Nov. 16, 1963 - Navy’s spectacular football team smashed Duke today as Roger Staubach and his mates scored virtually at will in the first half to gain a 38-25 victory before a crowd of 41,000 in Durham, N.C. Staubach emerged with a full share of honors as he broke Navy season records for pass completions and yardage. He wasn’t single-handed in fashioning the first victory by the midshipmen over the Blue Devils since 1954, however. Johnny Sai, the speediest of the Navy backs, broke loose off tackle in the final quarter for a 93-yard touchdown run that made Academy history. The dash surpassed one of 90 yards credited to another distinguished Navy back, Joe Bellino, against Virginia 3 years ago. The highlight of the game, though, was the wild second quarter when 36 points were scored. Duke put on a tremendous bid, tallying 19 points on 3 touchdowns. The last came in the final 2 seconds of the half when Jay Wilkinson, the son of the Oklahoma coach, smashed through from the 1. His touchdown, however, still left Duke trailing, 31-25. This proved to be the end of most of the scoring. The Blue Devils switched defenses in the second half to check Staubach. Navy, close to the top in the national ratings, now heads for its big game of the year against Army two weeks from now. Coach Wayne Hardin has a versatile crew with eight victories in nine games. “It never entered my mind we would lose,” said Hardin after today’s contest. Somebody brought up a question about bowl games. “I have no comment on bowls,” he said. “We’ve got to beat Army, or we don’t go anywhere. If we beat Army, then we’ll have a conference on bowl games.” Hardin said he wouldn’t know until Nov. 30 whether this is the best team he has coached, but he admitted readily that Staubach is the best quarterback he’s seen in his career.
