Good morning, shipmates. Commander Annabel Merriweather, retired, reporting from the seawall in Annapolis with a thermos of coffee, a pair of binoculars and a logbook that has recorded every Navy kickoff for longer than I'll admit in print. I write my game notes like a ship's log: time, heading, sea state, and an honest account of anything that went over the side.
This week's log has two entries. First, a hard-fought loss in San Antonio that I'll record truthfully, because a log that hides the bad watches isn't a log, it's a brochure. Then a homecoming of sorts: North Texas sails up the Chesapeake on Saturday, and I have some thoughts about the Mean Green, their passing game and their hometown.
Part 1: Log Entry, UTSA 38, Navy 34
Sea state on Oct. 17 at the Alamodome: rough, with waves of points from both sides.
Navy came out at full speed. Jackson Gutierrez ran in from 2 yards in the first quarter and from 5 yards early in the second, and Navy led 14-0. Then UTSA's Owen McCown found the range: a 46-yard touchdown to Mekhi Anderson, a 14-yarder to Brandon Young Jr., and A'Marion Peterson's 1-yard run put the Roadrunners ahead 21-14. Gutierrez answered with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Collins just before halftime.
Early in the fourth quarter came the moment I'll keep in the log for years. Gutierrez found Collins for a 92-yard touchdown, and Navy led 27-24. UTSA answered with Will Henderson III's 31-yard run. Navy answered right back, and Braxton Woodson scored from 7 yards to make it 34-31 with 4:50 left. Then McCown drove UTSA 75 yards in six plays and hit Peterson for a 41-yard touchdown with 2:24 to go. Navy's last series ended on downs.
The honest accounting. Navy ran for 294 yards on 48 carries, 6.1 per carry. Gutierrez ran 21 times for 139 yards and two touchdowns and threw for 120 yards and two more on just three completions. Collins caught two passes for 117 yards. Woodson ran five times for 73 yards and even threw a 63-yard completion. And Navy did not turn the ball over.
The bad watch: McCown completed 28 of 38 for 359 yards and three touchdowns, and Navy allowed UTSA to convert twice on fourth down. That's how you lose a four-point game. It was also, per the AP, the first time the two programs had ever met, and I'd like a rematch at a time and place of my choosing.
Navy is 2-4, 1-3 in the American. The losses: 38-30 at Florida Atlantic, 24-20 at UAB, 14-9 at Air Force and this one. Four road losses by a combined 21 points. Not one of them a blowout. The wins: Towson 42-15 and Tulsa 34-26, both at home. Which brings me to the good news. We're coming home.
Part 2: North Texas at Navy
Saturday, 3:30 p.m. Eastern, Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, on CBS Sports Network. North Texas (4-2, 2-0 American) at Navy (2-4, 1-3).
Our Heading
Navy runs the ball. Navy averages 297.8 rushing yards per game, fourth in FBS. Gutierrez has more than 640 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on 123 carries, and he has thrown for 559 yards and six touchdowns with just one interception. Collins has five catches all season for 189 yards and three touchdowns. That's nearly 38 yards a catch. When Navy throws, it throws to win the watch.
The defense has a strength, too. Navy allows 98.8 rushing yards per game, 21st in FBS. And Navy commits only 45 penalty yards per game, 24th. Discipline, shipmates. It's in the uniform.
The Weather Report
Here's the storm coming over the horizon. North Texas averages 533.8 yards per game, third in FBS, 347 passing yards per game, second, and 42.2 points per game, fifth. Tayven Jackson has thrown for 1,868 yards, 15 touchdowns and four interceptions, completing 72.2 percent. Jahiem White has run for 687 yards and nine touchdowns. Justin Stevenson has 33 catches for 453 yards and five scores.
I'll log the honest concern. Navy allows 247.7 passing yards per game, 113th, and opponents convert 44.6 percent of their third downs, 121st. And Navy's turnover margin is minus-6, 126th.
Where the Mean Green Takes On Water
Every ship has a leak. North Texas allows 29.2 points per game, 113th in FBS, and 355.8 yards per game, 70th. Its rush defense allows 142.7 per game, 73rd. Navy runs the ball for nearly 300 a game. Do the navigation, shipmates. That's a heading.
North Texas also commits 70.2 penalty yards per game, 115th in FBS. Navy commits 45. I've seen tidier decks on a fishing trawler.
And the Mean Green's resume has a few soft ports. They beat Houston Christian 63-14 and UNLV 44-6, and they beat Charlotte 50-10 on Oct. 10, a team that was winless at the time. Against Indiana, they lost 52-16. At Texas State, they lost 49-35. North Texas took last weekend off. Navy took the weekend to play a four-point thriller on the road. Ask yourself which crew is sea-tested.
The Chart: Series History
CollegeFootballData.com lists Navy ahead 2-1. Navy won 74-62 in Denton in 2007, a game that produced 136 points and, I assume, a severe shortage of scoreboard light bulbs. Navy won 27-24 in Annapolis in 2023. North Texas won 31-17 in Denton last year. Navy is 1-0 against North Texas in Annapolis, and I intend to keep that record spotless.
Port Report: Annapolis vs. Denton
Annapolis. Annapolis is the capital of Maryland, a city of 40,812 at the 2020 census, sitting on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River. It was the temporary capital of the United States in 1783 and 1784, and it was in the Maryland State House, the oldest state house in continuous legislative use in the country, that George Washington resigned his commission as commander of the Continental Army. That State House is topped by the largest wooden dome built without nails in the country. They knew how to build things here.
Annapolis is known as "America's Sailing Capital" and hosts the Annapolis Sailboat Show, the largest in-water sailboat show in the world. The Naval Academy, established in 1845, sits right next to the city limits. Our stadium, Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, opened in 1959 with a 29-2 win over William & Mary, and it is a memorial to everyone who has served in the Navy and Marine Corps, with thousands of memorial plaques. You do not walk into that place casually. You walk in grateful.
Denton. Denton is a fine college town of 139,869 people at the 2020 census. Wikipedia lists it as the 10th-most populous city in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Tenth. In its own metro. Annapolis is first in all of Maryland at being the capital, and we didn't need a population count to do it.
Denton is proud of its music scene and its University of North Texas College of Music, the first school to offer a degree in jazz studies. I respect that. But I note that Denton also claims the largest community garden in the nation, the 14.5-acre Shiloh Field Community Garden. Shipmates, we have the Chesapeake Bay. They have a very large vegetable patch. Lovely tomatoes, I'm sure.
Final Entry
The orders are simple. Run the ball at a defense ranked 73rd against the run. Keep Jackson on the sideline by holding the ball. Win third down on defense, which hasn't happened often enough this year, and protect the football. Do that at home, in front of the Brigade, and this log gets a happy entry.
I'll be honest, as always: the forecast doesn't favor us. But a forecast is just a forecast. The sea decides.
Steady as she goes.
My call: North Texas Mean Green 34, Navy Midshipmen 30.