Nov. 24, 2014

2014 Navy Football Game Specifics Game 11 Navy (5-5) at South Alabama (6-5, 5-3 Sun Belt) Date and Kickoff Nov. 28, 2014 at 2:00 pm CT / 3:00 pm ET Location Mobile, Ala. | Ladd-Peebles Stadium (34,471) Television ESPN3 TV Talent Darren Goldwater (play-by-play) and Peter Voss (analyst) Video Streaming WatchESPN Radio WNAV (1430 AM, 99.9 FM; Annapolis) | WBAL (1090 AM; Baltimore) | WFED (1500 AM, 820 AM; Washington, D.C. / Northern Virginia) | WBQH (1050 AM; Washington, DC / Northern Virginia) | WXTG (102.1 FM; Virginia Beach, Va.) | ESPN/XEPE 1700 AM (San Diego) | Satellite Radio (Sirius Ch. 157 / XM Ch. 202) Game Notes Navy | South Alabama Live Stats GameTracker on NavySports.com Game Day Info Game Day Central

Setting the Stage
• Navy and South Alabama will meet for just the second time on the gridiron when they square off on Friday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium (33,471). Kickoff is set for 2:00 pm in Mobile, 3:00 pm in Annapolis. With a win, Navy will become bowl eligible and head to the San Diego County Poinsettia Bowl on Tuesday, Dec. 23. Navy has been to a bowl game in 10 of the last 11 years, including three times to the Poinsettia Bowl.
• ESPN3 will broadcast the game with Darren Goldwater (play by play) and Peter Voss (analyst) calling the action.
• The Navy Football Tailgate Show on WNAV 1430 AM / 99.9 FM will air at 1:00 pm ET with Robert Bode, Chloe Gunther and Wiley Baker in the 1430 WNAV studio and Joe Miller live from Mobile.
• The Navy Football Pregame Show with Pete Medhurst, Omar Nelson and Joe Miller will get underway at 2:00 pm ET, followed by game action beginning at 3:00 pm on the Navy Radio Network.
• Following the contest, Medhurst, Miller and Baker will recap the day's events in a 60-minute postgame show live on WNAV 1430 AM / 99.9 FM and WFED 1500 AM. The tailgate show, the pregame show, the game and the postgame show are available over the internet to Navy All-Access subscribers.

Alabama Ties
• Navy has six players from the state of Alabama on its roster - sophomore outside linebacker Ted Colburn (Northport), sophomore offensive tackle Blake Copeland (Muscle Shoals), sophomore center Andrew Martin (Decatur), junior guard Ben Tamburello (Hoover), freshman slot back Josh Walker (Decatur) and senior slot back Ryan Williams-Jenkins (Helena).

Scouting South Alabama
• South Alabama, who enters Friday's contest with a 6-5 record, became bowl eligible two weeks ago after defeating Texas State, 24-20. The Jaguars, however, are coming off a 37-12 loss at South Carolina, despite forcing five Gamecock turnovers.
• The Jags own victories over Kent State (23-13), Idaho (34-10), Appalachian State (47-21), Georgia State (30-27), Troy (27-13) and Texas State (24-20).
• Meanwhile, its losses have been against Mississippi State (35-3), Georgia Southern (28-6), La.-Lafayette (19-9), Arkansas State (45-10) and South Carolina (37-12).
• South Alabama QB Brandon Bridge has completed 121 of his 242 passes for 1,476 yards with 10 touchdowns and four interceptions. However Hunter Vaughn has started the last two games against Texas State and South Carolina (Bridge injured his ankle) and has completed 36 of his 56 passes for 337 yards with one touchdown and six interceptions.
• Shavarez Smith is the Jags' leading receiver with 44 catches for 634 yards and six touchdowns. Jereme Jones has 29 catches for 272 yards and one touchdown.
• Kendall Houston leads the South Alabama ground attack with 586 yards and a touchdown on 112 carries. Jay Jones (83-393, 3 TDs) and Xavier Johnson (68-383, 1 TD) are also having solid seasons for the Jaguars.
• Terrell Brigham leads the South Alabama defense with 91 tackles, 3.5 tackles for a loss, two fumble recoveries and seven pass breakups. Maleki Harris has 67 tackles, six tackles for a loss, six pass breakups, four forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and an interception. Harris ranks seventh in the country in forced fumbles.
• South Alabama is No. 1 in the country in kickoff return defense, giving up just 14.82 yards per kickoff return. The Jags rank 22nd in fumbles recovered (11) and 25th in red zone defense (.756).

Navy Runs Past Georgia Southern, 52-19
• (AP) - Navy junior quarterback Keenan Reynolds ran for a career-high 277 yards and a stadium-record six touchdowns to lead Navy to a 52-19 win over Georgia Southern two weeks ago in the Mids' final home game of the year.
• The win by the Mids snapped the Eagles' seven-game winning streak.
• Meanwhile, with 58 career touchdowns, tied for ninth most in NCAA history, Reynolds now has the third most by a quarterback. Reynolds trails only Eric Crouch and Colin Kaepernick who had 59. During the game, he passed Tony Dorsett, Marshall Faulk and Tim Tebow's career touchdown marks -- and Reynolds is only a junior. He's 19 touchdowns away from Montee Ball's record of 77 -- with two, and possibly three, games remaining this season.
• Reynolds' touchdown runs were from 1, 22, 1, 27, 15 and 39 yards.
• Reynolds ran 30 times and also threw for 71 yards with five completions in eight attempts.
• Georgia Southern, in its first season as an FBS member, had averaged 386.4 yards rushing per game. They had 84 at halftime, but in the fourth quarter with the Eagles far behind, Matt Breida had touchdown runs of 36 and 88. Breida accounted for 211 of his school's 375 yards rushing.
• It was just the seventh time in NCAA history there were a pair of 200-yard rushers in a game -- the first since 2005.
• After the Eagles scored a touchdown on their opening drive, the Midshipmen scored 31 unanswered points.
• The Eagles began the game with an efficient 13-play drive that took nearly seven minutes. L.A. Ramsby, who carried on the last four plays, scored from 2 yards.
• Navy tied the score on its first drive when Reynolds ran in from a yard.
• Reynolds' 14-yard touchdown pass to Jamir Tillman and Austin Grebe's 36-yard field goal put Navy up 17-7 at halftime.
• Reynolds' 22-yard touchdown run opened up the second half and Navy led 24-7. He added a 1-yard touchdown run after he set up the score with a 33-yard pass to Demond Brown to pad the Mids' lead to 31-7.
• Breida's 36-yard scoring run late in the third quarter cut Navy's advantage to 31-13.
• Reynolds' first two fourth-quarter runs came after interceptions from Quincy Adams and Daniel Gonzales. Gonzales' return was 68 yards.
• After Reynolds' fifth touchdown, Breida scored from 88 yards, the longest of the season for Georgia Southern.

Navy Quick Hitters
• Navy has been dominant against the other two Service Academies, winning 21 of the last 24 contests (.875) dating back to the 2002 Army-Navy game. Over that time period, the Mids are 12-0 against Army and 9-3 against Air Force.
• The Mids own a 97-54 (.642) record over the last 12 years after posting a 3-30 (.091) mark from 2000-02. The 97 wins are tied for the 24th most wins in the country over that time period.
• Since 2003, Navy has won 21 games against schools from a "Power Five" conference. Those 21 wins have come against 10 different opponents and are the most in the country by a non-Power Five school.
• Since 2003, Navy is 41-14 (.745) after Oct. 31, including a 20-6 (.769) since 2009.
• Ken Niumatalolo has led the Mids to a 54-35 (.607) record over seven seasons and is second all-time at Navy in career wins. He needs one win to tie and two to break the school record for wins set by George Welsh. Additionally, he holds Navy coaching records for most wins in the first two (18), three (27), four (32), five (40) and sixth (49) seasons of a career. He is the fastest coach in school history to reach 50 wins (81 games). The previous record was 83 games by Erdelatz.
• Niumatalolo is just the second coach in school history to start his coaching career at Navy with a 6-0 record against rival Army. Paul Johnson turned in a 6-0 mark against West Point from 2002-07 before leaving Navy for Georgia Tech.
• Junior quarterback Keenan Reynolds owns an 18-11 (.621) career record (8-9 in road and neutral site games, 10-2 at home) and a 4-1 (.800) mark against Service Academies as the starting quarterback (one of his four Service Academy wins was off the bench in a relief role and is not figured into his record as a starter). His wins have been against Central Michigan, Indiana (2x), East Carolina, Florida Atlantic, Texas State, Army (2x), Delaware, Air Force, Pitt, Hawai'i, South Alabama, San Jose State (2x), Middle Tennessee, Temple and Georgia Southern.
• Reynolds is Navy's record holder for career touchdowns with 58 (all rushing). Additionally, it's the third most by a quarterback in NCAA history. He needs one rushing touchdown to tie and two to break the record held by Eric Crouch and Colin Kaepernick with 59.
• Reynolds' 58 career rushing touchdowns are tied for the ninth most in NCAA history among all players. He is just one behind Crouch and Kaepernick for seventh all-time.
• Reynolds has scored three or more touchdowns 11 times in his career (twice in 2012, seven times in 2013 and twice in 2014), which is tied with Montee Ball of Wisconsin (2009-12) for the most in NCAA history.
• Reynolds has led Navy to five fourth-quarter wins (tied or trailing in the fourth quarter or overtime) over his career (Air Force, Indiana and Army in 2012, Pitt and San Jose State in 2013), which is tied for the seventh most in the country among current players.

Niumatalolo One Win Away From Tying The School Record
• In his seventh season at Navy, head coach Ken Niumatalolo has led the Midshipmen to a 54-35 (.607) record and stands second all-time at Navy in career wins, just one behind George Welsh (55-46-1 from 1973-81).
• Niumatalolo holds Navy coaching records for most wins in the first two (18), three (27), four (32), five (40) and six seasons (49) of a career.
• He is also the fastest in school history to reach 50 wins, winning his 50th game against Temple two weeks ago in his 81st career game. The previous record was held by Eddie Erdelatz, who won his 50th game in his 83rd contest. Navy's all-time leader in career wins, George Welsh, didn't win his 50th game until his 92nd game.
• Niumatalolo is the first Samoan head football coach on the collegiate level and the second Polynesian head coach in FBS history (Larry Price, who was the head coach at Hawai'i from 1974-76, was the first).
• Last year, Niumatalolo was selected to the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame inaugural class.

Mids Consistently Among Nation's Top Rushing Teams
• Over the last 12 years, Navy has consistently been one of the top rushing teams in the country, never finishing lower than sixth.
• The Mids kicked off the trend in 2002 when they finished third in the country in rushing, averaging 270.8 yds/gm.
• In 2003, Navy led the nation averaging a then school-record 323.2 yds/gm.
• In 2005, Navy led the country in rushing for the second time in three years, averaging 318.7 yds/gm.
• Navy finished the 2006 campaign averaging a nation's-best and then school-record 327.0 yds/gm.
• The Mids rushed for a school-record 348.8 yds/gm in 2007, becoming the first team in NCAA history to lead the nation in rushing three-consecutive years.
• In 2008, Navy led the country in rushing for an unprecedented fourth-straight year, averaging 292.4 yds/gm.
• The Mids finished No. 2 in the country in 2013, averaging 325.4 yards per game. It was the best rushing average by a Navy team since 2007 when that team rushed for a school-record 348.8 yards per game.
• The Mids are leading the country in rushing this fall, averaging what would be a school-record 354.8 yards per game. The current school record is 348.8 set in 2007.
• The Mids have rushed for 300 or more yards in a game in 14 of the last 16 games.