Navy didn’t let a double-digit deficit deter it on Friday against Oklahoma. Blake Horvath led the vaunted Middies rushing attack back and they surprised the Sooners, 21-20, in the Armed Forces Bowl.
Navy fell behind Oklahoma 14-0 in the first quarter. The Middies’ defense stiffened and the offense came back with a TD run in the second quarter.
Then, QB Blake Horvath pulled off another of his magical plays.
Horvath took off at the five-yard line and 95 yards later was in the end zone. The run was a school record.
The game was tied at 14 after the PAT midway through the fourth quarter.
— 1-1-1-1 (@pahrduve) December 27, 2024
Horvath added a TD on a six-yard run with 4:34 left and it proved to be the game-winning TD.
Oklahoma, which had 56 scholarship players due to the transfer portal exodus, scored on its first two drives and didn’t deliver any more points until its final drive.
Michael Hawkins Jr. threw a TD pass to Jake Roberts with six seconds left. OU went for a two-point conversion and it failed when Hawkins was sacked.
OKLAHOMA SCORES THE LATE TD, BUT NAVY STOPS THE TWO-POINT CONVERSION TO SECURE THE WIN‼️ pic.twitter.com/pgRsDgZUrD
— ESPN (@espn) December 27, 2024
The Sooners finish 6-7 and that could spell problems for head coach Brent Venables.
Horvath had 155 rushing yards and 92 passing for Navy (10-3), which was picked to finish 11th in the American Conference in the preseason.
