Midshipmen can't shake breakdowns in the red zone

BALTIMORE - The Navy football team committed one mistake after another, and yet here it was, late in the fourth quarter, one yard from beating Maryland despite prolonged ineptitude near the goal line and the most fundamentally unsound performance of quarterback Ricky Dobbs's career.

Dobbs had the ball in his hands on fourth and goal, and based on the senior's record-setting season a year ago, Navy wouldn't have had it any other way. Then the unthinkable repeated itself for a fifth time, with this last malfunction the most deflating of them all in a 17-14 loss before 69,348 at M&T Bank Stadium.

Dobbs tried to score around the left side, but Kenny Tate was there to meet him, and Navy began an optimism-filled season with what Coach Ken Niumatalolo called one of the most agonizing losses of his career. Niumatalolo took responsibility for electing to go for it on fourth down rather than kick a short field goal to tie, but afterward, Navy's players backed the decision.

"It's just something that we do all the time," said Dobbs, who finished with 63 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries. "With one yard to go, that's automatic."

Navy failed on five of seven chances inside the Maryland 20, two of them ending on fumbles by Dobbs, at the 1 in the second quarter and at the 4 in the third.

Navy lost despite outgaining Maryland 485-272, including 412-261 rushing. The Midshipmen also almost doubled the Terrapins in time of possession, 39 minutes 26 seconds to 20:34, and came out on the short end of a white-knuckling season opener for a second year in a row. Last season, Navy lost at Ohio State, 31-27, in the first game for both teams.

"There's no consolation in moving the ball," Niumatalolo said. "The object of the game is to score, and [Maryland] did a good job keeping us out. We just had some mental lapses, but I got outcoached. . . . Probably a bad call on my part to go for it in the end. The biggest fault is my fault."

In the first half, Navy hardly resembled the team that went 10-4 last season in large part because of discipline and prudent decision-making. The Midshipmen's first miscue came on their first possession of the game, when place kicker Joe Buckley's 32-yard field goal attempt clanked off the left upright.

Navy made another unforced error on Maryland's ensuing possession, and it came from a senior co-captain, no less. Safety Wyatt Middleton was the guilty party, drawing a pass interference call deep in Midshipmen territory while covering wide receiver Torrey Smith. The infraction came on third down and six and gave Maryland first and goal at the 4. Two plays later the Terrapins went ahead 14-0.

Navy trimmed the deficit to 14-7 when senior slotback Andre Byrd scored on a 10-yard run 35 seconds into the second quarter, then tied it when Dobbs scored from one yard out with 1:52 to go in the third. Maryland got the winning points midway through the final quarter on Travis Baltz's 24-yard field goal, but before then, Navy squandered enough chances to last practically an entire season.

Dobbs's first fumble came on his final carry of a 17-play drive in the second quarter that began at the Navy 31. As he pulled away from center at the Maryland 1 and tried to control the snap, linebacker Adrian Moten leapt in from the left side, and the collision jarred the ball loose. Maryland recovered at the 6, but Navy held and got the ball back with 2:18 to go before intermission. The Midshipmen moved to the 7 with 12 seconds to play, but on third and six with no timeouts, Dobbs tried to run for the end zone and fumbled as he was being tackled. Navy recovered, but time expired before the Midshipmen could try a field goal.

On its first possession of the second half, Navy moved from its 40 to the Maryland 4, where it faced first and goal. Dobbs lost the ball again, this time as Tate swooped in for the hit. Maryland's Ryan Donohue recovered at the 1, and Navy had wasted another scoring chance that had become all but second nature last year, when Dobbs ran for 27 touchdowns, the most in a single season by a quarterback in NCAA history.

"We put the ball in the red zone, and we just had trouble finishing," Dobbs said. "Don't know the reasons for that. As far as the expectations we have, it's nothing different. Still the same expectations. . . . When you get a detrimental blow like this, it's a test of character to see if you can stand up and come back, and I can guarantee you that this Navy football team is going to have that character to be able to bounce back."