US Naval Academy NCAA News

Notre Dame associate head coach Corwin Brown has criticized Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo for his postgame comments after the Midshipmen upset the Irish Saturday and for a ``malicious'' cut block by a Navy receiver.

It was beyond schematic deficiencies. It was beyond two uncharacteristic and costly fumbles.

Coming off a bye week, the Black Knights found themselves in a 7-7 halftime tie against Air Force on Saturday.

Just about everybody except the higher-ups at Notre Dame has already figured it out: Charlie Weis isn't going to return the Fighting Irish to the top of college football anytime soon.

What looked entirely possible in September appears imminently probable in November.

This game is really going Navy's way. Notre Dame just drove 61 yards to the Navy 3-yard line and came up empty when quarterback Jimmy Clausen threw incomplete on fourth-and-goal. Cornerback Kevin Edwards sold out and made a great play to throw tailback Robert Hughes for a 2-yard loss on first down and Hughes then gained just 1 yard on second down.

For a brief moment, linebacker Ram Vela didn't know how to react after Navy ended more than four decades of frustration by beating Notre Dame on Nov.

Notre Dame returns home to face the Midshipmen Saturday, one week after crushing the hapless Cougars in San Antonio and one week before an away showdown with the 14th ranked and 7-1 Pittsburgh Panthers.

Navy cornerback Blake Carter has come out of games lately feeling as though he's been involved with a traumatic incident.

The Navy Football Luncheon series continued yesterday with head coach Ken Niumatalolo candidly discussing various aspects of the team with Pete Medhurst of the Navy Radio Network then answering questions from the audience.

Quarterback Ricky Dobbs isn't the only key player Navy hopes to get back in time for Saturday's showdown with 19th-ranked Notre Dame in South Bend.

It took longer than usual this season for Navy to get the fullback to gain the amount of yardage that has been typical in the triple-option offense over the years.

Bernard Pierce rushed for 267 yards, including a 41-yard touchdown with 2:41 left, and James Nixon returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown as Temple became bowl eligible Saturday with a 27-24 victory over Navy.

A year ago, Temple lost its best shot at a bowl game when it blew a 20-point lead and lost to Navy in overtime.

To get an idea of what Navy senior inside linebacker Ross Pospisil is like, both as a football player and a person, just watch one four-minute snippet from the third quarter of the Midshipmen's 13-10 victory over Wake Forest last Saturday.

On one first-down play, Demon Deacons running back Josh Adams runs left, bumps into one of his teammates, then spins around and cuts back across the field. Pospisil, who was a yard away from Adams when he changed direction, pursues him and runs him down from behind, dragging him down following a 25-yard gain.

Quarterback Ricky Dobbs participated in practice yesterday wearing a green non-contact jersey, throwing passes in a skeleton drill and doing some other light work.

In the process of doing interviews for my feature story on Navy quarterback Kriss Proctor, I came across this interesting fact.

Not surprisingly, fullback Vince Murray was Navy's Most Valuable Player on offense after rushing for a career-high 175 yards.

Stumbling Wake Forest played through a hard rain to an even harder loss in yesterday's 13-10 setback to Navy at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

Experience will not be on Navy's side when the Midshipmen host Wake Forest on Saturday.