Oct. 26, 1963 - The strongest Panthers football team in years came to its undoing today at the hands of Roger Staubach and its own transgressions as Navy scored one of the midshipmen’s most notable victories, 24-12. Scoring three times after snaring Pitt passes and stopping a Panther advance to their 19 with another interception, the midshipmen thoroughly defeated the third-ranking team in the country. With a record crowd of 30,231 looking on in the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Navy scored a 36-yard field goal in the first period and a touchdown in the second quarter on an 80-yard march to lead by 10-0 at the half. Navy then carried the ball 35 yards for another touchdown in the final quarter after an interception to lead by 17-0, and Pitt’s hopes were completely sunk with almost 9 minutes left to play. Staubach was the shining figure of the game, despite the fact that he was often harried and thrown for big losses by the powerful Panther line. The Navy quarterback fell short of setting a Navy record for total gain in a season, but only by 43 yards. He scored one touchdown and completed 14 of 19 passes for 168 yards. Navy’s top receiver was Jim Campbell, an end who caught seven passes against Pitt after having caught only six all season before today. In the first half, Staubach hit him time after time on passes over the middle. Was this part of Navy’s pregame plan? “It sure was,” said coach Wayne Hardin. “We had an idea we might be able to hit Campbell down the middle, so we set up our plan that way and had no reason to change it.” Somebody mentioned to Hardin that Ed Orr had been the primary receiver before today, but he disagreed. “We don’t have a primary receiver,” he asserted. “In every game, we’ve had eight or nine men catch passes. We’ve got good balance on this team, plus Staubach, who is enough to unbalance the other team.”
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