Ranked 24th, Navy Salutes its Sr's & their 1st Win

[Water Pony]

From Navysports.com there is this story of Navy's 2005 Seniors with this part on their break-thru win in 2002 in Dallas. Remember?

"We were first introduced to a bunch of mostly anonymous sophomores on a late-August evening in 2002 at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas.

In its third year, the home of the SMU Mustangs was dressed up for a season opener that also happened to be Navy's debut under Coach Paul Johnson.

Amid the pre-game pomp, as a reminder of the teams' proud legacies, was an appearance by a couple of all-time alumni, Don Meredith and Roger Staubach.

So too was a circumstance that seemed to sum up the recent state of two struggling programs - an end zone hill in flames, ignited by pre-game fireworks.

By the time the smoke cleared from the thick, humid air, the Mids were already distancing themselves from the ignominy of a winless 2001.

It had marked the first time Navy experienced an entire season without victory since an 0-8-1 finish to 1948. What's more, in just one of 10 games had the Mids owned so much as a second-half lead.

But after falling behind SMU, Navy took its first, short stride on the long journey back to prominence when a kid named Eric Roberts reached the end zone with the second carry of his career.

A half-minute later, a couple of his classmates who'd been junior varsity teammates a year earlier, Bobby McClarin and Josh Smith, forced and recovered a fumble to set up the next of Navy's five unanswered touchdowns.

They were on their way. Though the next few months consisted of steps forward and backward."

For SMU, we begin our new winning history this year!