Navy to Start Contact Practices following Blowout Loss to BYU

Navy will start practicing live following their blowout loss to the Cougars.

Navy did not play live football during fall camp - it showed against BYU. Navy did not look like a team that was ready to play a live football game. BYU deserves credit for a dominating performance, but the COVID-19 protocols clearly took a toll on the Midshipmen. The Cougars dominated the trenches on both sides of the ball. At the end of the first half, BYU had 17 first downs to Navy's 2 first downs. The Cougars had 304 yards on offense, the Midshipmen only had 48.

First reported by the Capital Gazette, Navy will start practicing live following their blowout loss to BYU.

In the Capital Gazette's report, they note that "Niumatalolo spoke to medical professionals at the Naval Academy to get their opinion about holding live practices. Since the season has started, Navy football will now test twice a week, and that factored into the 13th-year head coach’s decision."

Niumatalolo told the media Wednesday afternoon that testing two times a week will allow them to practice with live contact: “I feel safe that we can go back to practicing the way we normally do,” he said. “I feel better about being able to press forward with twice-per-week testing.”

“I knew the risks of what you would look like if you didn’t practice normally. I knew it was a bad formula for getting a team ready...I was hoping for a miracle that maybe we could practice this way and still be ready for football.”

Navy will take on Tulane on September 19th.

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