Navy Football: 3 takeaways from season-opening blowout loss to BYU

2. Offense struggled while implementing new looks

BYU defensive tackle Khyiris Tonga was the biggest problem Navy dealt with, as he pretty much singlehandedly removed the fullback from the game. The Navy offense relies on the fullback to get the game started with the inside power run. Tonga was disruptive enough all night where there was no fullback in the Navy offense making any impact.

After that, Navy didn’t have the athleticism to get the ball to the perimeter. The attempts to option the ball outside to the slot back fell flat as BYU’s defense played extremely disciplined. The passing game was not helpful either.

I think that one of the critical problems that Navy faced in this game was the new wrinkles to the offense that head coach Ken Niumatalolo attempted to add behind quarterback Dalen Morris. Rumor before the game was that Morris could throw the football around, and the early-game play-calling showed that Navy believed that the passing game could be a part of the offense. Navy introduced passing schemes that we really haven’t ever seen at the Academy.

However, the lack of contact over the last several months and the lack of size proved to be too much for the Midshipmen. Morris ended up not having time to make throws and spent the majority of his passing attempts running for his life trying to keep the play alive. I think that Niumatalolo tried to introduce too many things to the offense at the same time.