Nice 4th down pass play
Put hard fought game out of reach
Blue Hens fall to Navy!
I’m a huge Navy football fan and follow this blog religiously. Is it just me, or was that last touchdown a little bit of overkill? Navy could easily have gone into the Victory formation and run out the clock. Perhaps looking to help Dobbs to NCAA or personal record? Looking for Pollster votes? Seemed a little other-than-usual for a normally sportsmanlike team. Birddog community, please let me know if this observation is out of line…
Navy_99 – I totally agree. I immediately texted my buddy saying it lacked class and I was disappointed. Especially true after Navy held the “high ground” following the ND whine…
Was watching with my Dad and said that we’ll kneel it but immediately proved wrong. Not sure why. I think we gave up a sliver af the high ground. I wanted to hang points on DE, but not that way. I died a little inside.
Coach Weis cites first his ND’s illegal chop block on 4th qtr potential game winning drive as reason they lost to PITT. Replay shows it was a correct call too–ND engages PITT defender high, 2nd ND players dives low at same guy. It happens, they got penalized.
This from the post game news conference in the Washington Post:
With less than a minute to play, Navy was faced with a first-and-goal from the three-yard line. The Midshipmen held a 10-point lead, but instead of kneeling down to run out the clock, Coach Ken Niumatalolo called for a running play and quarterback Ricky Dobbs scored his fifth and final touchdown of the game.
“All the coaches except me” wanted a kneel-down, Niumatalolo said. “I just wanted to be done with it. I wanted to give us some breathing room… They scare me, that offense is a scary offense. They move the ball pretty quickly.”
Coach Ken made the call. The pass to Bobby Doyle was thrown a little behind him otherwise, Bobby a senior would’ve had the the TD.
The coach made the call..so what….has nothing to do with class or a reflection of the team, their spirit and drive. NO ONE cares or will care by Monday…except UD fans and Navy fans now throwing the team and coach under the bus. You all classless posters..just STFU. Revel in the win. Navy is till respected and ferared. Stop acting like you all have some monoply on what class outside USNA. Geeze
We should have taken a knee. I didn’t really understand that call, at all. I know a 10pt lead isn’t all that, but, they couldn’t stop the clock. The only way we let them back in the game is a TO. More likely to happen running the ball than in the Victory formation.
We all laughed at Al Golden last year running the ball when he should have kneeled, and it cost him. Hopefully, KN will learn from this and move on.
It surely wasn’t like him, or this team. He had to have his reasons.
He did have his reasons…ND during the last minute of last weeks’s game and CKN basically complimenting UD’s O. It was indeed like him and no reflection on the team..they execute what the coach says to do. Even the losing coach and his team make no big deal of it. Bad ju ju from the armchair USNA an some UD fans. WE WON..If we had more time…Id score again. Bout time Navy plays like the big dawgs
IMO the last score was unnecessary and I was disappointed in the call. It was a mistake. I hope we learn from it.
Now we all get to rest during the bye week and then stay up very late for the Hawaii game.
Go Navy – Beat Hawaii!
Much ado about nothing – just like when a bunch of Navy fans whined when Rutgers scored with 2.5 minutes left a couple years ago. Last I checked the game is 60 minutes long, not 58.5. It happened it is over move on.
Running up the middle is not running up the score! I have no problem with the last TD. Dobbs is a great kid who could have left after 2 years. Instead he stays and plays on a knee that needs an operation. And is ready to be commissioned in a Navy or Marine Corps at war. Is there anyone on the Deleware team that can say that? He is now 1 TD from breaking Tim Tebow’s NCAA record for TD’s by a QB. And he is doing that after missing two complete games. ND scores a late TD against Ga Tech so “Rudy” can get in the game and they make a movie about it. Anybody think that was classless? Heck yes I want Dobbs to get the record!!
armchairsailor, that is a pretty miserable comment. whether delaware has anyone that’ll join the military is completely irrelevant to whether or not KN’s decision was right. i hate when navy fans pull the “our kids fight wars” crap.
I may have gotten a little carried away. Delete
that part. I stand by the rest. My point is that most D-1 coaches would go for a record. What’s wrong with us having one. And I don’t apologize for bragging on Dobbs. What he did, and what he has done is commendable and a real contrast to Delaware’s QB’s who switch schools just to increase playing time. If you think that’s a miserable way to look at it I’ll defer to you.
Complaints about “running up the score” should end at about the high school JV level. After that, all complaints should be directed toward the AD who scheduled the game.
Now, whether or not it was the best football decision is up for debate. As Al Golden showed us, sometime kneeling on it is the best way to seal a W. But these are all big boys and they play 60 minutes, and if you don’t like a team punching in an extra TD, then step up and stop them. It’s like the Ray Rice “heisman campaign” TD from a few yards back. I was more upset at the Navy D who mailed it in rather than at Schiano. He did what he thought was best for his kids. Once again, from a football standpoint, like KN, you probably don’t want your best player handling the ball on a meaningless play in a game that is essentially over. But they are paid to make the best decisions for the team (not fans) and everyone needs to live with it.
Up only two scores with 1 – 3 minutes left….sorry guys, the game is not over. Three scores up, the game is over. Kenny made the right call. We were facing a fourth down and and the other option of turning it over to Delaware with plenty of time for them to try to drive for a score and onside kick.
This is a non-issue……game not over unless we are up three scores. Get a grip on the game and how to NOT LET UP until the WIN is in hand…..
I believe it was Lord Wellington who said, “The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton”. Sportsmanship means playing honorably within the framework of the rules…not trying to soften the blow of defeat by quitting play before the final gun is fired. That applies equally to football and combat. Good call Coach N!
Xavier Johnson is Right! (Blazing Saddles call-back)
As unaesthetic as it might seem to some, a ten point lead was potentially an invitation to overtime. A seventeen point lead emphatically was NOT. Putting the lead beyond two scores assured victory.
At the risk of introducing an unwonted military metaphor, that kind of thinking (the bare amount of effort to probably, kind-of sort-of win) is the reason we had to go after Hussein a second time.
For actual example of running up of the score see, e.g., Nebraska v Iowa State, the Big 8 Years.
I’d bet many of those 2nd-guessing KN’s decision to get last score vs. UD are the same ones who griped about insufficient margins of victory against other ‘should wins’ : UMass, Kent St, Temple/Duke (in weaker years) …
your last haiku had 7 sylables in the last refrain, not 5, so it was not a haiku.
for the rest of you: I originally thought the same of the decision not to take a knee – that Ken N. was “working” the pollsters. But so what? Like nobody else does that? Remember when schools like Nebraska and Oklahoma would score 70+ points on colleges like the Omaha School for Unwed Mothers? This was nothing like that. Sometimes we heve to get away from that mindset of “if the minimum wasn’t good enough, it wouldn’t be the minimum”. I say when you beat a team by 40+ points, you are running up the score. When you beat a team by 17, you are just trying to assure your win. Go Navy.
The Birddog 
Excellent eighth win.
The defense did it again.
Dobbs gets the record.
One, two, three, four, five
Touchdowns for the quarterback
That’s one for the books
Bend but do not break
Navy d stout in red zone
Give Dobbs the heisman!
Trap game is over
Fourteen days to get healthy
Dobbs is a big stud
Blue Hens could not do
unto us what we did to
Notre Dame last week.
Cloudy autumn game
Blue hens sought another win
Solemn bus ride home.
Mid fans on their feet
Wond’ring: post-Irish letdown?
Heart stab at the end.
Nice 4th down pass play
Put hard fought game out of reach
Blue Hens fall to Navy!
I’m a huge Navy football fan and follow this blog religiously. Is it just me, or was that last touchdown a little bit of overkill? Navy could easily have gone into the Victory formation and run out the clock. Perhaps looking to help Dobbs to NCAA or personal record? Looking for Pollster votes? Seemed a little other-than-usual for a normally sportsmanlike team. Birddog community, please let me know if this observation is out of line…
Correction to previous Haiku post…
…Navy beats Blue Hens!
Navy_99 – I totally agree. I immediately texted my buddy saying it lacked class and I was disappointed. Especially true after Navy held the “high ground” following the ND whine…
Ten fingers ten toes
Still not enough to count all
of Ricky’s TD’s
No let down Blue Hens
After beat down of Irish
Dobbs runs five TD’S
When Ricky runs runs runs
Navy wins wins wins
Finally a week of rest
Was watching with my Dad and said that we’ll kneel it but immediately proved wrong. Not sure why. I think we gave up a sliver af the high ground. I wanted to hang points on DE, but not that way. I died a little inside.
Coach Weis cites first his ND’s illegal chop block on 4th qtr potential game winning drive as reason they lost to PITT. Replay shows it was a correct call too–ND engages PITT defender high, 2nd ND players dives low at same guy. It happens, they got penalized.
5 TDs for Dobbs;
5 times Dobbs signed Pres helmet
Brian Madden II
Navy_99 right on the money–Jasper and Dobbs after records; one man team shows no class at all.
Classless from a normally classy staff? And if you’re going to do this, why not give an outgoing senior like Campbell a TD?
Some Navy fans want
Niumatalolo to
Leave the door open
35-18
is not running up the score
cry about it more
Paws and Charley,
This from the post game news conference in the Washington Post:
With less than a minute to play, Navy was faced with a first-and-goal from the three-yard line. The Midshipmen held a 10-point lead, but instead of kneeling down to run out the clock, Coach Ken Niumatalolo called for a running play and quarterback Ricky Dobbs scored his fifth and final touchdown of the game.
“All the coaches except me” wanted a kneel-down, Niumatalolo said. “I just wanted to be done with it. I wanted to give us some breathing room… They scare me, that offense is a scary offense. They move the ball pretty quickly.”
Coach Ken made the call. The pass to Bobby Doyle was thrown a little behind him otherwise, Bobby a senior would’ve had the the TD.
The coach made the call..so what….has nothing to do with class or a reflection of the team, their spirit and drive. NO ONE cares or will care by Monday…except UD fans and Navy fans now throwing the team and coach under the bus. You all classless posters..just STFU. Revel in the win. Navy is till respected and ferared. Stop acting like you all have some monoply on what class outside USNA. Geeze
Sunday it’s still sweet
bye week before hawaii
8 plus 2 is 10?
We should have taken a knee. I didn’t really understand that call, at all. I know a 10pt lead isn’t all that, but, they couldn’t stop the clock. The only way we let them back in the game is a TO. More likely to happen running the ball than in the Victory formation.
We all laughed at Al Golden last year running the ball when he should have kneeled, and it cost him. Hopefully, KN will learn from this and move on.
It surely wasn’t like him, or this team. He had to have his reasons.
It’s called “killer instinct” – insert the blade and finish it. Remember the feeling when that Delaware team beat Navy twice under PJ. This is better.
KN understands that it’s not over ’till it’s over.
He did have his reasons…ND during the last minute of last weeks’s game and CKN basically complimenting UD’s O. It was indeed like him and no reflection on the team..they execute what the coach says to do. Even the losing coach and his team make no big deal of it. Bad ju ju from the armchair USNA an some UD fans. WE WON..If we had more time…Id score again. Bout time Navy plays like the big dawgs
IMO the last score was unnecessary and I was disappointed in the call. It was a mistake. I hope we learn from it.
Now we all get to rest during the bye week and then stay up very late for the Hawaii game.
Go Navy – Beat Hawaii!
Much ado about nothing – just like when a bunch of Navy fans whined when Rutgers scored with 2.5 minutes left a couple years ago. Last I checked the game is 60 minutes long, not 58.5. It happened it is over move on.
Ricky Dobbs’ keepers
Are money inside the five.
Bend, but don’t break D.
Flat in the first half
Inspiring half time speech
I missed Vince Murray
Running up the middle is not running up the score! I have no problem with the last TD. Dobbs is a great kid who could have left after 2 years. Instead he stays and plays on a knee that needs an operation. And is ready to be commissioned in a Navy or Marine Corps at war. Is there anyone on the Deleware team that can say that? He is now 1 TD from breaking Tim Tebow’s NCAA record for TD’s by a QB. And he is doing that after missing two complete games. ND scores a late TD against Ga Tech so “Rudy” can get in the game and they make a movie about it. Anybody think that was classless? Heck yes I want Dobbs to get the record!!
armchairsailor, that is a pretty miserable comment. whether delaware has anyone that’ll join the military is completely irrelevant to whether or not KN’s decision was right. i hate when navy fans pull the “our kids fight wars” crap.
I may have gotten a little carried away. Delete
that part. I stand by the rest. My point is that most D-1 coaches would go for a record. What’s wrong with us having one. And I don’t apologize for bragging on Dobbs. What he did, and what he has done is commendable and a real contrast to Delaware’s QB’s who switch schools just to increase playing time. If you think that’s a miserable way to look at it I’ll defer to you.
Run Ricky Run
TD, TD
23 will fall
Complaints about “running up the score” should end at about the high school JV level. After that, all complaints should be directed toward the AD who scheduled the game.
Now, whether or not it was the best football decision is up for debate. As Al Golden showed us, sometime kneeling on it is the best way to seal a W. But these are all big boys and they play 60 minutes, and if you don’t like a team punching in an extra TD, then step up and stop them. It’s like the Ray Rice “heisman campaign” TD from a few yards back. I was more upset at the Navy D who mailed it in rather than at Schiano. He did what he thought was best for his kids. Once again, from a football standpoint, like KN, you probably don’t want your best player handling the ball on a meaningless play in a game that is essentially over. But they are paid to make the best decisions for the team (not fans) and everyone needs to live with it.
Hana Ho Mei Kahalahiki-po
86 Degrees and Sunny
Aloha WAC
Up only two scores with 1 – 3 minutes left….sorry guys, the game is not over. Three scores up, the game is over. Kenny made the right call. We were facing a fourth down and and the other option of turning it over to Delaware with plenty of time for them to try to drive for a score and onside kick.
This is a non-issue……game not over unless we are up three scores. Get a grip on the game and how to NOT LET UP until the WIN is in hand…..
Mids struggled on field
Then screamed hopeful Navy fans
“Please, Eat More Chickin!”
or
Dobbs scores! Again,
again, again and again.
Is there no other?
Lose we bitch and moan
Win and we still bitch ans moan
What makes Navy fans happy?
BUT WE STILL BEAT NOTRE DAME!!!!!
I believe it was Lord Wellington who said, “The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton”. Sportsmanship means playing honorably within the framework of the rules…not trying to soften the blow of defeat by quitting play before the final gun is fired. That applies equally to football and combat. Good call Coach N!
Xavier Johnson is Right! (Blazing Saddles call-back)
As unaesthetic as it might seem to some, a ten point lead was potentially an invitation to overtime. A seventeen point lead emphatically was NOT. Putting the lead beyond two scores assured victory.
At the risk of introducing an unwonted military metaphor, that kind of thinking (the bare amount of effort to probably, kind-of sort-of win) is the reason we had to go after Hussein a second time.
For actual example of running up of the score see, e.g., Nebraska v Iowa State, the Big 8 Years.
I’d bet many of those 2nd-guessing KN’s decision to get last score vs. UD are the same ones who griped about insufficient margins of victory against other ‘should wins’ : UMass, Kent St, Temple/Duke (in weaker years) …
The people complaining about the last touchdown are also the ones that are concerned about where Navy is in the polls.
Notre Dame eats crow
Navy says “tastes like chicken”
Navy football Rocks!
Frigate –
your last haiku had 7 sylables in the last refrain, not 5, so it was not a haiku.
for the rest of you: I originally thought the same of the decision not to take a knee – that Ken N. was “working” the pollsters. But so what? Like nobody else does that? Remember when schools like Nebraska and Oklahoma would score 70+ points on colleges like the Omaha School for Unwed Mothers? This was nothing like that. Sometimes we heve to get away from that mindset of “if the minimum wasn’t good enough, it wouldn’t be the minimum”. I say when you beat a team by 40+ points, you are running up the score. When you beat a team by 17, you are just trying to assure your win. Go Navy.
A bowl game awaits
Who shall we play in Houston?
Kansas or Missou?