like they were going to shoot the gaps again. Woodson checked out of that play to a triple option play, which I suspect was the correct call. The play ended up being a gong show, but it set up the next one. On third and eight, offensive coordinator Grant Chesnut correctly anticipated that Charlotte would go back to blitzing the ILBs. He called a toss sweep, and Amin Hassan made a great run to pick up the first down. That allowed the Mids to run enough time off the clock to make any chance of a Charlotte comeback impossible.

And that was that.

There were a few other plays that I think are worth pointing out. First, there was Woodson's touchdown pass to Heidenreich. The 49ers were playing with three defensive backs all afternoon, so four verticals was a logical call. Woodson makes an incredible, pinpoint throw to showcase his arm talent. However, he also locked onto his receiver all the way. I'm not sure that Anton Hall wasn't more open.

Admittedly, that's pretty ticky-tack even if I'm right, and I'm not sure that I am. Given the result, we can let that one go. However, there were other examples of Woodson locking onto receivers. On this play, he scrambled for a first down. On the plus side, we saw how his running ability can make a difference when passes are called. That's a good thing. However, he didn't have to run. Every receiver was covered deep, which left the fullback wide open coming out of the backfield. Woodson had plenty of time to find the right receiver, but he wasn't aware enough to check down.

Again, a net positive on that play, but he won't always have that much time to sit in the pocket before deciding to run.

Finally, we have this sack. On this play, the fullback went in motion, leaving an empty backfield. The fullback is often covered by a linebacker, but in this case, a safety went into motion to cover him. That should have tipped Woodson off that a blitz was coming, and with nobody in the backfield to help with pass protection. In a 6 vs. 5 pass-blocking situation, he should change the protection to leave the backside rusher as the one left unblocked. Instead, a linebacker came right up the gut.

So what is there to make of all this?

Woodson was a mixed bag. On the plus side, he didn't make the killer mistake that could have lost the game. He threw a fantastic touchdown pass that showed off his arm, and we saw his potential to turn the quarterback position back into a running threat. On top of that, many of the plays that might have looked like the quarterback's fault at the time were not upon further review. However, some were. He also had some first-game jitters that I suspect affected him in the short passing game. He wasn't comfortable going through his progressions, and he had some missed reads. He did enough to preserve a win, but you aren't going to get a shutout every week. There's no doubt that we saw enough to be excited about the future, but you'll have to accept that there will be lumps along the way.

This might be wishful thinking on my part, but I can't shake the feeling that Navy is holding back for Air Force. In this game, we had aggressive defensive ends on the backside as well as a safety that was very aggressive running outside to cover the pitch. This practically screams for a reverse, but haven't seen one run yet this year. We've barely seen any misdirection at all other than a counter option last week and a couple of inside handoffs to the slotback earlier in the season. I can't imagine that these plays aren't out there waiting to be uncorked.

Even if that's the case, though, those plays still need to be blocked correctly. That hasn't come easy for the Mids this season. I'll have more to say on that later in the week.

Navy won this game, and wins should be celebrated. But if they want to win any more games, they'll need to play a lot better than what we saw on Saturday.