Sept. 07--BALTIMORE -- Maryland's football team backed up head coach Ralph Friedgen's statement that it is vastly improved from a year ago. Navy and quarterback Ricky Dobbs were unable to live up to all the preseason hype.

Junior tailback Davin Meggett led an impressive rushing attack with 105 yards and a touchdown while middle linebacker Alex Wujciak anchored an opportunistic defensive effort with 18 tackles as Maryland edged Navy 17-14 before a near sellout crowd of 69,348 at M&T Bank Stadium.

Meggett and fellow tailback Da'Rel Scott staked Maryland to an early 14-0 lead by capping impressive drives with short touchdown runs while Travis Baltz booted a winning field goal from 24 yards out midway through the fourth quarter for Maryland, which got a 92-yard rushing effort from quarterback Jamarr Robinson.

It was a strange game that featured a myriad of mistakes by both teams and was basically decided at the Maryland 1-yard line. Maryland safety Kenny Tate came up big at the end, getting penetration and stuffing Dobbs for no gain on fourth-and-one from the 1-yard line with 34 seconds remaining.

Maryland took over on its own goal line and used two quarterback keepers by Robinson to run out the clock and defeat Navy for the second time in the past five years.

It was a statement game for the Maryland, which endured a disastrous 2-10 record in 2009 while playing a slew of sophomores and freshmen. Knocking off a Navy club that went 10-4 last season and received votes in the Associated Press preseason Top 25 poll was huge for the Terrapins and Friedgen, who probably needs a winning record this season in order to keep his job.

"Last year, we probably wouldn't have won this game. I told the team that last year we wouldn't have finished. Today, we found a way to hang in there and I'm very proud of my players for the way they preserved," Friedgen said. "Hopefully, they'll build confidence and grow from this game."

Dobbs, a Heisman Trophy candidate who received a ton of preseason attention, put forth perhaps the poorest performance of his career. The senior captain lost two fumbles at the 1-yard line and committed a mental mistake that cost Navy a field goal. He averaged just 2.2 yards on 29 rushing attempts and was unable to punch the ball into the end zone for what would have been the winning touchdown.

"We had several opportunities when we could have scored. In the red zone and on the goal line, that's where we do our best work," Dobbs said. "Those times in there were very critical. They were game-changing mistakes and I take sole responsibility for those occurrences and the game being the way it was."

Dobbs set an NCAA single-season record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback last season with most coming on keepers of five yards or less.

Navy had the ball on the 1-yard line in the second quarter when Maryland linebacker Adrian Moten made a great play by leaping over his own nose guard and a Navy offensive lineman to strip Dobbs as he was pulling away from center. Safety Antwine Perez recovered for the Terps to snuff out that potential scoring drive.

Navy got the ball back quickly and marched deep into Maryland territory again. Facing third down from the 7-yard line with 12 seconds remaining, Dobbs rolled out and could not find an open receiver then made an ill-advised decision to run the ball instead of tossing it out of bounds. He was tackled at the 2-yard line and the clock ran out since the Midshipmen had no timeouts remaining.

"At halftime I replayed that play over and over in my head. Wujciak came across my face and I stopped to make him miss and my instinct took over," Dobbs said. "I definitely lost focus because coach had just told me that if I didn't have anything to throw it away and we'll kick the field goal."

Navy opened the third quarter with a crisp 13-play, 59-yard drive that looked like it would produce the tying touchdown. However, Dobbs was hit hard by Tate while heading for the end zone and Maryland linebacker Ryan Donohue recovered at the 1-yard line.

Navy piled up 485 yards of total offense and finished with a huge time of possession advantage (39:26 to 20:34), but only had two touchdowns to show for it. Fullback Vince Murray rumbled for 112 yards while slotback Gee Gee Greene added 74 yards for the Midshipmen, whose triple-option offense produced 412 rushing yards.

"We had a ton of opportunities. We left at least 31 points out on the field," Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo said. "We had the ball for almost 40 minutes and that's the blueprint for how we win games. We eat the clock, keep (the opponent's offense) on the sideline and score points. We just couldn't finish today, and that's normally our forte. If we take care of the ball, it's a different ballgame."

Despite all the missed opportunities, Navy still had a chance to win the game. The Midshipmen finally converted in the red zone late in the third quarter when Dobbs dived over from 1-yard out to cap a seven-play, 76-yard touchdown drive. Wide receiver Greg Jones set up the score by taking a reverse 52 yards to the Maryland 23-yard line.

Baltz, who filled in for injured kicker Nick Ferrara (groin), put the Terrapins back on top with his field goal at the 7:50 mark of the fourth quarter. Baltz, a standout punter who had not place-kicked in a game since high school, could not sleep last night while thinking about exactly such a situation.

"I've run that scenario in my head a million times. I visualized making the winning field goal and was mentally prepared to do so," Baltz said.

Navy almost went three-and-out on the subsequent possession, but Moten was whistled for a face mask while tackling Dobbs short of a first down on third-and-eight. Given new life at midfield thanks to the 15-yard penalty, the Midshipmen proceeded to march into the red zone again with Greene and fellow slotback John Howell taking pitchouts 16 and 13 yards, respectively.

Navy tried to stop itself with three false start penalties on the drive, last of which forced a third-and-goal situation from the 8-yard line. Dobbs promptly took a keeper 7 yards to the 1-yard line with a strong tackle by Wujciak forcing the Mids to convert from that distance for the third time in the game.

Despite the difficulties Dobbs endured during the game, Niumatalolo elected to have him carry on the crucial fourth-and-one situation and Maryland was clearly ready for the keeper.

"We knew Ricky was going to get the ball every time they were on the goal line. That's what happened all game so there was no question he was carrying on that last play," Moten said. "As a defense, we told ourselves we weren't going to let them score and win the game. We dug down and made the play when it mattered most."

Niumatalolo somewhat second-guessed his decision to go for a touchdown and the victory instead of attempting a game-tying field goal.

"We were going to go for the win. We were going to put the ball in the hands of our best player and live with it. We have great faith in Ricky, he's scored like that many times before," Niumatalolo said. "I look back in hindsight now and it was a bad decision. It was all my decision and it backfired. We could have kicked the game into overtime and seen what happened."

In the locker room afterward, Friedgen proudly accepted the Crab Bowl Trophy from representatives of the Touchdown Club of Annapolis. The 10th-year head coach had not told his players the winner of yesterday's game received a newly-commissioned trophy.

"Coach Friedgen kept that a secret from us. That was a nice surprise and it felt great to hold that beautiful trophy," Moten said.

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