» NCAA Football » NAVY Finishes Off Duke With Last Second Field Goal Taking a 46-43 Victory
NAVY Finishes Off Duke With Last Second Field Goal Taking a 46-43 Victory
Story by: Deborah leung
Posted September 22, 2007
Photos by: Benjamin rogers
Annapolis, MD--
Clutch kicks, trick plays and a big turnover on defense. Navy needed all three to keep Duke from winning two in a row. Backup kicker Joey Bullen made a 44-yard field goal on the last play of the game and Navy beat Duke 46-43 on Saturday.
The Midshipmen (2-2) trailed 43-32 entering the fourth quarter. With Jarod Bryant entering the game at quarterback in place of winded starter Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, Navy rode Bryant's fresh legs to 14 consecutive fourth-quarter points.
"Kaipo was gassed in the second half, so Jarod came in and gave us some good plays,'' Navy head coach Paul Johnson said.
"Then just like a couple years ago (in a 27-24 win) against Air Force, Joey Bullen comes in and hits it right down the middle.'' The Mids closed to 43-35 on a 35-yard field goal by Bullen with 8:07 left.
Bullen had taken over the kicking duties from Matt Harmon, who kicked a field goal and three extra points for the Mids before being sidelined by a groin injury.
"Matt felt his groin was bothering him, so it was up to me. It just so happened I had a game-winning kick today,'' Bullen said.
The Navy defense held Duke (1-3), which broke a 22-game losing streak last week, after cutting the lead to one score and its offense used a trick play at the end of a 65-yard drive to get a touchdown.
NAVY Flattened Duke's Afternoon With One Final Field Goal
On third down from the Duke 5, Bryant pitched to slot back Bobby Doyle, who then lofted a pass to Bryant for the score with 3:49 to play.
"As soon as I caught the pitch from Jarod, I started to look at him,'' said Doyle, who was recruited as a quarterback but later moved to slot back. ``Then I turned at him and just let it fly.'' Bryant ran in for the 2-point conversion to tie.
Ketric Buffin got the ball back for Navy by intercepting a long pass by Duke's Thaddeus Lewis at the Blue Devils 26.
``I looked at everyone's eyes and saw how hard the linebackers and everyone was fighting,'' said Buffin, who has interceptions in all four Navy games this year. ``I said, 'don’t quit and we (the secondary) will make a play for you.'''
Bryant picked up 35 yards on a draw to the Duke 39 and then picked up another first down on an 8-yard run to the 25 to help set up the winning kick. Bryant's turnover in overtime last week led to Ball State's game-winning field goal.
"It's not often you get the chance to redeem yourself,'' Bryant said. ``It would have been easy for us to give up today, but we kept going.''
Lewis passed for a career-high 428 yards and four touchdowns to Eron Riley, who scored from 76, 35, 9 and 69 yards out. Lewis also added a 3-yard TD run. Riley had six catches for 235 yards. Jomar Wright also had seven catches for 42 yards. The teams combined for 1,046 yards, with Navy gaining 540.
Kaheaku-Enhada completed 11 of 16 passes for a career-best 217 yards and a 44-yard scoring toss to O.J. Washington.
Ranked No. 1 in the nation running the ball entering the game, Navy gained 304 yards on the ground. Eric Kettani had 71 yards and scored on runs of 10 and 4 yards. Bryant ran for 69 and Kaheaku-Enhada added 59 yards and scored on a 1-yard run.
Duke led 36-25 at the half, the highest first-half total for the Blue Devils since they scored 41 points in a 48-35 win over Wake Forest on November 13, 1999. After Navy scored on its first possession of the half to close to 36-32, Duke countered with a 69-yard pass from Lewis to Riley for a 43-32 lead.
"We didn't get it done. This one hurts,'' Duke head coach Ted Roof said. ``We had our chances and didn't close the deal. Whether it was with some points offensively, a stop defensively, or a big play in the special teams, whatever it was, we didn't close the deal and that's very disappointing