Ohio State survives upset bid by Navy

Published Sep. 6, 2009 7:16 a.m. ET

foxsports

All the elements were in place for an epic upset of No. 6 Ohio State by Navy.

"If Ohio State comes in totally focused on us, we had no chance," Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo said. "We felt like we had them in the perfect storm."

The Buckeyes weathered that storm with the help of a college football rarity.

Brian Rolle intercepted a potential tying 2-point conversion in the closing minutes and returned it for two points the other way, helping the Buckeyes hold off pesky Navy 31-27 on Saturday.

"It wasn't a dazzling fourth quarter for us, by any means," coach Jim Tressel said in the understatement of the day.

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A crowd of 105,092 - the largest ever to see the Buckeyes open a season - sat in stunned silence after the 21-point underdog Midshipmen scored twice in 4 minutes to cut a 29-14 deficit to two points with 2:23 left.

Navy went for the tie, but Rolle stepped in front of Ricky Dobbs' pass and rumbled up the sideline to preserve the win in the Midshipmen's first trip to Ohio Stadium since 1931 - and keep the luster on next week's rematch between the Buckeyes and No. 4 Southern California.

"I remember a lot of bad things from last year, like that long, silent ride home," linebacker Austin Spitler said of USC's 35-3 pasting of the Buckeyes. "It's up to us now. We'll have our doubters and now we'll have to go out and prove we're good."

For a while, at least, they were against Navy.

Terrelle Pryor was 14 of 21 for 174 yards, and ran for a touchdown and passed for another to help Ohio State build its lead. But then the Minutemen seemed to make every big play.

Dobbs, who completed 9 of 13 passes for 156 yards and two scores, rolled left and hit Marcus Curry on a 16-yard scoring pass with 1:24 left in the third quarter to cut Ohio State's lead to 20-14.

The Buckeyes countered with two quick scores.