GoTigers247's Behind Enemy Lines Episode 2: Navy Radio Network's Joe Miller

Tigers in 20: A Memphis Tigers Athletics podcast

Welcome to Behind Enemy Lines Episode 2. GoTigers247 is joined by Joe Miller, the color commentator for Navy Football with the Navy Radio Network.

In the first segment of the show, Joe shares with Behind Enemy Lines' listeners how much the 2022 season feels like things have gotten back to normal after a few years of dealing with the Covid pandemic. Joe enlightens us on how Navy has had pretty unbelievable restrictions on them due to the fact that they are connected to the US government. He explained how the players were sequestered to the Naval Institute grounds and how the players had access restricted to the facilities.

Joe and Kenny go in depth into the Navy/Memphis matchup. Navy joined the AAC in 2015 after experiencing 134 years of independence as a football team. Navy and Memphis have played 7 times over the past 7 years and the current record is 4-3, Memphis. Joe describes the vibe around Annapolis during football season, and the pageantry involved with the program. He describes the environment around Annapolis with words like family, commitment and duty.

In the second segment, Joe goes in depth on the matchup between Navy and Memphis. This matchup has been dominated by the home team. In all but one of the games, the home team has won. Joe shares how Navy fans view the Memphis game. He believes that Memphis is one of the top tier programs in the AAC and is a team that the opposing team has to really game plan for. Joe describes the consistency around the Navy program, especially in regards to their head coach, Ken Niumatalolo. He has been the head coach since 2007 and has become the winningest head coach in the program history. He shares that the consistency around the entirety of the Navy program is because of the kids that come to school there.

Joe then describes the vibe around the Navy team. The Navy team was excited coming into this season because of the success they experienced at the end of last year. With returning starting quarterback, Tai Lavatai, heading up the team, the Navy team was stunned by Delaware in week one, so he describes the program as recovering from a really bad game. Joe talks about how the backfield for Navy is all brand new for the team, and how they haven't seen any time on the field together. He attributes their lack of experience to the turnover problems Navy experienced in the game against Delaware. He expressed quite a bit of excitement with the defense Navy has this year. He believes the defense kept them in the game and gave Navy a shot to win the game at the end.

Joe believes that time of possession is the most important aspect of the game for success or failure for Navy and their opponents. Navy has made its way with a "3 yards and a cloud of dust" mentality, but he believes the success of the offense is actually in their explosive plays. With defenses keying in on their triple option read offense, Navy has been most successful in games when they can take advantage of a packed in defense and bust off big plays.

Joe believes this game versus Memphis is extremely important for both teams. With both teams coming into Week 2 after really frustrating losses, they want to wash the bad taste of Week 1 out of their mouths.

About Behind Enemy Lines

Behind Enemy Lines is a GoTigers247 audio podcast where we interview beat writers that cover Tiger opponents. The podcast is recorded the week prior to the game so listeners will get the most up to date information for the specific matchup.

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