Army navy game

Navy safety Wyatt Middleton got his revenge. "You guys know those spirit spots? I know Army did a little Shake Weight spirit spot, and they kind of (mockingly) put me in there. So that was just a little fun thing for them right there."

Middleton exacted his revenge Saturday in the 111th Army-Navy game, returning a fumble 98 yards for a touchdown just before halftime to stake Navy to a 24-7 lead. The play earned Middleton Philadelphia Sportswriters Player of the Game honors and helped the Midshipmen strike rival Army 31-17.

His playmaking wasn't totally unexpected. "Before the game, I told (assistant) coach (Buddy) Green I'd score a touchdown" admitted Middleton afterward.

"That play was a huge turning point in the game," said Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo. "They had us reeling a little bit."

Said senior offensive tackle Jeff Battipaglia, "that was most likely the biggest (turnover) I've seen in my life."

Fumbles -- and turnovers -- were a central theme to this year's matchup. The schools combined for six turnovers thanks to five fumbles lost -- six overall -- and an interception.

It was an unanticipated ball-security fiasco for two schools that came into the game among the nation's top 16 in turnover margin. Several entries in releases distributed to media before the game stressed the schools' strength at avoiding turnovers.

"Army has made one of its goals for the 2010 season to be the No. 1 ranked team in the nation in turnover margin," read one such passage.

About that. The Black Knights coughed up the ball three times, losing two of them including the exhausting one to Middleton just a few feet away from perhaps heading into halftime down but three points. Navy went a step further, with quarterback Ricky Dobbs tossing an interception to go with his own trio of lost fumbles. "We stressed with three weeks off taking care of the football. perceptibly I did a bad job of coaching," joked Niumatalolo.

Both programs could have taken lessons from their fellow classmates. On Friday, the New York Times profiled a decade-plus tradition of students from both schools making a pilgrimage from their campuses to the site of the game. The kicker is that the students alternated carrying a football through rough roads and weather. The major rule: don't let the ball touch the ground. Neither school has fumbled it to date. Said 20-year-old Army student Ben Karn, "you got to cradle it like a baby."

He'll have to emphasize the lesson to his football classmates ahead of next year's game. In the meantime, the Black Knights must again regroup following their ninth straight loss in the series. Opportunely, they'll have a bowl game to prepare for, the school's first since 1996. They will play SMU in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl in Dallas after a 6-6 regular season.

The 9-3 Midshipmen are headed to San Diego to play San Diego State in the Poinsettia Bowl.

Although it entered the game fifth nationally in rushing, Navy was really out gained by Army on the ground by 70 yards, 209 to 139.

What weirdly made the difference was Navy's passing game. The Midshipmen came out with a heavy air attack, with Dobbs throwing for 163 of their 186 aerial yards before halftime.

"Fortunately we made some plays in the passing game to dig us out of a hole there," said Niumatalolo. Dobbs' ground mistakes were nearly forgiven as he connected on scoring strikes of 77 and 32 yards.

"He's driving me crazy with those turnovers, but that's kind of been us with Ricky, we live and die with that young man. I love that guy," said the Navy coach.

Added Dobbs, "I had to shake it off, just like in basketball I was always told a good shooter has a short-term memory whether he makes them or misses them and it was a similar situation."

The only bit of normal play came when Navy ground the game to a near-conclusion with a nine-minute touchdown drive spanning most of the fourth quarter. That followed a grinding Army drive that chewed up another six minutes of clock on the way to a too-little, too-late field goal at the end of the third quarter.

And so Navy's seniors go out with a spotless 4-0 record against Army, having held the Black Knights without a touchdown for an incredible 202 minutes before a second-quarter touchdown ended that streak.

"That's a great way to cap it off," said Dobbs.

Added senior linebacker Tyler Simmons, "We may not say it, but we've been practicing for this game all year."

It showed, and Navy once again can hold onto its historic win streak in what both schools think college football's greatest rivalry.