Army, Navy try to avoid distractions

This week presents a unique challenge for Army coach Stan Brock and Navy counterpart Ken Niumatalolo.

As the Midshipmen (7-4) and Black Knights (3-8) prepare for their biggest game of the year, the two coaches have to prevent their teams from being distracted by the buildup.

“It is a little bit of a challenge to keep the emotion and hype out of practice,” Brock said. “You don’t want to kill it, but you don’t want to blow it out.”

Finding that balance is critical because clean, crisp practices are a priority this week. Not only must the coaches familiarize their rosters with the game plan, but they also need to equip them to handle the intensity of Saturday’s game at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

“If you can get to a point where your thinking part is out of it and you can react because you make sure you’re prepared mentally, I think you’ll be fine,” Niumatalolo said.

Both sides echoed the sentiment that the best-prepared team likely will win Saturday. Since both Army and Navy run an option-based offense, they have little margin for error. One missed read or missed block can be the difference between a touchdown and lost yardage.

That places a premium on limiting mistakes in practice. But that can be troublesome as the game draws near because players are heavily anticipating the rivalry.

“We try to keep it just as normal as every other week, but guys are a little more intense and emotions are built up,” Navy senior Tyree Barnes said. “Everyone is ready to go out there on Saturday, and you don’t want to practice anymore.”

That is not to say the importance of practice is lost on the players. As a veteran of three Army-Navy games, Barnes said the heightened pressure can sometimes freeze an unsuspecting player.

“We can’t just wait until kickoff comes,” he said. “Guys are going to be jumping around, of course, because it’s the biggest game of the season. We just gotta make sure we’re prepared and doing the right things now. …

“On Saturday when kickoff comes, when you see all the pageantry that goes along with the game, that might throw us off a little bit. So you’ve got to make sure you’re locked in before you get in that situation.”

Niumatalolo shortened Navy’s practices this week in an attempt to keep his players fresh, both mentally and physically.

To keep his team sharp, Brock has stayed faithful to a strategy he implemented early in the season. His makeover of the Black Knights this year didn’t stop with changing their offense; he also has emphasized a new attitude for the Black Knights.

“This year, we’ve really taken on the concept of taking it one day at a time,” senior fullback Collin Mooney said. “We just focus on today, and we’re not worried about Saturday and everything that goes on during Army-Navy week. We’ll go out and practice and do what we have to do today and then worry about Saturday when it comes.”

Execution is also key because there are few secrets between the two sides. Former Navy coach Paul Johnson caught Army’s defense off-guard with the triple-option in his first season in 2002, when quarterback Craig Candeto ran for a school-record six touchdowns and the Mids rushed for 421 yards in a 58-12 blowout.

But Army defensive coordinator John Mumford has since adapted and developed a strategy for stopping the Mids’ ground attack with increasing results. The Black Knights have held Navy to less than 300 yards rushing the past two seasons.

“Coach Mumford has a pretty good idea of what we’re running, and we know what they are going to do defensively,” Niumatalolo said. “It’s going to come down to who executes better on Saturday.”