And lest one forget, two games into the
season the Midshipmen are already feeling the impact of injuries; while more
than two decades later, older Carolinians are still bruised by Navy's 1984
upset of Morrison's then second-ranked Gamecocks.
"We're banged up all over,"
says head coach Ken Niumatalolo. "We've played two physical
games, and now we're getting ready for the most physically-gifted team we'll
play. By far, this is the best collection of (opposing) athletes since
I've been here at the Naval Academy. They just beat a good Georgia
team on the road, and they're not happy with the way they're playing."
Specifically, his counterpart Steve
Spurrier isn't entirely pleased.
USC overcame a turnover-marred start
and 17-0 deficit to rout of East Carolina, 56-37, in its opener; then
rallied past UGA on the strength of two defensive scores and a touchdown
from special teams. In fact, the Gamecocks have scored five
non-offensive TD's thus far.
Two of them last weekend best
exemplify the overall athleticism unseen by Niumatalolo in his Navy tenure.
Both were scored by defensive lineman Melvin Ingram.
According to ESPN's Sean McDonough,
who is as well prepared as anyone calling play-by-play, Ingram is able to
punt left-footed and throw a football 70 yards right-handed. Ingram
wears No. 6 -- most unusual for his position -- because he wore it in high
school. "Quick six," he explained to the ESPN crew.
And though aware of Ingram's
all-round exploits, McDonough seemed almost incredulous after seeing the
276-pounder take the snap on a fake punt and race 69 yards to the end zone,
outmaneuvering Bulldogs along the way. In fact, McDonough suspected
that it was USC's other "6" -- receiver D'Angelo Smith dons the
duplicate number.
Nope, upon further review, it was
Ingram; the same guy who would later score on a fumble recovery off a sack
and seal the victory as part of the "good hands" team by securing
an on-sides kick.
This -- along with All-America
running back Marcus Lattimore, All-America wide receiver Alshon Jeffrey and
heralded freshman defensive end Jadeveon Clowney -- is what the Mids must
deal with this week.
Then there's Spurrier, who's never
suffered a loss in 42 games as a head coach against non-BCS automatic
qualifiers.
"(Spurrier) is one of the
greatest game-day guys who ever coached football," said Niumatalolo,
who agrees with the analogy likening Spurrier's eye as an offensive
play-caller to that of ex-Navy coach Paul
Johnson. "You don't win that many games unless you can
adjust."
In preparing for Spurrier and the
Gamecocks, Niumatalolo doesn't want to be distracted by anything beyond the
Mids' control.
"It's hard to simulate their
size and speed," he says. "We'll game plan the best that we
can.
"We can't control what South
Carolina is doing right now. We can only control how we prepare.
We've got to play how we did against Notre Dame last year. We can't
turn the ball over, we can't have penalties to give ourselves a
chance."
The last few days, Niumatalolo has
concerned himself mostly with making sure the Midshipmen are as close to
full strength as possible.
"We have to be smart in how
we're practicing," said Niumatalolo, who guided Navy to victories over
nationally-ranked Wake Forest (2008) and Notre Dame (2009). "Once
we're there, we want to be as fresh as possible."
He's consulted with the team's
training and coaching staffs, trying to ensure that nagging injuries aren't
aggravated or exaggerated in practice.
"What can we do to help guys get
better?" he says. "For example, maybe so-and-so doesn't need
to work on certain drills that might cause him additional pain."
Niumatalolo goes so far as to
scrutinize the seating chart for the team charter. Sleep is among a
Midshipman's most precious commodities, so he wants open seats between
starters. With room to spread out, Niumatalolo concludes, they have a
better chance of napping on the short flight to Columbia.
Now, regarding the atmosphere once
Navy shows up on Saturday evening, Niumatalolo understands there's no way to
fully match the sounds, decibel-for-decibel, of Williams-Brice packed by
fans in full throat.
Nonetheless, he's sought to give the
Mids a truly rough idea of what they'll encounter. For that,
Niumatalolo enlisted assistant video coordinator Todd Green.
"We're trying to get ready for
the crowd noise," Niumatalolo said of songs and sounds blaring
throughout practices this week.
Green credits former player, Midn.
Conor Krebs, for creating a continuous loop of music and crowd noise culled
from various internet sites, including the Gamecocks Online YouTube
channel. Krebs's work involved dubbing the sound off videos.
One is a clip of the Carolina student
section crazily waving their white towels to Sandstorm, a 12-year old
song produced by the Finnish D.J. Darude. Like an older classic from
the German composer, Strauss, it's become a staple at Williams-Brice.
And no matter how often it's heard,
whether in Bowling Green or along the Severn River, it will never sound the
same as on Saturday night, live from South Carolina
