Football at the Naval Academy is once again cruising, but there's no rest for Ken Niumatalolo and company.
“We're excited to be 5-1 but with this schedule you can't pat yourself on the back or start putting up an umbrella and kick your feet up,” said the Navy head coach.
For the first time in 37 years, the Midshipmen are ranked top 25 in the country in back-to-back seasons. They currently hold down the No. 22 spot with a visit to 6-2 South Florida a couple days away. Navy has already disposed of Houston and Memphis and they own the last unbeaten record in the American Athletic Conference (4-0). Even with that kind of success, they're still the underdog this week against the Bulls (6-2, 3-1).
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“It is what it is. Keep rolling,” said Niumatalolo.
“To knock off the other top two teams in the conference, in most people's opinion, it's awesome,” said Navy linebacker Micah Thomas. “Being undefeated in conference is nice and we just keep it up.”
One of the catalysts for the Mids' rise this year is senior quarterback Will Worth, who is the reigning conference offensive player of the week. Worth accounted for five touchdowns in last Saturday's 42-28 win over Memphis.
“It felt great. The whole offense was rolling. They took away the B-back a little bit and the wing-backs but let the quarterback run. Just tried to take advantage of that,” said Worth.
Worth is under center after quarterback Tago Smith suffered a season-ending knee injury in the 2016 opener.
“(Worth has) been playing fabulous. I'm really excited with the way he's been playing. Playing really physical, playing with a lot of emotion and it's rubbing off to the rest of our team.”
Friday's game against USF has some extra meaning for Worth. The contest takes place at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium, which is about 21 miles from his native Valrico, Florida.
