Navy (8-2, 6-1 AAC) will see their hopes of winning a division championship on the line next week. A 35-28 victory over No. 25 SMU (9-2, 5-2 AAC) on Saturday afternoon in Annapolis means the Midshipmen still have a shot to play for the AAC championship and a spot in the New Years Six. It was only fitting that their best player played a key role in keeping those hopes alive.
The Midshipmen trailed SMU 21-10 at halftime but stormed back in the second half. Navy took a 35-28 lead in the fourth quarter on a 70-yard touchdown run by quarterback Malcolm Perry. Perry had a tremendous performance with 185 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns and 162 passing yards and a touchdown pass in the winning effort. After coming up with a big defensive stop after a long drive by SMU on the ensuing possession, Navy successfully ran out the clock for the final minutes of the game. Lining up to go for it on fourth down and with SMU having no timeouts to spare, SMU jumped offside and awarded Navy a free first down with 1:05 to play. Ballgame.
SMU quarterback Shane Buechele passed for 251 yards and two touchdowns, but the SMU defense just could not slow down the Navy offense. Navy racked up 543 yards, with 381 of those yards coming on the ground.
Navy has now won 17 consecutive Senior Day games. But more importantly, Navy now still has a chance at a conference championship, although they are going to need some help in addition to taking care of their own schedule next week.
The AAC West will now be decided in the final week of the regular season next weekend. Memphis will take the division crown for a third straight year with a win against Cincinnati or a loss by Navy against Houston. A loss by Memphis allows Navy to take the division with a win. Memphis owns the head-to-head tiebreaker. SMU cannot win the division after losing head-to-head matchups with both Memphis and Navy.
SMU’s regular season will conclude with next week’s game at home against Tulane. Navy will still have the Army-Navy Game in Philadelphia to play in three weeks. The only question for Navy now is whether or not they will get a bye week before trying to snap a losing streak to their rivals from West Point. Navy would certainly be happy not to be taking that week off.
