Navy welcomes Marshall on Saturday September 4th in what will be the first game of the 2021 college football season for both teams. Marshall is a -3 point road favorite as of 8/22, with a total of 45.5. You can bet this game with reduced juice at BetAny Sports.
Navy had a very disappointing 2020 season. After not practicing during the spring, they dropped 2 of their first 3 games in blowout fashion to BYU and Air force. They did manage to get by Tulane to start the year 1-2.
They won their next two games to move to 3-2 and it looked like maybe they were back on track. But they then proceeded to drop all of their remaining games to finish 3-7 on the year, including losing to Army 0-15.
Herd Dropped Final 3 Games
Marshall’s season was just the opposite. The Thundering Herd started off 7-0 before dropping their final 3 games to finish 7-3 on the year. That 7-3 includes a Montgomery Bowl loss to Buffalo.
Charles Huff takes over the coaching duties for the Herd. That could mean there’s the potential for a slow start. A new offense, a new defense, new schemes, etc. It will be interesting to see how the new defense handles the Navy Triple Option it’s first time out.
We expect Navy to bounce back. In 2019 they won 11 games. Last year was not a normal one for the Midshipmen and that was directly related to covid.
Here’s a quote from head coach Ken Niumatalolo. “We didn’t practice last year. I don’t know how (much) clearer to say it. We missed 15 practices.”
and another quote….
“We were practicing socially distanced football. That doesn’t work. Our offense is so intricate in the triple-option stuff. You can’t just roll the ball out and start operating,” he said. “So we’ll be back. I’m not worried about that.”
We look for Navy to come out focused and for Marshall to have some trouble stopping them. Navy gets the “W” here to send a message that they are back.