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Navy Football: What are chances at Top 25 berth with win over UConn?

By Gavin Jernigan

ANNAPOLIS, MD - OCTOBER 13: Malcolm Perry #10 of the Navy Midshipmen warms up prior to playing against the Temple Owls at Navy-Marines Memorial Stadium on October 13, 2018 in Annapolis, Maryland. (Photo by Will Newton/Getty Images)
ANNAPOLIS, MD - OCTOBER 13: Malcolm Perry #10 of the Navy Midshipmen warms up prior to playing against the Temple Owls at Navy-Marines Memorial Stadium on October 13, 2018 in Annapolis, Maryland. (Photo by Will Newton/Getty Images) /
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Navy football look to break into the AP Top 25 this week with a convincing win over the UConn Huskies. What are the Midshipmen’s chances?

The Navy Midshipmen have surprised many with their impressive 6-1 start to the season. Some betting lines had their over/under win total as low as 3.5 wins. In Week 10, the Midshipmen will travel north to take on UConn in a primetime Friday night matchup.

UConn enters the game struggling, as expected, with a 2-5 record. Head coach Randy Edsall is in his second tenure at the university; however, this time around it isn’t going as well. UConn is set to depart the American Athletic Conference and will also be likely looking for a new coach pretty soon.

Here’s how to watch this AAC game. Then, we’ll take a deeper look at exactly what to look for.

Date: Friday, Nov. 1
Time: 8 p.m. ET
Location:  East Hartford, Conn.
Venue: Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field
TV: ESPN2
Live Stream: WatchESPN

Keys to Victory

This game should be extremely one-sided unless their an incredibly act of nature that impacts the game. The would need to be ridiculous snow storm to sweep through East Hartford to balance out the playing field.

The Navy Midshipmen have been on a terror in their first seven games, averaging 37.9 points per game and 350 yards rushing. Conversely, the Huskies are allowing an averaging of 37.8 points per game, yet only scoring an average of 21.6 for themselves.

Navy is led by star quarterback, Malcolm Perry, who is now fourth all-time in rushing at the Naval Academy. So long as he remains healthy during this game, there really shouldn’t be any way that the Midshipmen don’t dominate the time of possession and score on nearly every time they get the ball.

UConn could make one of the greatest upsets of the season if they can force Navy to turn over the ball multiple times and hope Perry comes down with the flu. Even this is all true, the Huskies will need to find a way to score on Brian Newberry’s defense that has been stellar the whole year. Their best chance is to throw the long ball and hope the Navy defensive backs get caught sleeping.

Betting Odds

Odds courtesy of The Action Network

Point Spread: Navy -27
Over/Under: 55

Prediction

The Navy Midshipmen win this game big, but not too big. Once they get in front of the Huskies comfortably, they will pull back their starters in order to preserve them for the next game against Notre Dame.

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Furthermore, after they improve their record to 7-1, they will sneak into the Top 25. It’s not uncommon for Navy to sneak into the rankings towards the end of the year. However, this will be relatively early for one of Ken Niumatalolo’s teams.

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