Navy stuns Tulane 27-24 in comeback win
Field goal at the gun finishes comeback from 24-0 deficit
NEW ORLEANS — Cameron Kinley’s interception near his own goal line kept Navy’s 24point hole from getting deeper and set the stage for previously benched quarter back Dal en Morris to win back his job by helping the Midshipmen stage a historic rally.
Jamale Carothers rushed for 125 yards, Bijan Nichols kicked a 33-yard field goal as time expired, and Navy beat Tulane 27-24 for the largest comeback in school history on Saturday.
“I don’thavemuchto say other than, ‘Wow.’ A testament to the young men at the United States NavalAcademy,” Navy coachKen Niumatalolo said. “These guys are going to protect us, serve our country. These are the type of young men that you have, that will not quit.”
Navy (1-1, 1-0 American), which lost its opener 55-3 to BYU, ran just two plays in Tulane territory in the first half and looked in danger of being blown out again
late in the second quarter.
“That first half looked like third half of the BYU game,” Niumatalolo said. “We couldn’t stop them and we couldn’t move the ball an inch.”
Tulane (1-1, 0-1) was threatening to build on a 24-0 lead before Kinley intercepted Tulane quarterback Keon Howard at the Navy 3. The turnover looked far more consequential as the game wore on and Navy stunningly seized control in the second half, when the Midshipmen outgained the GreenWave 291yards to 82.
The interception was “the play of the game,” Niumatalolo said. “It just gave us some life.”
In the last seven minutes of the third quarter, the Midshipmen scored 16 points ontwoshortNelsonSmithtouchdownsand a safety. They tied it on Morris’ 32-yard touchdown pass to Mychal Cooper, followed by a 2-point conversion, early in the fourth quarter.
Tulane looked primed to regain the lead with about five minutes left, but elected to throw a deep pass, which fell incomplete, on fourth-and-3 fromtheNavy 32.
“Obviously, we’d like to have it back,” said Green Wave coach Willie Fritz, who endured his team’s collapse in his first game since Tulane announced his seven-year extension, not to mention the first Tulane game broadcast on ABC in 40 years.
Navy kept the ball from there, driving in rainy conditions to the Tulane 16 before Nichols, who kicked a game-winner against Tulane last season, did it again.
“Iwas thinking about the game last year,” Nichols said. “That’s the most fun you can have as a kicker in football. It’s really nice to be able to contribute at the end like that and I like the pressure on me.”
Morris passed11times, completing six for 139 yards and a touchdown. His 44-yard pass toMarkWalker set up Navy’s first TD
with 6:43 left in the third quarter.
Seeking a spark on offense after its lopsided loss a week earlier, Navy had benched Morris and started freshman Xavier Arline at quarterback. But he struggled to move the Midshipmen offense at Tulane. He did not attempt a pass and
rushed seven times for13 yards before being replaced byMorris in the first half.
“Being in that second game, knowing, this is your shot, I think I just played looser,” Morris said. “I got back to beingmyself.”
Carothers’ 48-yard run up the middle set upNavy’s secondTD.
Navy’s safetycamewhenEvanFochtman met Tulane’s Cameron Carroll in the end zone and drove him backward on a first-down run fromthe Tulane 1.
Tyjae Spears rushed for 119 yards and Carroll rushed for touchdowns of 3 and 24 yards for Tulane.