"The afterglow of Saturday’s game made that 7 hour drive from Baltimore back to North Carolina a lot easier than many of those trips I’ve made in the past, and I had plenty of time to reflect on the game." GoBlackKnights.com Sr. Writer, Gordon Larson

As has been the case with several Army Navy games in recent years, the game was not decided until well into the 4th quarter, but my question for each of you to answer for yourself, is when did you “know” in your heart of hearts that Army had the win? When did you shed your lingering doubts and begin your own internal celebration?

If you’re like most of us Army fans, you’ve allowed yourself to get your hopes up, only to have them deflated as the seconds ticked off the clock. The muffed handoff in the 2012 game was a huge disappointment as was the interception in last year’s game. Like me, you may have been lulled into an optimistic euphoria when Army jumped out to a 14-0 lead at halftime and seemed in control of the game, but those two fumbles and 10 unanswered Navy points in the third quarter no doubt had a lot of Army fans mumbling “Here we go again.” The Army defense, which had played an outstanding game experienced a temporary lapse in the fourth quarter that allowed Navy to take their first and only lead of the game, and no doubt many of us had visions of the game slipping away once again. But as Yogi Berra once said, “It aint over til it’s over.”

For the Army faithful, hope springs eternal, and this time around the Black Knight offense launched a final 80 yard drive that took 6:42 off the clock and ended in success. That drive had its own elements of suspense after quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw converted on third and three for a first down conversion. Army found itself in a third and seven situation on the very next series. A shovel pass [“Wide Lt King 25” play] to slotback Joe Walker was ruled a first down, but when the officials called for a review, as has so often been the case, the review went in Navy’s favor and Army found itself with a fourth and inches. Was this another bad omen? Would the Navy defense rise to the challenge and stuff the next play? Fullback Andy Davidson removed those lingering doubts when he burst through the Navy defense for a 7 yard gain, and a few plays later Bradshaw ran the ball in from 9 yards out to give Army the lead at 21-17 with 6 minutes left on the clock as the cadets went wild. Could you taste the win at that point, or were you haunted by ghosts of recent Navy games, kept your fingers crossed and held your breath waiting to see where the axe would fall?

In past seasons, we’ve seen opponents march the length of the field in a lot less time than was remaining on the clock at this point, but this year’s defense had inspired our confidence. All season, they seemed to gather strength in the fourth quarter. Those of us who have watched them this year liked the odds that they’d stop Navy short, and sure enough the defense left Navy 2-yards short of a first down after three plays.

Would Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo go for it? Some of our readers say he should have, but perhaps his decision was influenced by memories of Navy breaks in recent games, and he thought his best chance was to get the ball downfield and put his bet on an Army miscue or a quick three-and-out with 4 minutes and 7 seconds left in the game. How confident were you that the game was in the bag when Niumatalolo made his choice to punt?

Four minutes and 7-seconds is not a long time for a good triple option to hold onto the ball, but this was an offense that had turned the ball over on 4 or its 10 possessions in the game so far, and figuring something less than 40 seconds per play and Navy with one timeout left, Army would need around 7-plays to run out the clock. That meant they needed 2-first downs to avoid a 4th down situation in Army territory. How many of us would feel comfortable if Army was forced to punt the ball? What was your confidence level at that point?

Army head coach Jeff Monken could not afford to be too conservative, but I was willing to bet the farm that he wasn’t going to call for a pass on that final possession, and no doubt Navy’s defensive coordinator was equally certain that he would be seeing all running plays from there on out as well. He could afford to play run all the way. Sure enough the first play was a handoff to Davidson who justified Monken’s confidence in him by hanging onto the ball. He picked up just 2 yards…not the amount of forward progress that gives one great confidence that Army would be moving the chains; but then Tyler Campbell turned the corner on the next play for the first of those important first downs, and the odds were looking significantly better.

Time was running low for the Midshipmen, but Niumatalolo still had a glimmer of hope, and after an 8 yard gain by fullback Darnell Woolfolk, Navy stopped Davidson a yard short of the first down and Niumatalolo called a timeout to preserve the 1:49 left on the clock. If you’re Oregon, 1:49 sounds like an eternity, but for a triple option team that has had trouble throwing the ball long all day, mounting a long touchdown drive in that amount of time is a tall order. How high was your confidence level at that point? Would you bet the farm on the outcome if Army was forced to punt?

On the next play, Bradshaw and the Army offensive line made one of the biggest plays of the game as Ahmad followed his blockers for a 2 yard gain that gave Army that second first down they needed to seal the deal. Navy’s winning streak was finally at an end and we could breathe again as Bradshaw took a knee 3 times to let the clock run out.

What made this game different from so many others we’ve seen in recent years is that Army West Point found a way to win. We’ve seen games in which Army outplayed Navy only to have the Mids pull out a win at the end, and it certainly appeared that this might be another of those days, but the football gods were with the Black Knights on this day, and Army West Point overcame 4 turnovers and a last quarter defensive lapse to win the game.

No doubt, the oddsmakers were looking at Navy’s 39 point average when they predicted a Navy win, and even with the loss of Worth, a lot of fans were giving more weight to the potent Midshipmen offense than they were to Army’s fifth ranked defense. Sportscasters seldom mention defensive statistics, and even the official box score lists them after all other statistics; so we can’t blame fans too much if they weren’t aware of how good the Black Knights’ defense was this year.

As it has done for most of the season, the defense held the line in the face of adversity. They came up big to hold Navy to a field goal after an apparent Navy turnover was overruled on review to give Navy a first down on the Army 12. Then with that final 4 point lead and the game on the line, the defense needed just 3 plays to stop a Navy offense that was not used to being stopped very often this season.

The Army defense allowed Navy only 36 total plays and 8 first downs. On 6 of their 10 possessions, the defense held Navy to 3 or fewer plays, and that’s not counting the 2 play TD drive. Against Houston, Navy ran 68 plays and scored on 8 of their 12 possessions. Against Notre Dame, Navy ran 64 plays and scored on 4 of their 5 possessions. Only Temple and Air Force came close to having the success that Army had in stopping the Navy offense this year.

Granted Navy was missing the services of their regular QB Will Worth and starting slotback Toneo Gully, but they had all three of their big fullbacks, two of their three best slotbacks in Dishan Romine and Calvin Cass, along with their entire starting offensive line; so the offensive cupboard wasn’t exactly bare for the game. Abey will most likely be the starter next season, and by next November, we expect Navy fans will be claiming that he should be considered for the Heisman. We can’t help it that Niumatalolo didn’t give him enough playing time this year to get him fully prepared for the game. No excuse, Sir!

We found it a bit odd that Abey ended up carrying the ball on 19 of Navy’s 26 rushing attempts while the two Navy fullbacks split all the remaining 7 carries in Navy’s rushing attack. Abey’s 41 yard run in the fourth quarter accounted for more than a third of Navy’s rushing offense. Abey did attempt a pitch to one of his slotbacks once, but it missed.

The Army Black Knights overtook Ohio State Buckeyes for 4th in the NCAA in Total Defense, and against all odds when playing against Navy moved ahead in the rankings on Rushing Defense to 17th and edged Miami for 13th in Scoring Defense as well. A little less surprising was the jump to 4th place in Passing Yards Allowed.

- Jeremy Timpf (LB) led all Army defenders with 9 of the team’s 40 tackles including a couple of sacks he shared with Alex Aukerman

- Xavier Moss (safety) was one of 3 defenders tied for second in tackles with 5 including 0.5 for loss, and Moss also had one of the two interceptions, and he forced the one Navy fumble in the game.

- Andrew King (LB) and Alex Aukerman (OLB) contributed 5 tackles each and Aukerman shared the lead in sacks with Timpf as noted above.

- Rhyan England (safety) had 3 tackles, recovered the Navy fumble, and had the second interception.

As has often been the case this year, the offense kept us in suspense with four turnovers offset by 4 sustained drives when they were needed most.

If you had told us ahead of time that Army would turn the ball over 4 times and still pull off the win, we’d have been skeptical to say the least. Bradshaw threw his first pass attempt short enough to allow Sean Williams to pick it off before it got to wide receiver Edgar Poe, but then he found Poe open later in the game for Army’s longest gain of the day. That pass play came at a crucial point and was needed to keep the Navy defense honest. We’re not at all sure whether his first incompletion was supposed to be a shovel pass, but it was ruled a forward pass on the field, which was a lot better than what many at first thought might be a fumble.

Eight different running backs combined for a net of 316 yards in 70 carries, which was nearly 3 times the total rushing yardage produced by Navy in the game. Without the turnovers, Army might have put the game out of reach a little earlier, but where’s the fun in that? We have to keep the fans in their seats and the viewers glued to their TV sets.

The Entire Offensive Line: with a special mention that Josh Boylan made his first career start at left guard along with regular starters Justin Gilbert, Bryce Holland, Brett Toth and Rick Kurz.

Frosh Kell Walker, who is turning out to be Army’s best running back and a bright future provided a new wrinkle to the offense in what he confirmed later was a counter play added to the playbook for the Navy game. When I mentioned that a similar play had made thousand-yard rushers out of Terry Baggett and Raymond Maples, he told me to keep an eye out for Kell Walker in the future. His 94 yards on 16 carries suggests that he may be on his way to making his suggestion a reality.

Junior quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw didn’t have a great day statistically, but we give him a lot of credit for keeping those last two drives alive.

Monken minimized Special Teams impact

Monken faced 4 fourth downs during the game, and elected to go for the first down conversion two of those times, eschewing a short field goal attempt in favor of a potential touchdown in the second period and a much smaller gamble in the final TD drive. He sent in JD Mote to punt twice with one punt of 25 and the other of 30 yards; so we were happy not to have to worry about a punt on the last possession.

Take Big Bites

For a few of you dinosaurs out there, this bit of cadet slang should bring back some fond memories. Back in the days when bracing was still practiced and eating was considered a privilege for plebes, a victory over Navy would be followed by an extended fallout (no bracing) accompanied by a significant increase in food consumption by the fourth class. Those barbarian practices are no longer practiced at West Point; so we’re not sure what types of extra privileges are made available to celebrate a victory over Navy these days. It’s altogether possible that no one remembers what to do after 14 years, but we hope they think of something to honor the occasion.

For the cadets who are serving punishment tours, either walking the area or in confinement, there is always the hope that the Supe will declare amnesty.

Is the tradition of betting bathrobes on the game still practiced between Cadets and Midshipmen? I lost three before winning my bet with a Navy plebe when Stichweh and company beat Staubach back in 1964. The Navy bathrobes back then were a tad scratchy and less comfortable than ours, but a win is a win, and I wore my trophy proudly.

No doubt there will be a lot of old grads finally collecting on an annual bet with one of their Navy acquaintances, and at least we don’t have to worry about those half-hearted condolences from the squids this year. The streak is over, and a new one has just started.

"Lets do this again next year"

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