<p>By BRYAN STRICKLAND : The Herald-Sun
<a href="mailto:bstrickland@heraldsun.com">bstrickland@heraldsun.com</a>
Sep 23, 2007 : 12:40 am ET</p>
<p>ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Duke coach Ted Roof told his team all week that Saturday’s game at Navy would come down to the final play, just as the Blue Devils’ victory at Northwestern had the week before.</p>
<p>Roof was right, but only because it all went wrong.</p>
<p>“It came down to the last play, but it also came down to a lot of plays before that,” Roof said after his team couldn’t hold an 11-point lead and suffered a demoralizing 46-43 loss at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. "We had our chances, but we didn’t close the deal – whether it was more points offensively, a stop defensively or a big play in special teams. We didn’t close the deal.</p>
<p>“That’s very disappointing because that’s a game we had an opportunity to win. You don’t get missed opportunities back.”</p>
<p>The Blue Devils (1-3), fresh off a 20-14 win at Northwestern and seeking their first winning streak of any sort since 2002, built a 43-32 lead behind the often-unstoppable combination of quarterback Thad Lewis and wide receiver Eron Riley. Lewis threw for 428 yards – seventh in Duke’s single-game records – and Riley was often the beneficiary, tying the school mark with four touchdown catches.</p>
<p>But after Lewis and Riley hooked up for a 69-yard score on Duke’s second play of the second half, Riley’s statistical day was done at six catches for 235 yards – the fifth-highest yardage game in school history.</p>
<p>Navy (2-2) still couldn’t stop Duke’s offense once the Midshipmen finally stopped Riley, but the Devils stopped themselves with penalties and turnovers. Navy took advantage, scoring on its final three drives, capped by backup kicker Joey Bullen’s 44-yard field goal on the game’s final play.</p>
<p>“We came out and executed our game plan, and it worked well for most of the game,” Riley said. “But at the end, it kind of fell off and we couldn’t pull out the victory.”</p>
<p>Riley might not have caught any catches down the stretch, but he certainly played a role. After Navy caught up with a 5-yard touchdown pass from halfback Bobby Doyle across the field to quarterback Jarod Bryant – and a two-point conversion keeper by Bryant – Duke got the ball back with less than four minutes left.</p>
<p>The Devils appeared to retake the lead on their next offensive snap, when Lewis spotted Jomar Wright up the right sideline for an 80-yard catch and run, but Riley was whistled for holding, negating all but 6 yards of the play.</p>
<p>Duke bounced back and later converted a third-and-11 play when Lewis hit Raphael Chestnut for 16 yards to the Navy 26, but this time a holding call pushed Duke back to midfield. So on third and long, Lewis lobbed one deep for Riley, who appeared to be held up by a defensive back before cornerback Ketric Buffin sped over and picked off the pass.</p>
<p>Riley admitted to disagreeing with the holding call against him and the lack of a holding call on the interception, but he added, “It’s not what I think; it’s what the referee thinks.”</p>
<p>Roof declined to comment on the calls.</p>
<p>Still, the game appeared headed to overtime with just 38 seconds remaining and Navy on its own 26. But Bryant – under center for Navy’s final three scoring drives because Coach Paul Johnson said starter Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada was “gassed” – took off on a winding 35-yard scramble on Navy’s first play to get to the Duke 39.</p>
<p>Navy advanced to the 26 with four seconds left, when Bullen – who replaced starter Matt Harmon for a pair of fourth-quarter field goals – booted the game-winner.</p>
<p>“Last week was a great feeling winning it on defense, and we had a chance to win it again with our field-goal block team,” defensive tackle Vince Oghobaase said. “We didn’t, and it’s sad to lose a game where we had so many opportunities to win.”</p>
<p>Before the winning kick, the teams combined more than 1,000 yards of total offense and 11 touchdowns.</p>
<p>Lewis and Riley hooked up for three of them before halftime, setting the tone on Duke’s second possession when Riley was pushed out of bounds by defensive back Darius Terry but came back inbounds to catch a bomb near midfield. Riley didn’t run after the catch but soon took off, scoring from 76 yards out on a play that was upheld by the replay booth. In a statement, replay official Ralph Pickett and ACC coordinator of officials Doug Rhoades confirmed that the catch was legal because Riley was pushed out of bounds.</p>
<p>Only Riley, however, could explain why he stopped running and then started again.</p>
<p>“I just stood there because I thought I heard a whistle,” he said, “but I looked at the big screen and I saw somebody running at me, so I took off.”</p>
<p>Riley was on the video screen multiple times, later catching TDs of 35 and 9 yards to help Duke lead 36-25 at halftime – the most points in a half for a Duke team since 1999 and the most in a road game in Duke’s available records that date back to 1970.</p>
<p>“We just made plays,” Lewis said. “We came out with the attitude that we can’t be stopped.”</p>
<p>But the Devils couldn’t stop Navy either, and down the stretch, they stopped themselves.</p>
<p>Duke kept the nation’s leading rushing attack below its average (304 vs. 378.8), but Kaheaku-Enhada had a career-high 217 passing yards before being relieved (he entered the game with 164 yards through three games).</p>
<p>But Navy’s offensive onslaught didn’t matter – until Duke stopped scoring.</p>
<p>After Riley’s second-half touchdown, running back Re’quan Boyette – who paced Duke with 42 yards and a touchdown – lost a fumble inside the Navy 25. On Duke’s next drive, backup kicker Greg Meyers – who replaced Joe Surgan after he missed the first PAT of the day – missed a 31-yard field goal. And after Duke’s second drive all game without a first down, Lewis threw the interception that set up the winning kick.</p>
<p>“We’ve made progress, but some games we need to win 20-14 and some games we need to win 50-46,” Roof said. "The bottom line is that it comes down to the ‘W’ and the ‘L.’ "</p>