Opening Kick
•    Navy (7-2, 5-1 in the American Athletic Conference) and #25 Tulane (8-2, 6-0 AAC) meet for the 26th time on the gridiron and for the first time since 2020 when the two square off on Saturday afternoon (12 noon) at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (34,000) in Annapolis. Saturday’s contest is being televised by ESPN2 and is presented by First Command. Saturday is Senior Day for the Midshipmen, as well as the 300th Navy football game played at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
•    Saturday is a crucial game to determine who will play in the American Athletic Conference Championship Game on Friday, Dec. 6. 
    – A Navy win would pull the Mids even with Tulane and Navy would hold the tiebreaker over the Green Wave with the head-to-head win. 
    – A Navy loss would clinch a spot in the AAC title game for both Army and Tulane. 
    – A Navy win over Tulane, a Navy win over East Carolina, a Tulane win over Memphis and an Army loss to UTSA would create a three-way tie for first between Navy, Tulane and Army that would be determined by tiebreakers (see page 5).  
    – A Navy win over Tulane, a Memphis win over UAB, an East Carolina win over Tulsa, an East Carolina win over North Texas, an East Carolina win over Navy and a Memphis win over Tulane would create a four-way tie for second place and would involve tiebreakers (see page 5). 
    – A three-way tie could also happen if Memphis were to lose to UAB and everything else in the previous sentence happened or if East Carolina would lose to Tulsa and / or North Texas and everything else in the previous sentence happened (Navy would win a three-way tiebreaker in that scenario due to a 2-0 mark against Tulane and Memphis). 
•    Navy has already defeated one top 25 team this year as the Mids knocked off #22 (in the coaches poll) Memphis 56-44.  Navy has not beaten two top 25 teams in the same year since 1958 when the Mids defeated #8 Rice 20-7 and #14 Michigan 20-14. Navy last defeated a team in the AP Top 25 on Nov. 19, 2022, when the Mids won at #17 UCF 17-14. Navy last beat an AP Top 25 team at home on Nov. 23, 2019, when the Mids knocked off SMU 35-28.
•    Navy has won 72-consecutive games at home when leading after 3 quarters, the nation’s longest streak. The last time Navy lost at home when leading after 3 quarters was Oct. 23, 1999, when the Mids led Akron 29-13 and lost 35-29.
•    Navy will honor its 23 seniors in a pregame ceremony.  Not counting the COVID year when there were no fans in the stands, the Mids are 19-1 (.950) on Senior Day over the last 20 years. The only year since 2003 (not counting the COVID year) the Mids did not send the seniors out in the way they deserve was in 2021 when Navy lost to East Carolina 38-35. 
•    A win on Saturday would give Navy a 5-0 record at home, which would be the first time the Mids have gone undefeated at home since 2019 (6-0). In seasons with 5 or more home games, Navy has gone undefeated just 5 times in the history of Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (1981, 2004, 2013, 2015, 2019).
•    Tulane enters Saturday’s contest winners of 7-straight contests. The Green Wave have won those 7 games by an average score of 45-17. The Tulane offense scored 71 points against UAB and 52 against Temple during this stretch, while the Tulane defense gave up just 6 points to Temple, 3 to Charlotte, 10 to Rice and 10 to USF. Tulane’s only 2 losses this year were 34-27 to then-#17 Kansas State and on the road at then-#13 Oklahoma 34-19. 
• Tulane won its 16th consecutive American Athletic Conference regular-season game last Saturday against Temple, putting the Green Wave one shy of the conference record of 17-consecutive wins set by UCF (2017-19) and tied by Cincinnati (2020-22). Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall improved to 24-0 in his career when his team outrushes its opponent.
•    Navy, picked 11th in the 14-team AAC preseason poll, is currently in 3rd place with a 5-1 record and owns a win over preseason favorite Memphis and preseason fourth place team USF. Tulane was picked 3rd in the preseason poll by the league’s coaches.   
•    Navy’s 321 points in its 9 games this season are 109 more than it scored in its combined 12 games last year (212).
•    Navy has scored a touchdown on the 1st play of a drive 5 times this fall, which is the 3rd most in the FBS.
•    Navy is averaging 259.1 rushing yards per game this year, the 5th-best average in the FBS and the program’s best since 2019 when it averaged a school-record 360.5 rushing yards per game.
•    Navy is 28-31 (.903) in the red zone with 26 of those scores resulting in touchdowns (Navy’s first 20 red zone trips resulted in TDs before settling for a field goal against Charlotte). Navy is 2nd in the country behind Ohio State in red zone touchdown percentage (.839). 
•    Riley Riethman’s (Sr. / P) 44.4 career punting average (208 punts, 9,242 yds) is the best in school history (min. 50 att.). He owns 4 of the 5-best single-game performances in Navy history (min. of 5 punts), averaging a school-record 52.2 yards per punt on 5 punts against Rice, 50.8 yds/punt against SMU in 2023 and 50.6 yds/punt against Notre Dame in 2021 and Air Force in 2024. Ranked 5th in the nation in punting average this fall, he is averaging 46.4 yards per, which would be a school record. 
•    Eli Heidenreich (Jr. / Snipe) and Alex Tecza (Jr. / FB), who grew up in Pittsburgh and have known each other since the first grade, have combined to score a touchdown for Navy in 15 of the last 19 games dating back to the 2023 season. With 5 touchdown catches this year, Heidenreich is just one off the school record for single-season touchdown catches set by 4 different players.
•    Rayuan Lane III (Sr. / Safety) made his 39th-consecutive start at safety for the Mids last weekend at USF, which is the longest active streak for a safety in the FBS and second longest by a player in the secondary. Lane III has 3 forced fumbles this year, tied for the 7th most in the FBS. Sporting News named him to its Midseason All-America Team, while he was also recently named a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award.
•    DaShaun Peele (Sr. / CB) became the 1st player in school history to return 2 interceptions for a touchdown in the same game in the Mids’ win over Charlotte. It’s the 3rd time this year Navy has returned an interception for a touchdown, as Rayuan Lane III (Sr. / S) had an 86-yard interception return for a touchdown with 23 seconds left in the game against Memphis that clinched the victory for the Mids. Peele leads the Mids with 4 interceptions.  
•    Blake Horvath (Jr. / QB) has thrown 11 touchdown passes on the year, which is tied for the third most in school history.  Alton Grizzard, who threw 12 in 1990, is second and Ricky Dobbs, who threw 13 in 2010, is the record holder.
•    Horvath needs 130 yards rushing to become the 1st Navy player to rush for 1,000 yards in a season since 2019 when Malcolm Perry rushed for 2,017 yards. He is the 1st Navy quarterback to surpass 1,000 passing yards in a season since 2019 when Malcolm Perry threw for 1,084 yards and his 1,154 passing yards are the most by a Navy player since Will Worth threw for 1,397 yards in 2016.
•    Horvath is the No. 22 overall rated quarterback (min. 125 drop backs) and the No. 3 overall runner (all positions, min. 100 att.) according to Pro Football Focus, while Lane III is the No. 2-rated safety (min. 550 snaps) and Heidenreich is the No. 2-rated receiver among all position players (min. of 25 targets). Connor McMahon (Sr. / OT) is the 11th-best offensive tackle and the 3rd-best pass blocker (min. 500 snap counts) among all linemen and Brent Self (Sr. / C) is the 20th-best center.

Broadcast Coverage

•    ESPN2 will carry Saturday’s game with Roy Philpott (play-by-play), Sam Acho (color) and Taylor Davis (sidelines) on the call.

•    The Navy Football Pregame Show with Joe Miller, Keith Mills, Scott Wykoff and special commentary from John Feinstein will get underway at 11 am on the Navy Radio Network, followed by game action beginning at 12 noon with Miller and Mills on the call.

•    Following the contest, Miller, Mills and Wykoff will recap the day’s events in a 30-minute postgame show.

Game Day Timeline

•    9:45 am – The Navy football team will arrive at the Blue Angel on the West (Blue) side of the stadium. The team will walk down the sidewalk and through NavyFest before walking to the tunnel. Fans are invited to stand on both sides of the sidewalk to cheer on the players.

•    11:36 am – March-on of the Brigade of Midshipmen

•    11:50 am – Senior salute to Navy’s 23 seniors.

•    11:46:30 am – National Anthem, followed by a flyover by VMA-231, flying AV-8B harriers out of Cherry Point, N.C. Unfortunately, the group was not able to provide any further information. 

•    11:58:20 am – Navy will take the field with Tulane to follow.

•    12:02 pm – Kickoff  

•    1st/2nd Quarter Break – The Navy women’s tennis team will be recognized. Last spring, Navy rallied after losing the doubles point to defeat Army by a 4-2 score to win the Star Match.  Navy has now won 3 in a row and 5 of the last 6 Star Matches against the Black Knights. The Patriot League Tournament match against Army was a grueling three-and-half-hour match in Annapolis that saw junior Parvathi Shanker come from behind and send the No. 2-seed Navy to the Patriot League Championship match as the Midshipmen pulled out the 4-3 victory over the Black Knights. It marked the first time in school history Navy has beaten Army in women’s tennis twice in the same year. But the Mids were not done making history, as Kate Lee battled back from a 5-1 deficit and overcame a pair of championship points against her in a third-set tiebreaker to win 8-6 and lead Navy to a dramatic 4-3 victory over Boston University in the championship match of the Patriot League Tournament. The victory gave the Mids their first league tournament crown and they advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.

•    Halftime – The Naval Academy Drum and Bugle Corps will perform, as will Cheerleaders of America.

•    3rd/4th Quarter Break – The pilots from the pregame flyover will be recognized.

•    Postgame – Navy’s alma mater, Navy Blue & Gold, will be played as the team stands at attention in front of the Brigade of Midshipmen. It is one of the best traditions in all of sports.

Senior Day

•    Navy’s 23 seniors will be honored in a pregame ceremony on Saturday. 

• The senior class started with 65 freshmen. Sophomore  linebacker Marcus Bleazard was also part of this class, but went on a two-year Mormon mission. Linebacker JD Bengston is now the team captain of the rugby team. The majority of those midshipmen who are no longer playing still remain at the Naval Academy. Many of them are involved with the program as student coaches, managers, work in the recruiting office or are a part of the video team.

Naval Academy Class of 2025 Seniors

Name / Hometown

Javan Bouton / Carrollton, Texas

Trey Cummings /  Houston, Texas

D.J. Donovan / Danbury, Conn. 

Daba Fofana / Cumming, Ga. 

Creedyn Foulger / Wellsville, Utah

Kellen Grave de Peralta / Peachtree Corners, Ga. 

Amin Hassan / Richmond Heights, Fla.

Kyle Jacob / Paramus, N.J.

Rayuan Lane III / Jessup, Md. 

Connor McMahon / Canonsburg, Pa.

Kroy Myers / Waldorf, Md.

Dashaun Peele / Norfolk, Va.

Logan Point / Celina, Texas

Colin Ramos / Wayne, N.J.

Justin Reed / Apex, N.C.

Riley Riethman / Keller, Texas 

Jordan Sanders / Chattanooga, Tenn. 

Thomas Scully / Austin, Texas

Brent Self / Keller, Texas

Turner Stepp / Decatur, Ala.

Regis Velez  / Phoenix, Ariz.

Michael Whitehouse / Blue Ash, Ohio 

Mbiti Williams Jr. / Snellville, Ga.

AAC Football Tiebreakers

•    10.5 TWO-TEAM TIE

    10.5.1 If there is a two-team tie for first place, both teams will play in the Championship Game.

    10.5.2 If there is a two-team tie for second place, the head-to-head result shall determine the Championship Game participant.

    10.5.3 If there is no head-to-head result, and one of the tied teams was ranked in the latest available CFP Selection Committee rankings and doesn’t lose in the final weekend of regular-season Conference play, it will be declared a Championship Game participant.

    10.5.4 If there is no head-to-head result, and one of the tied teams was ranked in the latest available CFP Selection Committee rankings and loses in the final weekend of regular-season Conference play, then a composite average of selected computer metrics (Connolly SP+, SportSource TR116 SOR, ESPN SOR, KPI) will be used to determine the Championship Game participant.

    10.5.5 If there is no head-to-head result, and both tied teams are ranked in the latest available CFP Selection Committee rankings, the higher-ranked tied team that doesn’t lose in the final weekend of the Conference regular season will be a Championship Game participant.

    10.5.6 If there is no head-to-head result, and neither of the tied ranked teams wins in the final weekend of the conference regular season, a composite average of selected computer metrics (Connolly SP+, SportSource TR116 SOR, ESPN SOR, KPI) after all games concludes the final weekend of the Conference regular season will be used to determine the Championship Game participant.

    10.5.7 If there is no head-to-head result, and neither of the tied teams is ranked in the latest available CFP Selection Committee rankings going into the final weekend of the conference regular season, a composite average of selected computer metrics (Connolly SP+, SportSource TR116 SOR, ESPN SOR, KPI) after all teams conclude the final weekend of the Conference regular season will be used to determine the Championship Game participant.

    10.5.8 If still tied, win percentage against all common conference opponents.

    10.5.9 If still tied, the team with the highest overall winning percentage (Conference and nonconference) excluding exempt games.

    10.5.10 If still tied, a coin toss will be conducted by the Commissioner.

• 10.6 MULTIPLE TEAM TIE

    10.6.1 If more than two teams tie for first or second place, the tiebreaker procedures will be applied separately to identify the two participants in the championship game.

    10.6.2 If only two teams remain tied after any step in the tiebreaking process, the two-team tie procedures shall be used to break the tie.

    10.6.3 The Conference records of the tied teams are compared in a mini round-robin format. If within the mini round-robin, any of the tied teams did not play each other, the group of teams shall remain tied unless one team defeated all other tied teams.

    10.6.4 If the highest-ranked of the tied teams in the latest available CFP Selection Committee rankings doesn’t lose in the final weekend of regular-season conference play, it will be declared a Championship Game participant.

    10.6.5 If the highest-ranked of the tied teams in the latest available CFP Selection Committee rankings loses in the final weekend of regular-season Conference play, then a composite average of selected computer metrics (Connolly SP+, SportSource TR116 SOR, ESPN SOR, KPI) will be used to determine the Championship Game participants.

    10.6.6 If there are multiple tied teams ranked in the latest available CFP Selection Committee rankings, the highest-ranked team or teams that win in the final weekend of the Conference regular season will be Championship Game participants.

    10.6.7 If none of the ranked tied teams win in the final weekend of the conference regular season, a composite average of selected computer metrics (Connolly SP+, SportSource TR116 SOR, ESPN SOR, KPI) after all games concludes the final weekend of the Conference regular season will be used to determine the Championship Game participants.

    10.6.8 If no teams are ranked in the latest available CFP Selection Committee rankings going into the final weekend of the conference regular season, a composite average of selected computer metrics (Connolly SP+, SportSource TR116 SOR, ESPN SOR, KPI) after all games conclude the final weekend of the Conference regular season will be used to break a tie and determine the Championship Game participants.

    10.6.9 If still tied, win percentage against all common conference opponents.

    10.6.10 If still tied, the team with the highest overall winning percentage (Conference and nonconference) excluding exempt games.

    10.6.11 Drawing to be conducted by the Commissioner.

300th Game at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium

•    Saturday will be the 300th Navy football game at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The stadium was built for $3 million dollars with no federal funding. The first game was played on Sept. 26, 1959, when the Mids defeated William & Mary 29-2. Joe Bellino, who went on to win the Heisman Trophy in 1960, scored the first points in stadium history on a 53-yard touchdown run. The stadium was renovated under the direction of Naval Academy Director of Athletics Chet Gladchuk in 4 phases from 2002-05 and again from 2011-15. The $80 million dollar project was privately funded by the Naval Academy Foundation and the Naval Academy Athletic Associaton.

•    While the stadium has been renovated, and much has been added in the way of Navy and Marine Corps history, it still echoes with the feats of football games past, and the men who played them with the fervor and vigor that has always marked Navy Football. It is meant to honor heroes and one of the men most responsible for its being was Rear Admiral Eugene Fluckey who won the Medal of Honor and four Navy Crosses as the storied commander of the submarine, USS Barb during World War II. His boat sank 17 Japanese ships, totaling 96,000 tons. So daring was his crew that during his last combat patrol, he sent eight of them onto one of Japan’s main islands, Hokkaido, to blow up a railroad bridge. His combat report noted that before blowing the bridge, the men hid near a race track from which they could watch the day’s racing card. Capt. Slade Cutter, one of Navy’s great football heroes, a member of College Football’s Hall of Fame and the athletic director when the stadium opened, also was a storied submarine commander during World War II. He always marveled at Fluckey’s colorful combat action reports. “They were written like a thriller novel,” he once said.  

• Fluckey didn’t play football at the Naval Academy but he had long earned a reputation as a get-it-done leader. In the mid-fifties, as a captain, he was head of the Electrical Engineering Department at the Naval Academy. When it was decided to build the stadium on land originally purchased for that purpose back in 1938, he was directed by Academy superintendent, Rear Admiral William Smedberg, to head the fund-raising effort. Smedberg himself had waged a difficult campaign to convince the Secretary of the Navy, Thomas Gates, that such a project was not only feasible, but also very necessary. This was no easy task because there would be no federal funds, only private and public sources.  It was just another mission for Fluckey who was a natural salesman, flamboyant and persuasive. He raised 2 million of the 3 million dollars needed for the project, and even used Hollywood where some of the profits from the movie, Run Silent, Run Deep, starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster, and on which he was the technical advisor, were donated. He filmed a “trailer” film with Gable and Lancaster as part of a national fundraising campaign and it elicited donations from every part of the nation. Please see page 20 in the game notes for great moments in Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium history and page 21 for stadium records.