After two “phone booth” games to start the season, Saturday’s win over Cincinnati felt like a breath of fresh air for the Navy offense. The Midshipmen tallied 622 total yards, with an incredible 569 coming on the ground. The slotbacks alone ran for 333 yards and averaged nearly 12 yards per carry. The Mids did lose one fumble, but outside of that, they could seemingly do no wrong.

Navy got off to a fast start, jumping out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. One reason why they were so efficient right from the beginning is that they had a good idea what Cincinnati’s game plan would be.

“This was the first week in three weeks that we were right,” Niumatalolo said after the game. “Against FAU, we guessed wrong. A new staff, we didn’t know what they were going to do, so we prepared all of camp practicing against the wrong defense. Same thing against Tulane, we practiced against the wrong defense. This was the first week we actually practiced against that front.”