GAME 5: Navy (2-2, 1-1 American) at Air Force (1-3, 0-2 Mountain West)
When	Saturday, Oct. 6, 2018 | 1:30 pm (MT) / 3:30 pm (ET)
Location	Colorado Springs, Colo. | Falcon Stadium
Television	CBS Sports Network (Carter Blackburn, Aaron Taylor, Sheehan Stanwick-Burch)
Live Video Stream	CBS Sports Network
Listen	Navy Football Radio Network (Pete Medhurst, Tom O'Brien, Joe Miller, Tim Murray) - WBAL (1090 AM; Baltimore) | WNAV (1430 AM, 99.9 FM; Annapolis) | WFED (1500 AM, 104.5 FM; Western Fairfax / Loudon) | WFED (820 AM, 94.3 FM; Frederick) | WBQH (1050 AM, 93.5 FM; Washington, DC / Northern Virginia) | ESPN/XEPE (1700 AM; San Diego) | WXTG (102.1 FM; Virginia Beach, Va.) | WJXL 1010 AM, 92.5 FM (Jacksonville, Fla.) | Satellite Radio (Sirius Ch. 81 / XM Ch. 81)
Live Stats	Navy Athletics
Game Notes	Navy | Air Force | AAC
Season Statistics	Navy | Air Force | AAC
Social Media	@NavyAthletics | Facebook | Instagram

Setting the Stage
•    Meeting for the 51st time in series history, Navy and Air Force will battle one another in the first leg in the battle for the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy when they square off on Saturday afternoon at Falcon Stadium (46,692) in Colorado Springs, Colo. The game will be televised nationally by CBS Sports Network with kickoff set for 3:30 pm (ET), 1:30 pm (MT).  
•    Air Force leads the all-time series, 29-21. Last year, Navy defeated Air Force in Annapolis, 48-45, in one of the more thrilling games in series history as Navy jumped out to a 28-10 halftime lead, saw Air Force roar back to take a 45-41 lead with 1:53 left, only to win it on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Zach Abey to Tyler Carmona with 15 seconds remaining. The two teams combined for 1,178 yards of total offense, with Air Force passing for 281 yards and Navy rushing for 471 yards.
•    Navy has won just seven of 24 meetings against Air Force in Colorado Springs. Navy's last victory at Air Force came in 2012 when then-freshman Keenan Reynolds came off the bench to lead Navy to a 28-21 overtime victory over the Falcons. The Mids won the game when guard Jake Zuzek recovered a fumble in the end zone for the game-winning touchdown. Navy won three straight at Air Force from 2004-2008 (2004, 2006, 2008).
•    Carter Blackburn, Aaron Taylor and Sheehan Stanwick-Burch will have the call for CBS Sports Network.
•    The Navy Football Insider Show will air on Thursday at 7:00 pm on WBAL Radio (1090 AM) with host Joe Miller. Pete Medhurst will also contribute to the broadcast.
•    The Navy Football Insider Air Force Show will air on Saturday at 1:00 pm on WBAL Radio (1090 AM) with host Keith Mills.
•    The Navy Football Tailgate Show on WNAV Radio 1430 AM / 99.9 FM will air at 1:30 pm on Saturday with Wylie Baker and Bill Lusby.
•    The Navy Football Pregame Show with Tim Murray, Pete Medhurst, Tom O'Brien and Joe Miller will get underway at 2:30 pm on the Navy Radio Network, followed by game action beginning at 3:30 pm with Medhurst, O'Brien and Miller on the call on the Navy Radio Network.   
•    Following the contest, Medhurst, O'Brien, Miller and Murray will recap the day's events in a 30-minute postgame show.

Commander-In-Chief's Trophy
• The Commander-In-Chief's Trophy is presented annually to the winner of the football competition among the three major service academies — Army West Point, Navy and Air Force — and is named in honor of the President of the United States.
• Navy has won the trophy 10 of the last 15 years and has won 25 of the last 31 Service Academy games against Air Force and Army West Point.
• Navy has won the trophy a total of 14 times: 1973, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1981, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013 and 2015.
• When there is no clear-cut winner,  the trophy remains with the winner of the previous year's competition.  
• The three-sided trophy stands two-and-a-half-feet tall and is engraved with the academy seals.  Reproductions of the three mascots — the Army West Point Mule, the Navy Goat and the Air Force Falcon — are ensconced on the respective sides of this bauble.  The trophy is sponsored by the West Point Association of Graduates, the Naval Academy Alumni Association and the Air Force Association of Graduates.
• The year in which the trophy is won is engraved on a plate gracing the respective academy's side of the trophy.

Scouting Air Force
•    Air Force enters Saturday's game with a 1-3 record. The Falcons won the opener, 38-0, over Stony Brook and have since lost three straight, hard-fought contests to FAU (33-27), Utah State (42-32) and Nevada (28-25).
•    The Falcons have played three different quarterbacks this season. Isaiah Sanders started the first three games before missing last week with an injury. Arion Worthman came off the bench in two of the first three games before getting the start last week against Nevada, while DJ Hammond has come off the bench in three games and most notably nearly led Air Force to the comeback win against Nevada.
•    Sanders has completed 17 of his 30 pass attempts (.567) for 294 yards with one touchdown and one interception and has rushed for 119 yards and two touchdowns on 48 carries. Worthman, who was spectacular in last year's Navy-Air Force game, has completed six of his 16 pass attempts (.375) for 77 yards and has rushed for 26 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries. Hammond has completed six of his 15 pass attempts (.400) for 71 yards with one touchdown and has rushed for 36 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries.
•    Cole Fagan leads the Falcons in rushing with 244 yards and two touchdowns on 58 carries, while Kadin Remsberg has rushed for 169 yards and a touchdown on 31 carries.
•    Marcus Bennett is the team's leading receiver with 12 catches for 243 yards and one touchdown, while Ronald Cleveland has eight catches for 82 yards. Bennett is 23rd in the country in passing yards per reception (19.83).  
•    Air Force has used two kickers this year. Matt Philichi, who is currently injured, is 1-2, while Jake Koehnke is 2-2.  Punter Charlie Scott is averaging 41.9 yards per punt.  
•    The Air Force defense is led by Jeremy Fejedelem, who has recorded 34 stops on the year, while Brody Bagnall has 25 tackles and a fumble recovery.
•    Air Force has outscored the opposition, 44-15, in the fourth quarter.
•    The Falcons have scored four non-offensive touchdowns this year, scoring three on defense and one on special teams.
•    Air Force ranks in the top 25 in the country in the following categories: red zone defense (2nd, .600), defensive touchdowns (3rd, three), time of possession (4th, 36:26) fourth down defense (7th, .167), rushing offense (12th, 254.3), rushing defense (12th, 98.5), fumbles recovered (12th, 5), first downs allowed on defense (13th, 70), passing yards per completion (18th, 15.07), fewest penalties per game (25th, 5.00).  

Turnovers The Difference In Navy-Air Force Game
•    Turnovers have been the difference in the Navy-Air Force series over the course of the 10-year tenure of Navy head football coach Ken Niumatalolo.
•    The Mids are 6-4 against Air Force in the Niumatalolo era. In the six games Navy has won, the Mids have turned the ball over just four times and have forced 16 Air Force turnovers.
•    In the four games Navy has lost, the Mids have turned it over eight times and forced just four Air Force turnovers.
•    In Navy's last four wins over Air Force (2017, 2015, 2013 and 2012), the Mids have 0 turnovers and forced 12. The last time Navy turned it over against Air Force and won was in 2009 when both teams turned it over twice.
•    Over the last 10 years against Air Force, the Mids are 4-0 when they win the turnover battle, 0-2 when they lose the turnover battle and 2-2 when they break even.

Navy Fast Facts
•    Ken Niumatalolo is in his 11th year as head coach at Navy, making him the longest-tenured coach in school history. With 86 career wins, he is the winningest coach in school history.
•    Navy is 35-16 (.686) over its last 50 games. The Mids own wins over No. 15 Memphis (2015) and No. 6 Houston (2016) during that time period, as well as a win over Notre Dame in Jacksonville (2016).
•    Since joining the American Athletic Conference in 2015, Navy has compiled an overall conference record of 19-7 (.731), shared a West Division title in 2015 and won the West Division outright in 2016. Navy's 19-7 AAC record is the third-best record in the conference. USF leads the pack with a 20-5 mark.
•    Over the last six years, Navy is 31-4 (.886) when winning the turnover battle, including 2-1 in 2018 (lost to Hawai'i).
•    Navy is 56-9 (.862) under Niumatalolo when scoring first, including a 2-0 (1.000) record in 2018.
•    Navy is 71-5 (.934) under Niumatalolo when entering the fourth quarter with the lead, including 1-0 (1.000) in 2018.
•    The Mids are 58-15 (.795) under Niumatalolo when scoring 30 or more points in a game and 74-17 (.813) when holding the opposition to under 30 points. The Mids are 1-2 this season when scoring 30 or more points and 2-0 when holding the opposition to under 30 points.
•    Over the last five seasons, Navy is one of just seven schools that has not lost to a team that finished with a losing record. The other six are Alabama, Auburn, Florida, LSU, Michigan and Ohio State.
•    The Mids are 45-11 (.804) at home under Niumatalolo, including a 18-2 (.900) record over the last four seasons (16-1 in regular-season games over the last four years).

Mids Face Challenging Road Schedule
•    Navy will travel an incredible 26,496 miles this year to its six road and two neutral site games. The Mids play games in Honolulu (9,706 miles round trip), San Diego against Notre Dame (5,334), Colorado Springs (3,366), Dallas (2,734), New Orleans (2,250), Orlando (1,764), Cincinnati (1,084) and Philadelphia against Army (258). Only Hawai'i (38,578) will travel more this year than Navy.
•    The Mids will play five of their final six and seven of their final 10 games games away from Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. No other team in the country will play five of their final six games away from home.
•    Navy has lost seven straight games away from home (at SMU and at Hawai'i this year; Army, at Houston, at Notre Dame, at Temple and at Memphis last year). Navy's last win away from Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium was on Sept. 30, 2017, when the Mids beat Tulsa, 31-21.

Disciplined Football
•    Since 2008 when Ken Niumatalolo became the head coach, Navy had never finished lower than second in penalties per game or penalty yards per game until last year when Navy tied for ninth in the country in fewest penalties per game (4.17) and 25th in fewest penalty yards per game (41.92).
•    This season, the Mids are tied for second in fewest penalties per game (3.25) and first in fewest penalty yards per game (29.00).
•    Navy has had zero penalties in a game 12 times since 2002.  

Opponents Not Committing Penalties Either
•    Despite being second in the country in penalties and first in penalty yards, Navy's opponents have been called for even fewer penalties. The opposition has been called for just 11 penalties (compared to Navy's 13) and 66 yards in penalties (compared to Navy's 116). Both of those numbers would lead the country.
•    Navy's opponents have been remarkably disciplined when it comes to offensive holding, having not been called once in four games (253 plays which includes 139 pass plays).