Sept. 5, 2005

Complete Release (PDF)

Game Data...

• Navy (0-1) will play host to a Pac-10 school at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (34,000) for the first time on Saturday as the Stanford Cardinal (0-0) come calling for a 6 p.m. kickoff.
• Saturday's game will be broadcast nationally on College Sports Television (CSTV) and worldwide on the internet at www.navysports.com or www.cstv.com. Armed Forces Television will not carry the game live to our troops around the world, opting to cover other college football action instead.
• Tom McCarthy and former New York Jets quarterback Ray Lucas will call all the action for CSTV. CSTV Networks, Inc. (www.cstv.com) is the first 24-hour college sports network. Through its numerous platforms, CSTV provides more live college sports games, events, news, information, analysis and broadband content, and reaches more college sports fans, than any other company. College Sports TV has agreements with distributors that represent more than 65 million homes nationwide, including the top six national distributors: Comcast, DirecTV, Time Warner, Charter, Cox and Adelphia.
• The game will also be televised nationally by HDNet with Pete Medhurst and Astor Heaven calling the action and Kandace Krueger as the sideline reporter. HDNet is the first national television network broadcasting all of its programming in 1080i HD, the highest-quality format of high-definition television (HDTV). Launched September 2001 by co-founders Mark Cuban, owner of Dallas Mavericks, and Philip Garvin of Colorado Studios, HDNet roduces and televises more hours of HDTV sports, news and entertainment programming each week than any other network. HDNet is available on Adelphia Communications, Charter Communications, DIRECTV, DISH Network, Insight Communications, Mediacom Communications, Time Warner Cable and several National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC) cable affiliate companies.
• Saturday's game can be heard on the Navy Radio Network, which includes WBAL in Baltimore (1090 AM), Sportstalk 980 in Washington, D.C. (980 AM), WNAV in Annapolis (1430 AM) and ESPN Radio in Cambridge, Md. (1240 AM). The game can also be nationally on Sirius Radio or around the world at www.navysports.com, www.wbal.com, www.sportstalk980.com and www.wnav.com. Armed Forces Radio will carry the game live to our troops around the world. Bob Socci, Omar Nelson and John Feinstein will call the action. The Navy Football Pregame Show will air an hour before kickoff (5 p.m. EST) on those same networks.
• Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller will kick things off with the Navy Tailgate Show on 1430 WNAV and www.wnav.com at 4 p.m.

Mids Lose Heartbreaker to Maryland, 23-20...

• Maryland quarterback Sam Hollenbach hit Drew Weatherly with a 11-yard touchdown strike with 1:01 remaining to rally Maryland to a 23-20 victory over Navy in front of 67,809 fans at Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium.
• Navy jumped out to a 14-3 lead in the first quarter as senior quarterback Lamar Owens (Savannah, Ga.) led the Mids on 80 and 50-yard scoring drives on Navy's first two possessions.
• Matt Hall (Jr./Cape Coral, Fla.) capped off the 12-play, 80-yard scoring drive with a three-yard touchdown run to give Navy a 7-3 lead. After a Jake Biles (Sr./Lorena, Texas) interception gave the offense the ball on the 50, the Mids promptly drove down the field in six plays with Marco Nelson (Sr./Scottsdale, Ariz.) scoring from seven yards out on an option pitch to give Navy a 14-3 lead.
• Navy had an opportunity to put the game away the next time it had the ball as Greg Sudderth picked off a Hollenbach pass and returned it to the Maryland 46. The Mids moved the ball down to the 14 yard line where, facing third-and-one, drew a delay of game penalty. Navy head coach Paul Johnson elected to go for it on fourth and two and Owens was stopped for a one yard game.
• The Navy defense held tough most of the day, holding the Terps to just three field goals through the first three quarters. Maryland finally broke through on their first possession of the fourth quarter when Mario Merrills scored from 12 yards out to give the Terps a 15-14 lead.
• Navy, however, would answer. Owens re-entered the game after missing two series with a right hand cramp and promptly led the Mids on a eight-play, 66-yard scoring drive that was capped off by a six-yard touchdown run by Hall. The Mids, now up by five, had to go for two and didn't convert.
• Maryland would come roaring back and drove the ball down to the Navy 33 before a holding penalty pushed them back to the 43. The call appeared to be the break Navy needed as the Mids got the Terps in a fourth-and-eight situation from the Navy 31. Hollenbach hit Lance Ball with a swing pass in the flat and Navy had two defenders in the area, but neither Greg Thrasher (So./Carrollton, Texas) nor Tyler Tidwell (Jr./Edmond, Okla.) could bring him down before he crossed the first down marker. Hollenbach hit Weatherly on the next play to make it 23-20.
• Navy had one more chance to pull the game out when on first and 10 from its own 25 Nelson got behind the Maryland secondary on a wheel route. Owens was just short on his throw and Nelson was unable to make the grab.
• Owens led the Navy offense with 122 yards rushing on 19 carries. He completed five of his 11 pass attempts for 97 yards. Hall rushed for 68 yards and two touchdowns. Jason Tomlinson (Jr./Arlington, Texas) caught three passes for 72 yards. Junior linebacker Rob Caldwell (St. John, Ind.) led the Navy defense with 13 tackles and a forced fumble. Keenan Little (Jr./Boiling Springs, N.C.) and Biles recorded nine tackles apiece. Biles also had an interception. David Mahoney (Jr./Fort Myers, Fla.) had six tackles, three tackles for a loss and a sack.

Scouting Stanford...
Stanford is coming off a very deceiving 4-7 season. The Cardinal was off to a 4-2 start last year before getting bit by the injury bug and dropping the last five games. All you need to know about the talent level at Stanford is that last yearthey led eventual national champion USC, 28-17, at the half befor the Trojans rallied late for a 31-28 victory. The Cardinal return 50 letterwinners and 15 starters from last year's team, including 10 starters on offense.

Series History...
This will be the meeting on the gridiron between the two schools since 1965 (which ironically was the last time Navy had played Maryland before last Saturday) when the two teams battled to a 7-7 tie in Palo Alto. Navy defeated Stanford, 25-0, in 1954.

Navy Against The Pac-10...
The Mids are 4-5-1 all-time against the Pac-10. Navy last played a Pac-10 team in 1996 when the Midshipmen rallied from 14 points down to upset California, 42-38, in the Aloha Bowl. That game marked the last college game for then Cal and now Detroit Lion head coach Steve Mariucci.

Hall Picks Up Where Eckel Left Off...
The departed Kyle Eckel found the end zone 25 times in his three-year stint (2002-04) as Navy's starting fullback, the fourth-most rushing touchdowns in school history. Navy's new starting fullback, Matt Hall (Jr./Cape Coral, Fla.) picked up where Eckel left off, scoring two touchdowns against Maryland in his first-career start. Hall, who entered the Maryland game with 63 yards rushing in his career, rushed for 68 yards on 17 carries against the Terps.

Tackle Caldwell...
Junior linebacker Rob Caldwell (Jr./St. John, Ind.), who is cut out of the same mold as last year's starters Bobby McClarin and Lane Jackson, recorded a career-high 13 tackles in his first-career start against Maryland. Caldwell entered the game with 15-career tackles.

Owens Starts With A Bang...
Senior quarterback Lamar Owens (Savannah, Ga.), who entered Saturday's game against Maryland with 129 career rushing yards, rushed for 122 yards on 19 carries in his first-career start. Owens became just the 14th Navy quarterback to rush for over 100 yards in a game (54th time overall). He also joined Chris McCoy (26 carries for 273 yards on Sept. 9, 1995 at SMU) and Brian Madden (34 carries for 168 yards on Oct. 30, 1999 at Notre Dame) as the only Navy quarterbacks to rush for over 100 yards in their first-career start.

Little Steps Up...
Junior safety Keenan Little (Boiling Spring, N.C.), who recorded 10 tackles in 2003 and 12 tackles last year, was in on a career-high nine tackles against Maryland.

Career Firsts In The Maryland Game...

• Freshman Karlos Whittaker (North Chicago, Ill.) had his first-career carry, rushing for eight yards down to the Maryland six-yard line on Navy's final touchdown drive.
• Sophomore kicker Joey Bullen (St. Simons Island, Ga.) scored his first career points with two extra-points.
• Senior linebacker Jake Biles (Lorena, Texas) recorded his first-career interception.
• Sophomore safety Greg Sudderth (Lilburn, Ga.) recorded his first-career interception.
• Senior slot back Marco Nelson (Scottsdale, Ariz.) scored his first-career rushing touchdown in the first quarter.
• Junior quarterback Brian Hampton (Scott Air Force, Ill.) made his first-career appearance at quarterback in the third quarter.

Too Many Flags...
Navy committed eight penalties for 51 yards against Maryland after not committing more than six penalties in a game all of last year (Navy had six in the Emerald Bowl win over New Mexico). The Mids averaged just 4.17 penalties per game last year, the second best average in the country.

California Natives
Navy is expected to dress four players from the state of California: Freshman fullback Justin Guzman (Fullerton), junior center Cole Smith (Crockett), starting punter Eric Shuey (Hacienda Heights, Calif.) and junior defensive end John Chan (Pleasant Hill).

Winning Seasons...
Navy has posted back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1996-97. Navy has not had three-straight winning seasons since 1978-82 when the Mids strung together six consecutive winning seasons.

Navy On Historic Run...
Navy's 18 wins over the last two years (8-5 in 2003, 10-2 in 2004) ties the school record for most wins over a two-year span. The Mids also won 18 games over a two-year span in 1907-08 (9-2-1 in 1907 and 9-2-1 in 1908), 1905-06 (10-1-1 in 1905 and 8-2-2 in 1906) and 1906-07 (8-2-2 in 1906 and 9-2-1 in 1907). The school record for the best three-year stretch is 27 wins from 1905-07.