The Midshipmen will become just the second program in Football Bowl Subdivision history to play 1,200 games when it kicks off Saturday against SMU.
Junior linebacker Ross Pospisil has caused a turnover in each of the last four games.
Oct. 20, 2008
• Navy Football Game Notes
Game 8: Navy (4-3) vs. SMU (1-7)
Saturday, Oct. 25 • 3:30 p.m. • Annapolis, Md. • Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (34,000) • CBS College Sports Network
Gameday Multimedia
Television:
• CBS College Sports Network -- Tom Hart (play-by-play), Trev Alberts (analyst)
Radio / Internet:
• Navy Radio Network -- Bob Socci (play-by-play), Omar Nelson (analyst), John Feinstein (analyst), Pete Medhurst (sideline)
• WNAV 1430 AM (Annapolis) | WBAL 1090 AM (Baltimore)
• WFED 1050 AM, 1500 AM, 820 AM (Washington DC)
• WTRI 1520 AM (Frederick)
• WXTG 102.1 FM (Va. Beach) | 1490 AM (Hampton Roads)
• Sirius Radio -- Channel 91
• XM Radio -- Channel 118
Navy All-Access:
• All home Navy football games are available via the internet at www.NavySports.com
Live Stats:
• Gametracker on NavySports.com
Navy-SMU Game Data
• Navy will take its place in the history books on Saturday when it becomes only the second school in FBS history to play 1,200 games (Rutgers has played 1,221 games). The Mids (4-3) will play host to SMU (1-7) in a nationally-televised contest on CBS College Sports Network.
• The network's HD telecasts will also be simulcast on the MOJO HD channel to Comcast digital customers with HD service throughout much of Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, West Virginia, Delaware, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
• Tom Hart (play-by-play) and Trev Alberts (color) will call the action from Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (34,000) beginning at 3:30 p.m.
• The Navy Football Radio Network will provide more than six hours of coverage starting at 1:30 p.m. Eastern with its pregame show on 1430 WNAV (Annapolis) hosted by Pete Medhurst, Joe Miller and Wiley Baker.
• The Navy Football Pregame Show will get underway at 2:30 p.m. with Bob Socci, Omar Nelson, John Feinstein and Pete Medhurst setting the scene from Annapolis, followed by game action beginning at 3:30 p.m. Sirius Radio will carry the Navy broadcast on channel 91, as well as XM Satellite Radio (if you subscribe to the Best of Sirius) on channel 118.
The Navy Radio Network includes of the following ...
• WNAV 1430 AM (Annapolis) | WBAL 1090 AM (Baltimore)
• WFED 1050 AM, 1500 AM, 820 AM (Washington DC)
• WTRI 1520 AM (Frederick)
• WXTG 102.1 FM (Va. Beach) | 1490 AM (Hampton Roads)
• Get the insider news by tuning in to the Navy Football Pregame Show with Bob Socci, Omar Nelson, John Feinstein and Pete Medhurst. The pregame show includes feature news on "This Date in Navy History" presented by Navy Federal Credit Union, "The Coaches Corner" presented by General Dynamics, "Keys to the Game" presented by Toyota, "Today in College Football" presented by BAE Systems, as well as interviews with head coach Ken Niumatalolo and select players.
• New to this year's radio line-up is a 60-minute postgame show on 1430 WNAV. Recapping the day's events will be Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller live from the Superintendent's tent in the southwest corner of Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
Pregame Information
• Pregame festivities will get underway Saturday at 1:15 p.m. with the Navy Football Team Walk.
• Originating at the Blue Angel in the southwest corner of Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, the team will make its way down the sidewalk and through NavyFest before walking up the drive to the stadium. Fans are encouraged to line up on both sides of the sidewalk to cheer for the team.
• The march-on of the Brigade of Midshipmen will take place at 3:11 p.m.
• Saturday's fly-over features two Northrop F-5N Tiger II aircraft from the "Sun Downers" of Fighter Squadron Composite One Eleven.
• In the lead will be Cmdr. Rob "Rudy" McGregor, Class of 1991, Commanding Officer of VFC-111. The wing aircraft will be piloted by Lt. Cmdr. Geoff "Frogger" Hughes, Class of 1998. The Sun Downers are a professional Adversary squadron based at Naval Air Station Key West, Florida.
Mids to Join Exclusive 1200 Club
• Navy, who owns an all-time record of 628-514-57 (.549), will etch its name into the record books on Saturday when it becomes just the second FBS team to play 1,200 games.
• Two other schools will join the exclusive list later in the year - Michigan will play its 1,200th game on Nov. 1 vs. Purdue, while Nebraska will play game No. 1,200 against Colorado on Nov. 28.
• Having played 1,221 games to date, Rutgers has competed in the most games in FBS history.
• In 128 years of football, Navy has ...
• played in 14 bowl games
(including a current streak of five years in a row)
• won six bowl games
• has won one National Championship (1926)
• produced two Heisman Trophy winners
(Joe Bellino in 1960, Roger Staubach in 1963)
• produced 34 First-Team All-Americans
• produced five First-Team Academic All-Americans
• produced four Maxwell Trophy winners
• produced 21 members of the College Football Hall of
Fame
Honoring Navy's 1978 Holiday Bowl Team
• The Naval Academy will honor the 1978 Holiday Bowl team at halftime.
• The Mids posted a 9-3 record that season, won the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy (defeated Air Force, 37-8, and Army, 28-0) and upset BYU in the inaugural Holiday Bowl, 23-16.
• Phil McConkey was named the Holiday Bowl Most Valuable Player.
• Navy also owned wins over Virginia, Connecticut, Boston College Air Force, Duke, William & Mary and Pittsburgh, while its only losses were to Notre Dame, Syracuse and Florida State.
• The Mids were led by Hall of Fame coach and Naval Academy graduate George Welsh.
Scouting SMU
• SMU enters Saturday's contest with a 1-7 record with its lone win a 47-36 decision over Texas State.
• The Mustangs have lost to Rice (27-56), Texas Tech (7-43), TCU (7-48), Tulane (27-34), UCF (17-31), Tulsa (31-37) and Houston (38-44).
• SMU had both undefeated Tulsa and Houston on the ropes the last two weeks. Last week, Houston had to score 21 points in the last 9:23 to rally for a 44-38 victory.
• SMU is ranked 118th nationally in rushing offense (50.5), 11th in passing offense (302.1), 71st in total offense (352.6) and 67th in scoring offense (25.1).
• The Mustangs are ranked 109th nationally in rush defense (214.
, 113th in pass defense (286.9), 118th in total defense (501.6) and 116th in scoring defense (41.1).
• Freshman quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell is ranked 20th in the country in total offense (274.9 ypg).
• Wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders ranks 11th in receptions per game (7.4) and 11th in receiving ypg (102.3).
• Aldrick Robinson ranks third in receiving ypg (113.6).
• Thomas Morstead is 13th in punting (43.6).
Navy Vs. Conference USA
• The Midshipmen are 19-26-1 (.424) all-time against current members of Conference USA.
The Last Time ...
Navy 38, SMU 7 Aug. 31, 2002 | Dallas, Texas
• Junior quarterback Craig Candeto rushed for 153 yards and three touchdowns, while the Navy defense forced five turnovers and held SMU to just seven points as Navy kicked off the Paul Johnson era in style with a 38-7 win over SMU.
• The 31-point win was the largest by a Navy team since the 1997 Army-Navy game in which the Mids won, 39-7, and broke a 10-game losing streak.
• SMU jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first quarter when Tate Wallis hit John Hampton with a 13-yard TD pass with 8:10 remaining ... it would be the last time the Mustangs would score in the contest.
• Navy was stopped on three-straight plays on the next series and was forced to punt, but Jonas Rutledge muffed a John Skaggs punt and Shalimar Brazier recovered the ball at the SMU 20. Two plays later, Eric Roberts scored from nine yards out to tie the score at seven.
• On the ensuing kickoff, Navy's Bobby McClarin separated Rutledge from the ball and Josh Smith recovered it at the SMU 24-yard line. Six plays later, Candeto scored from two yards out to give Navy a 14-7 lead.
• The Mids put the game away in the second on 56 and 1-yard runs by Candeto and pushed their advantage to 35-7 with 6:02 left in the third on a one-yard scoring run by Roberts.
• Eric Rolfs kicked a 30-yard field goal with 5:57 left in the game to put the finishing touches on Navy's 31-point victory.
Bouncing Back
• Since 2003, Navy owns a 16-5 (.762) record in games following a loss.
• The Mids have lost back-to-back games just five times during that six-year span:
2005 Maryland and Stanford
2006 Rutgers and Notre Dame
2007 Rutgers and Ball St.; Wake Forest and Delaware
2008 Ball State and Duke
• Navy has not lost three-straight games since the 2002 season when the Mids lost 10 in a row.
Record Crowds
• Navy drew a stadium-record crowd of 37,970 for its Homecoming game against Pitt, marking the second-consecutive game the Mids have set a stadium record.
• The previous record was 37,821 who watched Navy defeat Rutgers, 23-21, on Sept. 20.
• Navy has drawn 30,000 or more to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in 23-consecutive games.
• The last time Navy drew less than 30,000 was on Sept. 4, 2004, when the Mids played Northeastern.
Harmon Serves Notice as All-America and Lou Groza Award Candidate
• Senior kicker Matt Harmon (Greenville, S.C.), who is tied for second nationally with his 2.0 field goals per game average, has made 14 of his 15 field goals on the year (.933), including a current streak of 13 in a row dating back to the Mids' opener against Towson.
• He is 11-of-11 inside of 40 yards.
• His 14 field goals this season are the sixth most in school history, while his 28-career field goals are tied for the fourth most.
• His four field goals against Air Force tied a school record, accomplished five other times. It marked the first time a Navy player has made four field goals since 1999 when Tim Shubzda nailed four against Army.
• Harmon has made 75 of the 76 (.987) extra points he has taken during his career, including 22-of-22 this season, which ranks No. 1 in school history.
• He became Navy's record holder in consecutive PATs made after connecting on all five extra-points in Navy's opener against Towson (52) ... he split the uprights twice against Ball State, four times at Duke, twice in the Mids' win over Rutgers, three times at Wake Forest, at Air Force and against Pitt to boost his consecutive PATs made streak to 69 in a row.
• He moved past Bob Tata (1976-78) into third on the career PATs made list after kicking three extra points at Air Force. With 75 PATs, he trails second-place Tom Vanderhorst (1995-98) by 18.
• He has scored 159 points in his career, the fifth most by a kicker in school history ... he trails Bob Tata (1976-78) by just two points.
• Averaging 9.1 points per game, he is ranked No. 8 in the country among kickers.
• He has been twice been named a Lou Groza "Star of the Week" - following the Rutgers and Air Force games.
Mids Looking for Fourth-Straight Rushing Title
• In the last six years, the Mids have consistently been one of the top rushing teams in the country, never finishing lower than third.
• In 2002, Navy finished third in the nation, averaging 270.8 yards per contest.
• In 2003, the Mids led the nation in rushing, averaging a then school-record 323.2 yards per game.
• In 2004, Navy finished third in the nation, averaging 289.5 yards per contest.
• In 2005, Navy led the country in rushing for the second time in three years, averaging 318.7 yards per game.
• Navy finished the 2006 campaign averaging a nation's-best and then school-record 327 yards per game.
• The Mids rushed for a school-record 348.8 yards per game in 2007, becoming the first team in NCAA history to lead the nation in rushing three-consecutive years.
• The 348.8 yards per game are the most yards rushing by a FBS team since Nebraska averaged 349.3 yards per game in 2000.
• Heading into this weekend's game against SMU, Navy is the nation's fourth-leading rushing team, averaging 296.4 yards per contest.
