When Paul Johnson left Navy for Georgia Tech in 2007, it was a nervous time in Annapolis. In the two decades preceding Johnson's arrival, Navy football had only three winning seasons and one bowl game. Sports Illustrated ran a column calling for the school to drop to Division I-AA. For a generation, Navy was seen as a place where it was impossible to win. Then Johnson arrived and changed everything. Winning seasons, bowl games, and Commander-in-Chiefs Trophies became the norm. The Midshipmen even ended the losing streak to Notre Dame. So when Johnson left, fans and media alike wondered if the party was over.

It wasn't. The winning seasons and bowl games kept coming. Navy won three more games over Notre Dame. They finished in the top 25. After joining the American Athletic Conference, they played in the conference championship game and were contenders for major bowl games. Navy football became even better after Johnson left.

It seemed unlikely, given the history. But there was more to Navy's turnaround than Johnson's leadership, recruiting, and record-breaking offense. Johnson wouldn't have accepted the job without improvements to the program across the board, in everything from facilities to player schedules. A program stuck in time was brought, sometimes kicking and screaming, into the present. Johnson might have left, but that foundation was still there, and it gave Ken Niumatalolo, and now Brian Newberry, something to build upon. While there are still ups and downs, it's a different Navy program than the one that floundered for 20 years.

Tulane fans can relate. For decades, Tulane had the same "can't win here" reputation. They caught lightning in a bottle with the undefeated 1998 season under Tommy Bowden, but that season is an aberration in modern program history. In 1980, Tulane went to the Hall of Fame Bowl. Over the next 35 years, the Green Wave would go to only four more bowl games. From 1999-2015, Tulane averaged 3.8 wins per year. Then, Willie Fritz was hired, and while it took time to build the program, the results were undeniable. In 2022, the Green Wave went 12-2, won the American Athletic Conference, and beat USC in the Cotton Bowl. Proving that season wasn't a fluke, Tulane went 11-3 the following year.

But Houston hired Fritz away last year when that program looked for a reboot after it entered the Big 12. Now, it was Green Wave fans lamenting the loss of a transformational coach and worrying about the future. But like Navy, Tulane football had become about more than just a coach. They had built a program ready for the long haul. With a program on solid footing plus a talented roster, Tulane had a lot to offer the next head coach. It's no surprise they landed a good one in Jon Sumrall.

Sumrall spent the last two years steamrolling the Sun Belt as Troy's head coach, going 23-4 and winning two conference titles. He hasn't missed a beat after moving to New Orleans. His Tulane team is 8-2, undefeated in the American Athletic Conference, in the top 25, and playing Navy on Saturday, looking to clinch a spot in the conference championship game.

The team Sumrall will bring to Annapolis is one of the most complete squads, not just in the American, but in the country. Some teams lean on two or three strengths and try to hide their weaknesses, but with Tulane, there are no weaknesses. You can't point to anything they don't do well. The Green Wave is a top-30 team nationally in total offense (26), total defense (15), scoring offense (4), scoring defense (18), turnover margin (10), sacks (20), sacks allowed (28), third down offense (3), and third-down defense (11). There are 24 teams with fewer interceptions on the season than Tulane has INTs returned for touchdowns. They can wear you down if they have to; they're third in the country in time of possession. Or they can beat you with the big play since they average 16.4 plays of 10+ yards per game, the second-most in the conference. This well-roundedness makes it hard to catch them on an off day. If they give up 33 points, they'll score 41, like they did against Louisiana. Or if the offense only manages 17 points, the defense will only give up 10 and add seven more, like they did against Rice.

When a team can do everything well, that usually points to a solid offensive line, and Tulane has one. They returned three starters from last year's 11-win team and added center Vincent Murphy, a two-year starter at Western Kentucky who began his career at South Carolina. They've paved the way for running back Makhi Hughes, last year's AAC Rookie of the Year. Hughes led the conference in rushing in 2023 with 1,378 yards, and he's well on his way to beating that mark this year with 1,209 yards and 13 touchdowns. Hughes has five straight 100-yard rushing games, including a 193-yard performance at North Texas and 153 yards on only 19 carries last week against Temple.

Stopping Hughes will be job number one for the Navy defense, and they can take some solace in shutting down another powerful rushing attack last week. But the Mids could afford to sell out against the run a bit against USF, who has struggled to throw the ball downfield. Tulane has no such problems. Receivers Dontae Fleming and USC transfer Mario Williams have combined for 1,176 receiving yards and average more than 18 yards per catch between them.

Hindsight is 20/20, but it seems wild to think this team was picked to finish third in the league's preseason poll. One reason is that there was no clear heir to Michael Pratt, the 2023 AAC Offensive Player of the Year, at quarterback. Despite adding Oregon transfer Ty Thompson, no starter emerged after spring practice. It wasn't until the end of fall camp that redshirt freshman Darian Mensah was named QB1. Maybe it was a bold move to go with the freshman, but you couldn't ask for a better learning environment for a quarterback. Mensah has a strong offensive line to help keep his jersey clean. With an all-conference running back sharing the backfield with him, Mensah isn't expected to carry the offense on his shoulders. As a result, he hasn't made freshman mistakes, connecting on 65.6 percent of his passes and 16 touchdowns with only four interceptions.

There are no easy answers for Navy's defense, and the job is just as challenging for the offense.

Tulane's defense lost several players last year, but one area where they are as strong as ever is on the defensive line. The unit is anchored by defensive tackle Patrick Jenkins, a two-time all-conference selection and Defensive Player of the Year contender. Jenkins is more than just a big body who is hard to move. He makes plays. His four sacks are seventh in the conference, and he has six tackles for loss. For an interior lineman, those are eye-catching numbers. And he's not alone. Fellow defensive tackle Kameron Hamilton has 3.5 sacks. Defensive ends Adin Huntington and Gerrod Henderson have a combined six sacks, while Matthew Fobbs-White has three sacks from the hybrid Bandit position. The playmaking ability at the first level is of primary concern because of how Tulane will likely defend the option.

Tulane's defensive coordinator is Greg Gasparato, a name that should be familiar to Navy fans. Gasparato was Army's co-DC in 2020 when the Mids lost up at West Point, 15-0. He left Army to become Sumrall's defensive coordinator at Troy, where he faced his former team and won in a 10-9 dogfight. That's nine points in his last two games against option teams. It's safe to say that Gasparato knows what he's doing. His defense uses hybrid positions, which gives him flexibility in aligning against the option. In the 2022 Army game, he used an odd front. With the opportunity to put Jenkins in a 0 technique, I suspect he'll do the same against Navy.

Gasparato's service academy pedigree is problematic for Navy. They can't afford for this to become a service-academy-type game for their offense, because it absolutely will not be a service academy game for the Navy defense. But that's supposed to be one of the advantages of Navy's new offense, right? One thing that has struck me over the last two weeks is how Navy's offense didn't feel all that different from any other offense in the option era. For all the talk of the Wing-T, we didn't see much of it. That probably has to change this week. Navy has to find a way to keep pace with one of the top scoring offenses in the country. To do so, they'll have to show some elements that Gasparato hasn't seen from them on film. It's not that I expect the Navy offense to look like 1995 Delaware or anything, but as the defense adjusts to the triple option, some of the adjustments the offense makes in response should come from a new bag of tricks.

There's no point in sugarcoating things. Tulane has an offense that is comfortable with doing anything asked of it paired with a defense that will have a service-academy-grade option plan. For Navy to come out on top, they will need to capitalize on whatever chances they have, whether it's for big plays on offense or getting off the field on defense. It's a bad matchup for the Mids on paper, so they'll need to break some tendencies to come out on top.

Undoubtedly, this is an enormous challenge for Navy, but the biggest challenges are also the biggest opportunities. If you want to play for conference championships, you must play the contenders. This is the kind of game you want to be playing in the middle of November. You want to play for championship opportunities. Navy earned the right to be here. It's been a long time coming.

The stadium is sold out, and the atmosphere will be electric. Let's see what the Mids can do.

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