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The founder of PapaJohn's pizza went to Ball State. PapaJohn's is well-known in the area for offering discounts based on how many touchdowns teams like Maryland and the Redskins score in a game. No word yet if such a deal exists for Navy touchdowns on Saturday against the guy's alma mater!...
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<p>By GoMids.com Staff</p>
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The Navy Midshipmen host a tough Ball State squad on Saturday. Here is all you need to know about the game and more....
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<p>Navy 31 - Ball State 34</p>
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<p>Jake Hogue's 24-yard field goal gives the Cardinals the 34-31 victory</p>
<p>ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -Jake Hogue kicked a 24-yard field goal in overtime, giving Ball State a 34-31 victory Saturday.</p>
<p>The teams combined for more than 1,000 yards in total offense, but the game turned after most of that yardage had been accumulated.</p>
<p>First, the Cardinals (2-1) forced overtime when Brandon Crawford blocked a 32-yard field goal attempt by Navy's Matt Harmon as time expired.</p>
<p>Then, on the first play of overtime, Ball State recovered a fumble by backup quarterback Jarod Bryant, who entered in the second half for injured starter Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada.</p>
<p>Navy (1-2) finished with 585 yards, including 521 on the ground. Ball State amassed 539 yards, 277 of them on passes by Nate Davis.</p>
<p>Davis went 19-for-33, throwing three touchdown passes and running for another. MiQuale Lewis finished with 161 yards rushing on 27 carries.</p>
<p>Eric Kettani ran for 126 yards for Navy and Kaheaku-Enhada had 117 before leaving at halftime with two sprained ankles.</p>
<p>Kettani put Navy ahead with a 71-yard run that made it 31-24 with 7:17 left. The fullback burst through a hole at the line and cut toward the outside before beating two pursuers to the corner of the end zone.</p>
<p>Ball State came right back, tying it with a 12-yard touchdown pass from White to Lewis.</p>
<p>Earlier, Navy took a 24-21 lead with 11:28 left when Harmon kicked a 25-yard field goal to finish a 67-yard drive. Hogue retied it by kicking a 27-yard field goal with 8:12 to go.</p>
<p>Navy played without defensive starters Clint Sovie and Jeff Deliz. Sovie, a linebacker, had season-ending ankle surgery Thursday and Sovie, a safety, is lost for the season after having surgery on his leg on the same day.</p>
<p>Down 21-14, Navy turned to Bryant at the start of the third quarter. Bryant delivered, running twice for 18 yards to set up a 24-yard touchdown run by Kettani.</p>
<p>Entering the fourth quarter, the score (21-21) and the yardage (395-395) were perfectly even. Even the penalties (three apiece) were identical.</p>
<p>Davis threw for 127 yards and Lewis ran for 95 to help the Cardinals take a 21-14 halftime lead.</p>
<p>Navy took the opening kickoff and went 80 yards in 12 running plays to go up 7-0, but Davis answered with a 7-yard touchdown pass to tight end Darius Hill.</p>
<p>After a Navy punt, Ball State used a trick play to take a 14-7 lead. Wide receiver Dante Love took the snap in shotgun formation and sent a long lateral to Davis, who threw a pass back to Love. Love caught the ball in stride and ran down the right sideline for a 50-yard score.</p>
<p>The Midshipmen tied it when Kaheaku-Enhada ran 80 yards for a touchdown. Not to be outdone, Davis finished an 80-yard drive by running in from the 5.</p>
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Navy's 34-31 overtime loss to Ball State before 32,087 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium last night in Annapolis turned on consecutive plays late in the game.</p>
<p>The Midshipmen (1-2) had a chance to win in regulation. After driving 57 yards, they had what they wanted with two seconds left: A 32-yard field goal attempt from the middle of the field. But Ball State junior Brandon Crawford, a former Marine, blocked the kick as time expired to force overtime....
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What went right</p>
<p>The Navy offense got its ground attack going, producing 521 yards, the third-highest rushing total in school history.</p>
<p>What went wrong</p>
<p>In key moments, Navy stopped itself. A fumble at Ball State's 15-yard line kept the Mids from taking an early lead. A fumble in overtime led to the loss. Defensively, the Mids are even younger than they were at the beginning of the season, with freshman Wyatt Middleton starting at free safety and sophomore Ross Pospisil starting at inside linebacker. Senior linebacker Irv Spencer had to leave the game with a sprained ankle, and so did starting quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada....
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<p>Mids run for 521 yards, but Ball State blocks field-goal try at :00</p>
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In one of the wildest offensive shootouts in the history of Navy football, the Midshipmen rolled up the third-largest total of rushing yardage ever - but couldn't win, falling in overtime to Ball State, 34-31, last night.</p>
<p>Ball State freshman Jake Hogue kicked a 24-yard field goal to put Navy away in overtime.</p>
<p>"We didn't make the plays to win," Navy coach Paul Johnson said. "It was fundamental mistakes."...
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First, Navy went without its starting quarterback. Then it lost its second inside linebacker in as many weeks.</p>
<p>More importantly, it handed a victory to Ball State with its many miscues.</p>
<p>The Midshipmen lost two fumbles one on the first play in overtime and had two kicks blocked, including one at the end of regulation, as they dropped a 34-31 decision before 32,087 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium....
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Ball States Jake Hogue kicked a game-winning 24-yard field goal to lift the Cardinals to a 34-31 victory over Navy at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. </p>
<p>But, most of the 32,087 fans in the stands Saturday expected Navy kicker Matt Harmon to be the hero of the day in the Midshipmens home opener. However, Ball State blocked Harmons 32-yard field goal attempt at the end of regulation and Navy backup quarterback Jarod Bryant fumbled a pitch to slot back Shun White on his first play in overtime, which set up the Cardinals game-winning score....
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In a football game that included three long touchdown plays and extended drives that resulted in points to tie the score twice in the fourth quarter, two huge defensive plays delivered a victory to Ball State in the final seconds.</p>
<p>The first momentum swing for the Cardinals came on the final play of the fourth quarter as Brandon Crawford blocked what would have been a game-winning field goal by Navy....
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Navy inside linebacker Ross Pospisil began to show his strength of character and compassion as a high school sophomore in Temple, Texas, when he went out of his way to befriend a group of Hispanics who seemed isolated in the school's lunch room.</p>
<p>"Ross just didn't like seeing that group of young people separated from everyone else," said Scott Pospisil, Ross' father. "He took his lunch tray and started to sit with them, just to get to know them. They didn't like it at first, but then they saw his heart. One day, those kids called him up and asked him to join them at a pool hall where they hung out....
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A Poinsettia Bowl representative remarked that she had her fingers crossed for six wins prior to watching Navy play Ball State in Annapolis on Saturday evening. After the game, she probably started to cross her toes as well as Navy showed it has a long way to go before anyone can even start thinking about the team qualifying for a bowl game....
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<p>Blocked kick leads Navy to fumbled opportunity</p>
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There wasn't a whole lot of defense played at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium last night. </p>
<p>Ball State and Navy marched up and down the field at will in a high-scoring shootout that featured a combined total of 1,124 yards. It was one of those back-and-forth affairs that figured to be won by whichever team had the ball last....
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Junior defensive back Ketric Buffin is proving to be a bright spot for a depleted Navy defense.</p>
<p>The Midshipmen made just enough key stops against a streaking Ball State offense during regulation, but they couldn't hold off the visitors during a 34-31 overtime loss in front of 32,087 fans at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium last night....[/quote[</p>
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Sander Gossard spent Tuesday in class at the U.S. Naval Academy, at football practice, on duty at night and then glued to his television watching The History Channel.</p>
<p>The junior center from Harrington Park was in a much different place mentally and physically this Sept. 11 compared to the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks....
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<p>Navy football notes</p>
<p>BRYANT, KETTANI FILL IN: A pair of backups performed well for the Navy offense in last night's loss. Junior fullback Eric Kettani came off the bench to lead Navy in rushing with 126 yards on only nine carries. He scored two touchdowns, one of which came on an impressive 71-yard gallop.</p>
<p>"I thought Eric ran the ball very hard. He had the long run, which was a big play in the game. It was good to see that," Navy coach Paul Johnson said.</p>
<p>Jarod Bryant took over at quarterback in the second half after starter Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada sprained both ankles while being sacked by Ball State linebacker Kenny Meeks on Navy's last possession of the first half.</p>
<p>Bryant rushed for 77 yards on 13 carries and completed his lone pass attempt for 13 yards. However, the junior from Alabama fumbled on the first play of overtime.</p>
<p>"I thought (Bryant) did OK. He made some plays, he made some mistakes. The last one was huge," Johnson said.</p>
<p>Navy committed two fumbles in the game with the other stopping a potential scoring drive in the third quarter. Slot back Shun White simply dropped a pitchout at the Ball State 15-yard line and the ball was recovered by safety Chris Allen.</p>
<p>"If we would just hold onto the dang ball," Johnson bemoaned. "The fumble in the third quarter killed us. It's unforced. It's not doing fundamental football, looking the ball into your hands."</p>
<p>BIG WIN: Head coach Brady Hoke entered last night's game with a 16-32 record in five seasons at Ball State. All but one of those wins had come against Mid-American Conference opponents with the other over Division I-AA Indiana State.</p>
<p>So it stands to reason that going on the road and beating a Navy program that had posted four straight winning seasons was a landmark victory in Hoke's tenure.</p>
<p>"I think it's huge. Coming here and winning on the road, with the tradition of this program, the style of offense," Hoke said.</p>
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<li>Compiled by Bill Wagner</li>
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Navys defense just gets younger and more inexperienced by the game. </p>
<p>Inside linebacker Irv Spencer limped off the field in the second quarter and returned later on crutches. Spencer, who came into the game as the teams leading tackler, suffered a sprained ankle and did not play the rest of the way. There was no word whether the 6-foot, 238-pound senior would be able to play next Saturday against Duke....
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Three games into the season Navy coach Paul Johnson is still looking for his team to play sound, basic football.</p>
<p>Though the Midshipmen rushed for 521 yards, the third most in school history, they lost in overtime Saturday night to Ball State, 34-31, after what should have been a an easy 32-yard Navy field goal attempt with two seconds left in regulation was blocked.</p>
<p>The 521 rushing yards also were the third most by a losing team in NCAA history. Rice rushed for 570 yards in a 70-63 loss to San Jose State on Oct. 2, 2004, and Air Force rushed for 545 yards Nov. 24, 2001, in a 50-32 loss to Hawaii....
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It started Thursday, with a capacity crowd at Byrd Stadium and a national television audience watching fourth-ranked West Virginias running backs zig and zag through Marylands porous defense in a 31-14 victory. </p>
<p>Two days later, local college football misery ended 30 miles east of College Park in Annapolis, where the Midshipmen rushed for 521 yards third-most in school history and still lost, 34-31, in overtime to Ball State.</p>
<p>In between, heres what happened during a stretch in which all six local teams lost:...
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Navys players walked off the field Saturday night following their 34-31 overtime loss to Ball State hurting in more ways than one.</p>
<p>First, the Midshipmen left the 32,087 fans at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium stunned after junior kicker Matt Harmon had a potential 32-yard game-winner blocked at the end of regulation. Then, backup quarterback Jarod Bryant turned the ball over by fumbling a pitch on the first play of overtime, which set up Ball State's game-winning 24-yard field goal by Jake Houge....
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