East Carolina also received a personal foul penalty for defensive lineman Fred Presley’s late hit.
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The Pirates tried to keep Navy off-balance with a no-huddle offense. The Midshipmen rolled up 521 rushing yards and took advantage of a flurry of turnovers early in the first half in steamrolling the Pirates, 76-35. East Carolina Pirates scored 33.1 points compared to allowed 28.3 points with point differential of 4.8.
It was a similar story when Navy returned to Greenville in 2012.
Navy struck paydirt on all four first-half possessions, meticulously mounting drives covering 68 yards (10 plays), 56 yards (nine plays), 70 yards (nine plays) and 85 yards (13 plays). This set up a 17-yard touchdown pass from Kemp to Bryce Williams. Jimmy Williams had seven catches for 55 yards and one touchdown, and Bryce Williams had five receptions for 47 yards and two touchdowns. “Navy is a disciplined team that is not going to make mistakes”. From there, Reynolds burrowed into the end zone for a 14-7.
East Carolina falls to Navy on the road in Navy’s first American Athletic Conference debut.
“It’s a huge game for us”.
Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds runs for a long gain during the… “Keenan has been running this offense for four years, his 33rd straight start”. You can’t buy that experience.
“Keenan Is a fine quarterback and the fullbacks gave us problems, ” East Carolina coach Ruffin McNeill said. While Kemp has completed nearly 70 percent of his passes through two games, most have come on short or intermediate routes.
In a dramatic contrast in styles on a historic day at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, old-school ball-control offense trumped the modern up-tempo passing game as the Midshipmen prevailed 45-21.
“Whichever offense can establish their identity is probably going to win the game”, Niumatalolo said. They’re a hard team to stop, and they’re a good team. They do what they do, we do what we do.
Navy’s defense didn’t fare too well against East Carolina in those three meetings from 2010-2012. Interim defensive coordinator Dale Pehrson admits the Mids will have their hands full.
Blake Kemp, who was replaced by James Summers for three series last week at Florida, went the distance this week and once again showed an accurate touch by completing 36 of 49 passes for 325 yards and three touchdowns. “Up front, I think we played one of our best games”. “There are so many things that happen over the course of the game and he makes it look easy”.
“Kenny’s done a great job of building a program that is strong year-in and year-out”.
But getting the ball back was a chore.
Navy leads the series 3-1.
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Smith, in his 34th season as a collegiate coach, held the same post at Tulane when it defeated Navy in 1998. The Midshipmen are 58-35 in eight years under Niumatalolo. That might make sense again this year since inside linebacker Zeek Bigger is a defensive force for the Pirates. We had really, really nice runs on the perimeter by [slot] backs. In the game, we needed to adjust. “He’s a veteran that has seen everything”. His teams are always well-prepared, ” McNeill said. “You can tell he’s been there and he’s tough as all get out”.
