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Alumni, Uzelac Upset by Navy Losses to Division 1-AA Schools

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BALTIMORE SUN

When Harry Dietz arrived at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium for the game against James Madison on Oct. 28, the former Navy quarterback expected a festive crowd, an exciting game and -- of course -- a Navy win.

He came to the game frustrated by six straight losing seasons. But it was homecoming, which made the 24-20 loss by the Midshipmen to the Division I-AA foe harder to swallow.

“I think the loss to James Madison was the lowest point of Navy football in the history of the school,” said Dietz, who played for Navy in 1960. “There’s no way the Naval Academy should lose to a James Madison or a Delaware.

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“Those teams should play close games, but Navy shouldn’t lose. Instead, these teams dominate Navy.”

It’s been that kind of a season for the Midshipmen, a year that marked the first sweep of Navy by I-AA opponents. Losses to Notre Dame, Pittsburgh and Syracuse are to be expected, but dropping games to The Citadel (14-10), James Madison (24-20) and Delaware (10-9) -- all I-AA opponents -- have put a damper on a season that, in August, Coach Elliot Uzelac looked to with a lot of promise.

But Navy’s final game is not just a season closer for a losing team -- it’s an event. The Midshipmen (2-8) battle Army on Saturday and, with a sold-out crowd at Giants Stadium and a national television audience looking on, Uzelac possibly can rid himself of this season’s many disappointments with a win over the Cadets (6-4).

A loss would make it four straight to Army, something Navy hasn’t done since it dropped its fourth straight to the Cadets in the 1947 season.

“I told them (after the Delaware loss) it doesn’t really matter what you do in the season -- 8 and 2 or 2 and 8 -- when you’re preparing for a game like this,” Uzelac said. “It’s a new season, and it’s like having three weeks in preparation for the first game.”

“For us to build for Army, it’s like us starting over again,” he added. “I told them Delaware is behind them, the whole 1989 season is behind them. Now it’s only Army.”

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It would have been a lot easier for Uzelac going into the game 5-5. In those three losses to the I-AA schools, the Midshipmen fumbled the ball inside the 10-yard line in each game -- the three losses were by a total of nine points.

“If you keep doing enough things wrong,” Uzelac said, “if you don’t make the plays, the other team’s confidence builds and you get socked. (Navy) is a better team then the record indicates; I know they are.”

Better in Uzelac’s eyes, but Joe Bellino, the Navy halfback who won the Heisman Trophy in 1960, said recent teams have lacked spark.

“I’m never disappointed when Navy loses to Air Force or Army,” Bellino said. “But it’s frustrating to see us loss to teams like Delaware and James Madison, which would normally be sure wins.

“Losing may be an indication of the intensity that hasn’t been there the last few years,” he said. “When I was there, we used to win those games.”

Before the start of the season, Uzelac said it was not unrealistic to have a winning season, that it was conceivable the Midshipmen could be host in the Liberty Bowl (which Air Force is doing, by winning the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy) and that the team was within two years of being on equal ground with Army and Air Force.

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But, somewhere, those expectations bottomed out.

“I expected a lot before the year, but I felt we were not out of the woods yet,” Uzelac said. “I felt we would be a much better team. I did not expect this.

“Some of my worst fears came true that the schedule did create some injuries. At some key times, that hurt us. But we still have to play over those. We were not good enough to do that. In my opinion, it’s been a bad season.”

After being blown out by Brigham Young (31-10), the Midshipmen lost at home, 14-10, to The Citadel -- the second straight year the Division I-AA school has beaten Navy. They squeaked by North Carolina (12-10) in Chapel Hill, N.C., before losing two straight to Air Force (35-7) and Pittsburgh (31-14). The only other win was also on the road against Boston College (27-24), a game that appeared to turn the season around. But four straight losses followed to James Madison (24-20), Notre Dame (41-0), Syracuse (38-17) and Delaware (10-9), when kicker Frank Schenk missed a 28-yard field goal with time running out.

The 2-8 record is a far cry from where Uzelac said he would be at the end of his third year when he took the Navy job in January 1987, replacing Gary Tranquill, who was 3-8 in 1986.

“I felt strongly the very worst we should have been this year was 5-6,” he said. “I thought we would win 7 or 8 at the best, depending on how lucky we were. But we also had some unanswered questions about our team.”

Uzelac, who came to Navy in 1987 after spending four years as an assistant under Bo Schembechler at Michigan, said he has not felt any pressure from alumni or administration at any time this season.

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“No one has said anything about that,” Uzelac said. “The pressure I’ve felt has been self-inflicted by me.”

When asked whether there is any concern about the coaching situation, Jack Lengyel, Navy’s athletic director, replied, “We are very confident in our coaching situation, and our main concern now is beating Army.”

Uzelac said some changes will have to be made, and he hopes to address those problems as soon as the season is completed.

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