Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo responded to his team’s 42-21 loss to No. 23 Pitt in a similar fashion he did follow the Midshipmen’s previous four victories.
“When you win, there is no time to pat you on the back,” he said. “When you lose, there is no time to mourn. We have a lot of guys hurting right now, but we will find a way to bounce back.”
And that means defeating lowly Southern Methodist (1-7) on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The Midshipmen are two wins away from being bowl eligible for the sixth straight season, but certainly didn’t play like one of the nation’s better teams against the Panthers in front of a stadium-record crowd of 37,970.
“They really put one on us,” Navy senior quarterback Jarod Bryant said.
Pittsburgh, led by sophomore running back LeSean McCoy’s 156 yards and three touchdowns, finished with 499 yards. The Panthers scored touchdowns on five of their seven first-half possessions to take a commanding, 35-14 lead at intermission.
“We didn’t give our offense a chance,” Navy senior cornerback Rashawn King said. “We could have done a better job of following our assignments.”
Navy’s offensive players did not feel any better about their effort. The Midshipmen had just 251 yards of total offense against the Panthers, including 194 yards rushing. Fullback Eric Kettani also rushed for just 15 yards on eight carries after entering the game averaging 6.2 yards per carry.
“We had trouble doing some things out there,” Bryant said. “We were so close to busting one, but we couldn’t get it done.
Niumatalolo said it is unclear who will start at quarterback against SMU, which is coming off a 44-38 loss to Houston, extending its losing streak to six games.
Navy senior Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada still is nursing a hamstring injury. Bryant has started four times for him this season, but he was pulled for sophomore Ricky Dobbs in the final minutes against Pitt. Dobbs led Navy on a six-play 54-yard drive, capped by a four-yard touchdown run with 20 seconds remaining.
“We’ll go back a listen to the doctors, but [Kaheaku-Enhada] has always been day-to-day with the hamstring,” Niumatalolo said. “He did a lot last week and we’ll see where he is on Monday.”
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UP NEXT
MIDSHIPMEN (4-3) vs. SMU MUSTANGS (1-7)
When: Saturday, 3:30 p.m.
Where: Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium
TV/Radio: CBS College Sports/ 1090 AM, 1430 AM
Tickets: Available
