Navy Football

With some new revelation breaking almost daily in the tawdry scandals that have soiled the great sports programs at Penn State and Syracuse, it might be easy to overlook this uplifting little piece of college football news. Senior fullback Alexander Teich will not be selected in the first round of the next NFL draft and he will not become an instant millionaire for trying to carry a ball past a chalk line, but he did get the offer he was looking for upon graduation from the Naval Academy.

Don Markus covers Navy football and outdoors and recreation. He was the Maryland basketball beat writer for more than a decade as well as covering golf and the NBA. He has taught sports journalism at American University for the past seven years.

Navy linebacker Brye French had never met Brendan Looney, only hearing stories about the former academy lacrosse star and his two brothers from longtime coach Richie Meade. Then one day during French's sophomore year, Meade told his team that the eldest Looney brother had died in Iraq. French, who had come to Navy to play both lacrosse and football, began to understand the reasons he was in Annapolis when he heard about Looney's death in a helicopter crash. It was further clarified for French when the lacrosse team attended the funeral of Navy SEAL from Silver Spring.

Navy football Just days after Navy beat Army for the sixth straight season, Midshipmen coach Paul Johnson interviewed for the head coaching job at Southern Methodist, according to a Dallas Morning News report. Poinsettia Bowl Navy vs. Utah, San Diego, Dec. 20, 9 p.m., ESPN, 1090 AM

Kevin Spacey sure is getting around Baltimore. First he shows up with Bill  Clinton last week at a Mount Vernon Starbucks . This past weekend, he was in the stands at a Navy game. The U.S. Naval Academy Tweeted a photo of the actor at the game against Indiana, surrounded by midshipmen. You can make out Spacey in the crowd --  he's the one with the softer-edged hat. "Even Kevin Spacey is rooting for Navy today!" the Academy Tweeted. Folks were surprised and thrilled to see him there.

John Feinstein has left the Navy football radio booth after 14 years as an analyst, he announced on his blog Wednesday. Feinstein wrote that he had long been trying to get made an Army-Navy football documentary based on his book "A Civil War," pitching the project to CBS Sports, among others. Then he learned last week that CBS would indeed be making a two-hour documentary on the game, to be shown in full on Showtime and in a shorter form on CBS. But they'll be doing it without Feinstein.

In one of the wildest offensive shootouts in the history of Navy football, the Midshipmen rolled up the third-largest total of rushing yardage ever - but couldn't win, falling in overtime to Ball State, 34-31, last night. Ball State freshman Jake Hogue kicked a 24-yard field goal to put Navy away in overtime. Duke@Navy Saturday, 1 p.m., 1090 AM

A reserve freshman quarterback on the Navy football team is in a Miami, Fla., hospital in critical condition after he was injured in a single-vehicle accident Thanksgiving night. According to a report Sunday in the Annapolis Capital , Ralph Montalvo was put in a medically-induced coma after being transported to the Kendall Regional Medical Center. Navy athletic spokesman Scott Strasemeier said Sunday night that he received a text message from Montalvo's family saying that "he showed more improvement today" but that he remains in the medically-induced coma.

Navy football coach Ken Niumatalolo said Wedneday that he received a text message from the family of freshman quarterback Ralph Montalvo, saying that the player who was critically injured in a car accident near his home in South Florida last week has been upgraded to “serious but stable” condition. Montalvo remains in a medically-induced coma at the Kendall Regional Medical Center in Miami, according to Niumatalolo. Reading from the text message, Niumatalolo said that Montalvo's setback on Monday was due to a sinus infection, but added that the swelling on Montalvo's brain has gone down in the past day. Montalvo was a passenger in a car that was involved in a single-vehicle accident Thanksgiving night.

Annapolis, always a popular tourist destination on nice fall weekends, will be busier than usual over the next three days.Everyone is coming to Maryland's capital city -- motorcyclists, Navy football fans and visitors to the Kunta Kinte Commemoration and Heritage Celebration.The Kunta Kinte festival, in its sixth year, will begin with a parade tonight. The parade will start at 6:30 p.m. at Germantown Elementary School and continue along Cedar Park Road to Taylor Avenue.The route will follow Taylor Avenue to Glenwood Street, continue to Clay Street, go right to Calvert Street and across Rowe Boulevard to St. John's College.