1954 Navy Midshipmen football team

1954 Navy Midshipmen football
Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy Sugar Bowl champion
Sugar Bowl, W 21–0 vs. Ole Miss
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 5
AP	No. 5
1954 record	8–2
Head coach	Eddie Erdelatz (5th season)
Home stadium	Thompson Stadium
Seasons

The 1954 Navy Midshipmen football team represented the United States Naval Academy (USNA) during the 1954 college football season. Navy competed as an independent with no conference affiliation. The team was led by fifth-year head coach Eddie Erdelatz. The team acquired the nickname "Team Named Desire" during the press conference following the Stanford game when Erdelatz said "Every man on this team is full of desire."

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance
September 25	William & Mary		Thompson Stadium Annapolis, MD	W 27–0
October 2	at Dartmouth		Memorial Field Hanover, NH	W 42–7
October 9	at Stanford	No. 19	Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA	W 25–0
October 9	at Pittsburgh	No. 9	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA	L 19–21
October 23	at Penn		Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA	W 52–6
October 30	No. 6 Notre Dame	No. 15	Memorial Stadium Baltimore, MD (rivalry)	L 0–6	60,000
November 6	vs. Duke	No. 19	Foreman Field Norfolk, VA (Oyster Bowl)	W 40–7
November 13	Columbia	No. 10	Thompson Stadium Annapolis, MD	W 51–6
November 27	vs. Army	No. 6	Municipal Stadium Philadelphia, PA (Army–Navy Game)	W 27–20
January 1, 1955	vs. Ole Miss	No. 5	Tulane Stadium New Orleans, LA (Sugar Bowl)	W 21–0	82,000
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Personnel

1954 Navy Midshipmen football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class OL Aronis, AlexAlex Aronis E Beagle, RonRon Beagle OL Bendrick, FrankFrank Bendrick OL Benzi, LeonardLeonard Benzi OL Davis, RobertRobert Davis HB Garrow, JackJack Garrow 7.0 !Sr FB Gattuso, JoeJoe Gattuso 7.0 !Sr HB Monahan, PhilPhil Monahan (C) HB Weaver, JohnJohn Weaver QB Welsh, GeorgeGeorge Welsh 5.0 !Jr OL Whitmire, WilsonWilson Whitmire	Defense Pos. # Name Class	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Eddie Erdelatz Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Game summaries

Sugar Bowl vs Ole Miss

• Welsh 8/14 passing
• Gattuso (MVP) 111 rush yds, 2 TD
• Weaver 106 rush yds, TD