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Having not learned from its mistakes, Wake Forest was doomed to repeat them in last night's mind-numbing 28-27 loss to Navy in front of 31,454 at BB&T Field.
In a sequel to last week's last-minute loss to Georgia Tech, the Deacons' defense buckled in time for quarterback Ricky Dobbs to lead the Midshipmen on a 74-yard game-winning drive in the final two minutes.
Dobbs found Greg Jones alone in the right corner of the end zone with 26 seconds remaining for the game winner, but the play that sent Wake Forest reeling was Dobbs' 34-yard completion to Gee Gee Greene on a third-and-10 from midfield.
Jones' touchdown reception, the second of his career, tied the game at 27 and Navy took the lead on Joe Buckley's extra point.
Michael Campanaro gave the Deacons one last gasp by returning then ensuing kickoff to the Wake Forest 49, but that died when Josh Adams dropped Tanner Price's pass on second down.
The back-to-back collapses left the Deacons 2-4 overall going into next week's game at Virginia Tech. Navy improved to 3-3.
"It's not easy," Price said. "It's tough losing two games back to back that were that close.
"I thought we played a great game. We just didn't capitalize and we made a lot of mistakes that really hurt us. And we can't have that if we're going to be successful."
Dobbs' late heroics rendered a remarkable performance by Price all but irrelevant. In his third college start, Price, a freshman, completed 37 of 53 passes for 326 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. In doing so, he shattered the school records for a freshman in his first season, and provided the Deacons with a 27-21 fourth-quarter lead with back-to-back scoring drives.
But the Deacons' final scoring drive stalled deep in Navy territory on a holding call against guard Michael Hoag, and Wake Forest had to settle for a 27-21 lead on Jimmy Newman's 31-yard field goal.
"It was really not a comfortable feeling for any of us," Grobe said. "We wanted a touchdown, but we had to take the field goal. And the holding call down there was huge because we had run the ball down to the 5."
After a change of possessions, Navy embarked on its game-winning drive with 2:08 remaining. The Midshipmen, one of the most vaunted rushing teams in college football, had completed 25 of 50 passes in its first five games.
In that, it was too much like last week's loss to Georgia Tech for Grobe to swallow.
"We were in the same situation," Grobe said. "We've got a Wishbone team that needs to throw the ball on the last drive to beat you and they're able to do it.
"It's happened two weeks in a row now."
The Deacons grabbed a 17-14 halftime lead with an 84-yard touchdown drive that resulted in Price's 11-yard completion to Chris Givens, weathered a 78-yard touchdown drive by Navy and then regained the lead at 24-21 with a 70-yard march that led to Price's 12-yard touchdown pass to Devon Brown.
Even after having to settle for the field goal and a 27-21 lead, Wake Forest had a chance to put the game away when Dobbs threw incomplete on fourth-and-11 with three minutes remaining.
But Josh Harris lost 6 yards on the first play of the Deacons' ensuing possession and the Deacons' couldn't pick up a first down. Shane Popham, under a fierce Navy rush, managed 25 yards on his punt to give Navy possession at its 36.
The Midshipmen converted a fourth-and-1 with a 6-yard sweep by Aaron Santiago, and then after two incompletions, faced a third-and-10 from the Deacons' 49. Dobbs raced left ahead of the pursuit and whipped a pass to the sideline to Greene, who had slipped between safety Alex Frye and linebacker Joey Ehrmann in the Wake Forest zone defense.
Frye whiffed on the tackle as Greene advanced the ball to the 15, and Grobe called time on the next two plays to give his offense time to respond in the event the Midshipmen scored.
On third-and-1 from the 6, Dobbs hit Jones all alone in the right corner of the end zone for the winning touchdown.
"It was a fake toss play," Coach Ken Niumatalolo of Navy said. "It just shows you how things go. I was yelling at Ricky for overthrowing another route, but the way it worked out we left less time on the clock.
"I would say that's how we planned it, but I would be lying."
Navy 7 7 7 7 - 28 Wake Forest 7 10 7 3 - 27
First Quarter
WFU-Price 1 run (Newman kick), 12:44.
Navy-Teich 6 pass from R.Dobbs (Buckley kick), 7:34.
Second Quarter
WFU-FG Newman 45, 13:24.
Navy-R.Dobbs 3 run (Buckley kick), 10:12.
WFU-Givens 11 pass from Price (Newman kick), :12.
Third Quarter
Navy-R.Dobbs 4 run (Buckley kick), 11:59.
WFU-Brown 12 pass from Price (Newman kick), 1:08.
Fourth Quarter
WFU-FG Newman 31, 8:34.
Navy-G.Jones 6 pass from R.Dobbs (Buckley kick), :26.
A-31,454.
TEAM STATISTICS
Navy WFU
First downs 18 27
Rushes-yards 51-274 24-77
Passing 94 326
Comp-Att-Int 8-19-1 37-53-0
Return Yards 0 16
Punts-Avg. 5-46.4 4-45.8
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 3-2
Penalties-Yards 6-51 6-47
Possession 29:25 30:35
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-Navy, R.Dobbs 22-100, Santiago 6-66, Teich 10-43, Byrd 3-25, Greene 6-25, Murray 3-14, Diggs 1-1. Wake Forest, J.Harris 14-46, Pendergrass 3-19, Price 2-9, Bohanon 1-4, Adams 4-(minus 1).
PASSING-Navy, R.Dobbs 8-19-1-94. Wake Forest, Price 37-53-0-326.
RECEIVING-Navy, Greene 3-44, G.Jones 3-35, Santiago 1-9, Teich 1-6. Wake Forest, Brown 10-59, Givens 7-60, Dembry 4-51, Campanaro 4-44, J.Harris 3-32, Bohanon 3-27, Ma.Williams 3-12, C.Ford 2-24, Pendergrass 1-17.
