It's never as good or as bad as it seems.

Navy defeated Charlotte convincingly on Saturday, at least on the scoreboard. The Mids raced to a 24-0 lead after one quarter and cruised to a comfortable 51-17 win. But as dominating as the score was, I don't think that's the only takeaway from the game. Anyone would be happy to take a blowout win and move on, but some of the underlying numbers from the game are worth noting.

To start with, Charlotte outgained Navy, 363-288. Some of that can be explained by their five turnovers, which made the Mids' average starting field position their own 44-yard line. But that doesn't explain everything. Six of the Mids' seven drives after the first quarter resulted in a punt, with four of those being three-and-out. The Mids were only 2-10 on third down, and their average distance to gain on those plays was 7.6 yards. Charlotte ran for 200 yards and averaged more yards per carry (4.2-4.1). Both teams had eight runs of ten or more yards, while Charlotte had more passes of 20+ yards (4-2). Without the turnovers, this game might have looked a lot different.

That's one heck of a qualifier, though. Sometimes turnovers are a product of an offense making mistakes, and sometimes they result from a defense making plays. Charlotte's were both, but in my opinion, they leaned toward the latter.

There were two things from the preview that were pretty spot-on regarding Charlotte's offense. One of them was the boom-or-bust nature of their running game. I mentioned earlier that the Niners had eight runs of ten or more yards, but they ran the ball 48 times. On the other 40 carries, they had only 96 yards, for 2.4 yards per carry. Even the long runs were less impressive in context. Two were in the second half when the game was already well in hand. Three of them were on the last drive of the second quarter when Charlotte was trying to drive 91 yards with 1:14 left. They ran 56 yards as the Mids played a prevent defense while time expired in the half. Stopping the run wasn't exactly the priority. Giving up 200 yards on the ground wasn't good, but in this game, it wasn't bad, either.

The other thing we addressed in the preview was Charlotte's shaky offensive line. We saw this early in the game. Charlotte's quarterbacks completed almost as many passes to Navy in the first half (3) as they did to their own receivers (4). One reason for this was that Navy was able to get pressure even when they only rushed three or four defenders.

The quarterback had to get rid of the ball, and he did it with 7-8 defenders in coverage.

That made it a curious choice to throw to the tight end on an in route at the start of the Niners' second possession. They tried play action in an attempt to draw in the linebackers, but it didn't work. Kyle Jacob read the play, dropped into coverage, and intercepted the ball.

Even if Jacob had been caught up in play action, there was a swarm of Navy defenders around the intended receiver.

The Mids got more aggressive as the game progressed, often leaving the cornerbacks without safety help. After the Air Force game, I highlighted Dashaun Peele because of his physical play against the option. Against Charlotte, we also saw him making plays in coverage. His second interception was just him making a play while one-on-one with the receiver downfield. Rayuan Lane's interception was also a play where the secondary was all playing man defense on the receivers.

In the preview, we discussed how this would be a more "normal" Navy game plan than we had seen over the last three games. I think that was the case, and the Mids responded well.

One thing from the preview that I wasn't so sure about was Charlotte's defensive game plan. Last year, they lined up in a 4-4 with three deep, which worked well for them. In most cases, when a defense has a good day against the option, Navy is likely to see it again the following year. But after Biff Poggi's comments on Navy's passing game at his weekly press conference, I thought that maybe the 49ers would come out with a different look. They did not.

We saw this on the Mids' first play from scrimmage. Charlotte started in an odd front, but shifted to an eight-man front when the quarterback went under center. It appeared that Navy was prepared for this, because Blake Horvath checked to a different play as soon as it happened. When a defense plays an eight-man front against the option, the safety either plays the pitch or reads the play to take either potential outside runner. Navy's answer to this was to change the blocking rules to read the safety instead of the outside linebacker as the pitch key. When Horvath got a give read, the safety essentially ran himself out of the play.

The wheel-post is also an effective play against this since the routes mimic the blocking paths of the playside snipe and receiver. Navy capped the drive with a variation of this. The fullback ran the wheel route, while the post was paired with a drag route from the tight end. When Navy lined up this way earlier in the season, the fullback stayed behind in pass protection and blocked the linebacker, who would inevitably blitz when he read a pass. This time, though, Alex Tecza ran a wheel route. Because the linebacker blitzed, Tecza was left uncovered.

Maybe this was some of the self-scouting Brian Newberry discussed during the bye week.

After the first series, Charlotte changed their look a little bit. Instead of lining up with one deep safety, they lined up with two. However, one still came up in run support, so the end result was the same. It was still three-deep coverage, with the middle safety following play outside to take either the quarterback or the pitch man.

Early on, Navy put a snipe in motion to draw the run support forward, then threw a 10-yard out behind him.

But the deep safety following the QB/pitch outside influenced most of Navy's play calling, which was similar to what they did against Memphis. They ran just enough plays to convince the safety to keep running outside, setting up counters and misdirection away from the flow of the play.

We saw a few jet sweeps to try to outflank the safety. The Mids also ran an RPO to read the safety, but the backside linebacker ran the play down from behind.

They also ran the power read.

But the most common plays we saw running into the pursuit were the belly or load option, with both bringing a pulling guard as an extra perimeter blocker.

You'll notice that the backside linebacker made the tackle on one of those plays, too. That was another element the Mids tried to account for. The last of those belly options was run away from the pre-snap motion, but the linebacker didn't take the bait. The Mids also tried running the counter trey option for the same reason.

It was a little better at drawing the OLB away, and while he still made the tackle, it was ten yards downfield.

(Navy probably could have done more against this; I'm sure some of you see this as a great opportunity to run a reverse, and you'd be right. But running a reverse when you're up 44-17 in the third quarter isn't exactly sportsmanlike, nor is it the best use of the play.)

After setting up the deep safety, the Mids made their biggest plays running counters, starting with the counter option.

(You'll notice the backside OLB on one of those plays, too).

The same principle applies in the passing game. Navy ran play action to draw the safety one way, then passed to a receiver running the other way.

That was the bulk of the offense, but one other element of Charlotte's defense significantly impacted Navy's performance. I wrote in the preview that Charlotte's defensive line was still athletic enough to give the Mids trouble, but I may not have given them enough credit.

Charlotte was highly aggressive with their defensive line. They were flagged for being offside three times, and I think that was a feature, not a bug. Not that they were trying to line up in the neutral zone, but they were going to get as close as possible. One of those offsides penalties was on a defensive tackle lined up right over the ball. That doesn't happen without intent.

What Charlotte was doing was slanting their defensive line. They had them line up as close to the neutral zone as possible to shoot the gaps at the snap using their quickness. For much of the afternoon, it worked.

One of the most common plays Navy would run against a slanting line in the past is the midline option since it simplifies the reads. Against Charlotte, the Mids only ran midline twice. One was the play where the defensive tackle lined up in the neutral zone. The other was this play, a midline triple that worked reasonably well. Navy got lucky, though; Horvath pitched off of the defensive tackle, who made an athletic play to get outside. The Mids were fortunate enough that the actual pitch key wasn't playing the pitch.

But the simplest way to beat a slanting line is to just catch them slanting the wrong way.

Of course, that's only a 50/50 proposition.

While there was no doubt that he was pleased after the game, Brian Newberry also said that he felt his team still had to learn how to put teams away. That's understandable after punting in six of seven drives over the last three quarters. But I also think the Charlotte defense deserves credit for continuing to play hard even when the game was out of reach. With their speed up front, the 49ers presented a physical challenge that Navy hadn't really faced yet this season. While they passed the test, it wasn't without taking some lumps. Still, it's better to learn those lessons while winning big as opposed to the alternative.

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