In the end, Norfolk State faced a killer foe: Itself

NORFOLK

Chris Walley never saw it coming. Neither did Norfolk State.

The end of the Spartans' season was sealed on their first possession of the second half.

Trailing by 14, Norfolk State moved to the ODU 24. The Spartans found a mix of runs and passes that had been elusive. Walley, the quarterback, found his groove. The Monarchs helped out with a roughing-the-passer penalty.

Walley recognized Old Dominion's defense, and audibled accordingly. As he went up and down the line to deliver the call, center Michael Kay didn't realize the quarterback had moved. He snapped the ball while Walley's eyes were focused downfield.

The first-down snap rolled 22 yards into the backfield, where running back Randy Maynes fell on it. A blocked field goal followed, then an ODU touchdown and - after another half of football - the end of Norfolk State's best Division I season.

The play epitomized much of the afternoon for the Spartans, who were beaten by both Old Dominion and themselves in a 35-18 loss in the first round of the FCS playoffs. The Spartans committed 18 penalties for 135 yards, many of them drive-killers, and made life easier for ODU quarterback Taylor Heinicke with repeated breakdowns in the secondary.

"It's unfortunate we went out like this," said senior linebacker Corwin Hammond, who led the Spartans with 12 tackles. "We feel like we hurt ourselves, like we did this to ourselves. Penalties, blown coverages. With the hype and the noise, I don't know if everyone's head was in it."

Walley threw for 363 yards and two touchdowns and the Spartans outgained ODU 406-385, but all the good plays were outdone by a few bad ones.

"It kills you," Walley said. "You've got momentum going there and to fall back that far, it's hard to recover."

He was talking about the fumbled snap, but his words applied to any of NSU's numerous mistakes.

Walley cited "a lack of communication" for a pair of illegal substitution penalties. Senior linebacker Hasan Craig blamed "miscommunication" for blown coverages.

"The crowd noise was a problem," Hammond said. "We knew last week it was going to be a sellout. We should have known the crowd noise was going to be a problem."

Norfolk State won the first MEAC championship in school history this season, but the MEAC, which hasn't had a postseason win since 1999, couldn't prepare the Spartans for what they faced Saturday.

There were no packed stadiums or raucous crowds to test them after their opening-game loss to West Virginia. There were certainly no Heinickes, who bought time in the pocket like it was on sale.

"(The noise) bothered us a little bit at West Virginia," Walley said. "But we came back. With a third of the crowd (at ODU), we didn't think it would be as big a deal as it was."

With 9:35 left in the second quarter, Norfolk State had already broken the record for penalties by an ODU opponent at Foreman Field with 12.

Three of the Spartans' starting offensive linemen were flagged, and NSU was called for six false starts, half of them on Blake Matthews, the MEAC's Offensive Lineman of the Year. On two of its first four possessions, NSU committed penalties on back-to-back plays; on Old Dominion's drive following the fumbled snap, defensive end Joey Christine bailed the Monarchs out by roughing the passer.

There were plenty of reasons Norfolk State lost Saturday, but the Spartans went back across town believing they were the biggest ones.

"I see we had 18 penalties," coach Pete Adrian said. "You can't beat anyone with 18 penalties. We have no one to blame but ourselves for 18 penalties."

Chris Carlson, (757) 446-2367, chris.carlson@pilotonline.com