Annapolis, Md.—Senior quarterback
Xavier Arline rushed for a career-high tying 109 yards and a touchdown, while completing 7 of his 10 pass attempts for 94 yards and a touchdown as Navy (4-5, 3-3 in the American Athletic Conference) routed UAB 31-6 in front of 29,078 fans at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
"I am just super proud of our football team right now," said Navy head coach
Brian Newberry. "Coming off two losses, one really difficult one to Air Force and then a really uncharacteristic loss to Temple, I just think it shows the character of our football team the way they responded. It started with the preparation during the week, that's what we talked about and our kids came out and they didn't flinch, they attacked the week and kept their heads up and chins high and I just couldn't be more proud of what we did today."
The Navy defense was sensational all day, holding a potent UAB offense to 321 yards of total offense, including just 206 yards through the air. It is the third time this year the Mids kept an opponent out of the end zone.
UAB entered Saturday 12
th in the country in passing offense (303.3 yards per game), while quarterback Jacob Zeno was 10
th in the nation in passing yards per game (298.6).
That's a good football team, a really good offensive football team, that we played today," said Newberry. "I thought we played lights out on defense. The plan was to make them earn everything they got and I thought we did that.
It was a defensive slugfest in the first half with Navy leading 7-6 at the intermission.
The Mids took a 7-0 lead with 2:49 left in the first quarter when
Xavier Arline hit
Regis Velez with a 45-yard touchdown pass.
UAB would answer with 37 and 29-yard field goals by Matt Quinn to cut the Navy lead to 1.
Navy had some success moving the ball in the first half but hurt itself with two turnovers that stopped drives, including an Arline interception in the end zone on the second drive of the game.
UAB took the second half kickoff and moved the ball in to Navy territory, but
Dashaun Peele picked off Zeno at the Navy 27 and returned it 42 yards down to the Blazer 31.
After picking up one first down, the Mids settled for a 31-yard field goal by
Nathan Kirkwood to take a 10-6 lead.
After the Navy defense forced a three-and-out on the next drive, the Mids went on an epic 20-play, 80-yard, 12:44 drive that started with 7:52 left in the third quarter and ended with a 2-yard touchdown run by
Daba Fofana with 10:08 left in the game.
Key plays on the drive included a seven-yard pass from Arline to
Eli Heidenreich on third-and-seven from the UAB 49, a 15-yard run by Arline on third-and-11 from the UAB 43, a two-yard run by Fofana on fourth-and-one from the UAB 19 and a 13-yard run by Heidenreich on second-and-14 from the UAB 21.
The game was still in doubt at 17-6 when UAB got the ball back and moved down to the Navy 32, but on third-and-four the Blazer had back-to-back false starts and then on third-and-14 from the Navy 42,
Xavier McDonald dropped Lee Beebe for a loss of 1 on a short pass to force a UAB punt.
Navy would put the game away on the ensuing drive, moving 86 yards on 5 plays with Arline scoring on a 50-yard run to make the score 24-6.
Rayuan Lane put the cherry on top for Navy on UAB's next possession when he intercepted Zeno and returned it 97-yards for a touchdown. It was the longest interception return in Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium history and the second-longest in school history next to John Raster's 100-yard interception return against Army in 1951. It was also the second-longest interception return in American Athletic Conference history.
"Offensively, I thought we did some really good things in the second half. We made some adjustments at halftime; Coach Chesnut and his staff did a great job with that," said Newberry. "A 20-play drive over 12 minutes, that's Navy football right there at its finest. I thought (Xavier) Arline played really well today, did some really good things for us. We needed that win and I'm proud of the way we did it and the circumstances under which we did it. To respond the way that we did, I just think it speaks volumes about the character of our football team. So, I'm just really – I'm almost emotional - super proud. It was a good solid win for us and one that we needed."
Navy rushed for 269 yards on the day, while holding UAB to 115. Sophomore fullback
Alex Tecza added 82 yards on 9 carries, while Heidenreich had 60 yards on 5 carries. Heidenreich added 3 catches for 26 yards.
Colin Ramos led the Navy defense with 12 tackles, 1 sack and a pass breakup, while Mbiti Williams recorded 9 tackles.
Justin Reed has 1.5 sacks, while Peele and Lane had Navy's two interceptions.
The Mids remain in contention for a bowl game with today's win and host East Carolina (2-8), who is coming off a 22-7 upset of FAU, next Saturday in a 12 noon game at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on Senior Day.
