• 2016 Navy Football Preseason Notes
• Ninth-year Navy head football coach Ken Niumatalolo will open the 2016 season when the Midshipmen report for fall camp on Tuesday, Aug. 2, and will hold the first day of practice on Wednesday, Aug. 3.
• Media Day / Fan Fest is set for Saturday, Aug. 6 at 10 am at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
• The annual Blue & Gold BBQ will take place on Saturday, Aug. 13. Practice starts at 10 am and the BBQ at 12 noon.
• The Brigade of Midshipmen will return to the Academy on Thursday, Aug. 18. The first day of class is Monday, Aug. 22.
• Navy will resume its normal Monday-Friday practice schedule on Monday, Aug. 22, practicing daily from 4-6 pm. That is the first day the plebes will be available for interviews.
• The Midshipmen kick off their season on Saturday, Sept. 3 vs. Fordham in Annapolis.

American Athletic Conference Releases 2016 Schedule
• The 2016 Navy football schedule will feature home games against four bowl opponents and an FCS opponent that beat Army West Point in last year's opener. Overall, the Mids will play seven teams that played in bowl games in 2015. CBS Sports Network will televise all five games at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, while the Notre Dame and Army games will be televised by CBS. The Mids will have two prime time games on the ESPN Family of Networks.
• Navy will kick off the 2016 campaign against Fordham on Saturday, Sept. 3. Fordham finished 2015 with a 9-3 record, which included a 37-35 victory over the Black Knights. Fordham finished 5-1 in the Patriot League last year and received an at-large berth to the FCS playoffs. Some prognosticators are projecting Fordham as a potential FCS National Champion in 2017.
• The Mids will open up conference play at home (Sept. 10) the following Saturday when Bob Diaco's Connecticut Huskies come to town. UConn finished 6-7 last year, which included a 28-18 loss to Navy in the regular season and a 16-10 loss to Marshall in the St. Petersburg Bowl.
• The Mids will travel to the Big Easy the next weekend (Sept. 17) to take on Tulane. The Green Wave will have a new look in 2016 after hiring away Willie Fritz from Georgia Southern. Navy struggled against the Tulane defense last year before pulling out a 31-14 win.
• After an off week, the Mids will start a challenging stretch of seven games against six bowl opponents and a Thursday night road game. Kicking off the run will be an Oct. 1 road game against Service Academy rival Air Force in the first game of the round robin series between the three Service Academies in the battle for the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy. Navy defeated Air Force, 33-11, last year in Annapolis and the Mids went on to capture the CIC trophy with a win over Army. Navy has won the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy in 10 of the last 13 years and has won 24 of its last 27 Service Academy games.
• The Mids return home Oct. 8 to host probable preseason top 10 and defending AAC Champion Houston, which was one of only two teams that beat Navy last year (52-31) . The Cougars finished 12-1 last year, including a 38-24 rout of Florida State in the Peach Bowl to finish No. 8 in the country.
• Navy will then go on the road to play at East Carolina in a Thursday night contest (Oct. 13) that will be televised nationally by ESPN. The Pirates also have a new coach in former Duke assistant Scottie Montgomery. The Mids beat the Pirates last year, 45-21, in Navy's first-ever conference game.
• The Mids will play host to Memphis and new head coach Mike Norvell the following week on Homecoming (Oct. 22). The Mids upset #15 Memphis last year, 45-20, in one of Navy's signature wins of the 2015 campaign. The Tigers turned in a 9-4 mark a year ago, losing to Auburn in the Birmingham Bowl.
• The Mids will get another prime time game the following week when they travel to Tampa to take on USF on Friday night (Oct. 28) in a game televised nationally by ESPN2. Willie Taggart's squad finished the year winning seven of its final nine games with the only two losses coming at Navy (29-17) and to Western Kentucky in the Miami Beach Bowl (45-35).
• The Mids will return to Florida the following week (Nov. 5) for another appearance on national television, this time on CBS, as Navy plays host to probable preseason top-10 team Notre Dame at EverBank Field in Jacksonville. Kickoff is set for 11:30 AM. The Navy-Notre Dame game is the longest continuous intersectional rivalry in the country, as this will be the 90th consecutive meeting between the two schools. Notre Dame, despite a rash of injuries to key players, finished the 2015 season with a 10-3 record and a No. 11 national ranking. The Irish lost to Ohio State, 44-28, in last year's Fiesta Bowl.
• Tulsa comes to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 12 on Senior Day for the Midshipmen. Tulsa finished 6-7 last year, which included a 44-21 loss to Navy and a wild 55-52 loss to Virginia Tech in the Independence Bowl.
• After an off week, the Mids will travel to Dallas to take on SMU on Saturday, Nov. 26. The Mids won last year's game in Annapolis, 55-14.
• The American Athletic Conference Championship Game will be played on Saturday, Dec. 3 at the home of the division champ with the best record. Last year, Houston defeated Temple in the championship game, 24-13.
• The annual Army-Navy Game presented by USAA will be played on Saturday, Dec. 10 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Navy has won 14 straight games against the Black Knights, including last year's 21-17 thriller in Philadelphia. The 117th playing of the Army-Navy Game will kick off at 3 PM and will be televised nationally by CBS.
• Navy returns 43 letterwinners and 10 starters off last year's historic team that finished 11-2, was the American Athletic Conference West Division Co-Champion with Houston, won the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy, defeated Pitt in the Military Bowl, was named the winner of the Lambert Trophy (best team in the East) for the first time since 1963 and finished 18th in the country in both polls.
• Navy owned a 7-0 record at home last year and has won 10 straight games at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. It is the longest home winning streak since the Mids won 10 straight from 1980-82. Navy is 19-3 at home over the last four years and has won 17 of its last 20 games overall.

Gonzales and Gulley Named 2016 Team Captains
• Navy head football coach Ken Niumatalolo announced at the annual Navy football banquet that senior slot back Toneo Gulley and senior linebacker Daniel Gonzales have been elected team captains for the 2016 football season by their teammates.
• "Being elected team captain at the Naval Academy is one of the highest honors you can receive at an institution that prides itself on producing great leaders," said Niumatalolo. "Toneo and Daniel are not only outstanding football players, but they are great leaders in the locker room and in Bancroft Hall and I have no doubt that they will be great captains for us."
• Gulley has played in 35 of Navy's 39 games over his career, earning three varsity letters. He has been a key player for the Mids not only on offense as a runner and blocker, but on special teams as both a kick returner and on kick coverage. Last year, he played in 12 of 13 games carrying the ball 12 times for 189 yards and three touchdowns, while catching two passes for 30 yards. He has been in on 14 tackles during his career and has returned 12 kickoffs.
• Gonzales has started 24 of Navy's last 26 games at linebacker and has recorded 151 career tackles, including five tackles for a loss and four interceptions. He has played great in Service Academy games, contributing 38 tackles in four appearances. Last year, Gonzales recorded 65 tackles, four tackles for a loss, intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble for a Navy team that finished 11-2 on the year.

Niumatalolo Finalist For Two Coach-Of-The-Year Awards In 2015
• Navy head football coach Ken Niumatalolo was named a finalist for the Dodd Trophy and the Paul "Bear" Bryant National Coach Of The Year Award last year. He was one of just four coaches to be a finalist for both awards.
• Niumatalolo was one of six finalists for the 2015 Dodd Trophy, joining winner Kirk Ferentz (Iowa), Mark Dantonio (Michigan State), Jim McElwain (Florida), David Shaw (Stanford) and Dabo Swinney (Clemson).
• Niumatalolo was one of seven finalists for the 2015 Paul "Bear" Bryant Coach Of The Year Award. Dabo Swinney of Clemson won the award. The other five finalists included Larry Fedora (North Carolina), Kirk Ferentz (Iowa), Tom Herman (Houston), Nick Saban (Alabama) and David Shaw (Stanford).


2015 AAC West Division Co-Champions
• After 134 years playing as an Independent, Navy finished its first year in a conference as the American Athletic Conference West Division Co-Champions with Houston.
• The Mids finished 7-1 in the AAC with victories over East Carolina, Connecticut, Tulane, USF, Memphis, SMU and Tulsa. Navy's only loss was to Houston, while Houston's only loss was to Memphis.

No Respect
• Despite coming off a school-record 11-win season against just two losses, winning the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy, the Lambert Trophy (best team in the East), sharing the American Athletic Conference West Division Championship with Houston and winning the Military Bowl, Navy is one of just four schools in the country that did not have a player make any of the numerous preseason award watch lists for 2016.
• The other three schools were UTSA (3-9 last year), North Texas (1-11) and UCF (0-12).

Bowl Eligible Opponents
• Navy produced a 6-2 (.750) record last year against teams that played in a bowl game with victories at Connecticut, Air Force, USF, at Memphis, at Tulsa and Pitt. Navy's only losses were at Notre Dame and at Houston.

Home Field Advantage
• Navy has won 10 straight home games dating back to last year. The Mids are 34-9 (.791) at home under head coach Ken Niumatalolo, including 19-3 (.864) over the last four seasons.
• Navy won a program-record seven games at home (7-0) in 2015.
• Navy's 10 consecutive home wins marks the longest winning streak at home since the Mids won 10 straight from Sept. 20, 1980 to Sept.11, 1982.
• The Mids won 21 straight home games from 1953-64. During that era, Navy would play just one or two games a year at home, mostly against weaker competition, and play its premier home games in either Baltimore or Norfolk.

America's Team
• Navy has players who hail from 31 different states on its roster, the most states represented in school history. Texas leads the way with 25 players, while Tennessee and California have both produced 17. North Carolina has 14 players on the Navy roster, while both Florida (13) and Georgia (12) are in double digits.

The Race To 700 Wins
• Navy needs eight wins to become the 24th team in the FBS to reach 700 wins in its history.
• Michigan is the all-time leader with 925, while Notre Dame is second at 892.