GAME 8: Navy (2-5, 1-3 American) vs. Notre Dame (7-0)
When	Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018 | 5:00 pm (PT) / 8:00 pm (ET)
Location	San Diego, Calif. | San Diego County Credit Union Stadium
Television	CBS (Carter Blackburn, Aaron Taylor, Rick Neuheisel, John Schriffen)
Live Video Stream	CBS Sports
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. 206 / XM Ch. 210)
Live Stats	Navy Athletics
Game Notes	Navy | Notre Dame | AAC
Season Statistics	Navy | Notre Dame | AAC
Social Media	@NavyAthletics | Facebook | Instagram

Setting the Stage
•    Navy and No. 3 Notre Dame will meet for the 92nd time and for the first time in San Diego when they square off on Saturday evening at San Diego County Credit Union Stadium (66,000) in the longest continuous intersectional rivalry in the country. Kickoff is set for 8:00 pm Eastern Time, 5:00 pm Pacific Time and the presenting game day sponsors are Navy Federal and Navy Mutual.
•    Notre Dame leads the all-time series, 77-13-1, but four of the last five games have been decided by 10 points or less. The Irish hung on to defeat Navy, 24-17, last year in South Bend, while the Mids defeated Notre Dame, 28-27, in 2016 in Jacksonville. Since Ken Niumatalolo took over as the head coach in 2008, Navy has either beaten Notre Dame or lost by one possession in six of the 10 games with one other game being decided by 10 points.
•     Only twice in series history has an unranked Navy team beaten a ranked Notre Dame team.  In 1936, a 3-3 Navy team that was coming off consecutive losses to Yale, Princeton and Penn, stunned No. 13 Notre Dame, 3-0, in Baltimore.  In 2009, a 6-3 Navy team that was coming off a three point loss to Temple, upset No. 19 Notre Dame, 23-21, in South Bend.
•     Navy has beaten a top 5 Notre Dame team twice. In 1944, Navy upset No. 2 Notre Dame, 32-13, in Baltimore, while in 1957 Navy won at No. 5 Notre Dame, 20-6.
•     Navy last beat a team ranked in the top 5 in 2016 when the Mids beat No. 5 Houston, 46-40, in Annapolis (Houston was No. 6 in the AP Poll, No. 5 in the coaches poll). The Mids beat No. 2 South Carolina, 38-21, in 1984 in Annapolis.
•     Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo owns three wins over Notre Dame (2009, 2010, 2016), which is tied with College Football Hall of Fame coach Wayne Hardin (1960, 1961, 1963) for the most by a Navy coach in school history. Niumatalolo joins Eddie Erdelatz (1956-57) and Hardin (1960-61) as the only coaches in school history to beat Notre Dame in back-to-back years.
•     Niumatalolo owns four top 25 wins as the head coach of the Midshipmen (2008 over Wake Forest, 2009 over Notre Dame, 2015 over Memphis and 2016 over Houston), which is tied with George Welsh for the second most in school history. Eddie Erdelatz won nine top 25 games from 1950-58.
•     Eight of Navy's 13 wins over Notre Dame have come at a neutral site when Navy was considered the home team (Baltimore four times, Cleveland, Philadelphia, East Rutherford and Jacksonville).
•    Roughly 500 members of the Brigade of Midshipmen will march-on at 3:38 pm (PT). A flyover will take place at the conclusion of the National Anthem at approximately 4:57 pm and will feature four Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets from the "Vampires" of VX-9 based out of Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, Calif. and the "Experts" of VFA-122 based out of Naval Air Station Lemoore, Calif. Piloting the lead aircraft will be Lt. Cmdr. Jonathan Gibson, USNA Class of 2003, and Lt. Seth Lloyd, USNA Class of 2011. Dash two will be piloted by Lt. Cmdr. Amanda Ross, USNA Class of 2008, and Lt. Daniel Ruffin, USNA Class of 2010. Dash three wil be piloted by Cmdr. Dennis Duffy, USNA Class of 1999, and Capt. James Bates, USNA Class of 1995. Dash four will be piloted by Cmdr. Andrew Hoekstra, Westminster College Class of 1998, and Lt. Paul Bowman, Virginia Military Institute Class of 2010. The Vampires conduct operational test of Naval fighter aircraft and the Experts train the next generation of Naval aircrew.   
•    All former and active duty military will be honored between the first and second quarter.
•    The Naval Academy Drum and Bugle Corps will perform at halftime, as will the Leap Frogs parachute team.
•    After the game, the Navy football team will gather in front of the Brigade of Midshipmen and sing Navy's alma mater, Navy Blue & Gold. It is one of the great traditions in sports. In recent years, Notre Dame has joined Navy for Blue & Gold and Navy has joined Notre Dame for the singing of its alma mater. Traditionally, the losing team will go first followed by the winning team.
•    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 Tailgate Show on WNAV Radio 1430 AM / 99.9 FM will air at 6:00 pm (ET) 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 7:00 pm (ET) on the Navy Radio Network, followed by game action beginning at 8:00 pm (ET) 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.

San Diego Is A Navy Town
•    San Diego hosts the largest naval fleet in the world and is home to over 120 tenant commands and more than 35,000 sailors, soldiers, Department of Defense civilian employees and contractors. Military bases in San Diego include US Navy facilities, Marine Corps bases, and Coast Guard stations. Marine Corps institutions in the city of San Diego include Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego.
•     The Navy has several institutions in the city, including Naval Base Point Loma, Naval Base San Diego, Naval Medical Center San Diego and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command. Also near San Diego are Naval Amphibious Base Coronado and Naval Air Station North Island. San Diego is known as the birthplace of Naval Aviation and is home to the majority of the U.S. Pacific Fleet's surface combatants, all of the Navy's West Coast amphibious ships and a variety of Coast Guard and Military Sealift Command vessels.
•     Navy owns a 3-4 record in San Diego, defeating BYU in the inaugural Holiday Bowl in 1978, beating Colorado State in the inaugural San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl in 2005 and knocking off San Diego State in the 2014 San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.

Mids Face Daunting Schedule
•    Navy is in the midst of playing four opponents (Houston, Notre Dame, Cincinnati and UCF) that are a combined 26-2 (.929) on the year. Of the five remaining undefeated teams, Navy plays two of them (Notre Dame in San Diego, at UCF)
•    Houston, who is receiving votes in the coaches poll, is 6-1 with its only blemish a 63-49 loss at Texas Tech.
•    Notre Dame, ranked third in the country in both polls, is 7-0.
•    Cincinnati, receiving votes in both polls, is 6-1.
•    UCF, ranked 10th in both polls, is also 7-0 and has the nation's longest winning streak at 20.

Scouting Notre Dame
•    Notre Dame enters Saturday's game with a 7-0 record and ranked No. 3 in the country. The Irish own wins over Michigan (24-17), Ball State (24-16), Vanderbilt (22-17), Wake Forest (56-27), Stanford (38-17), Virginia Tech (45-23) and Pitt (19-14). Notre Dame is one of just five remaining unbeaten teams in the country, joining Alabama, UCF, USF and Clemson.  
•    Ian Book took over the starting quarterback duties from Brandon Wimbush starting with the Wake Forest game and the offense has since flourised. He is completing 75 percent of his passes for 1,151 yards with 11 touchdowns and three interceptions. Book's 75.2 completion percentage is the best in the country, while his 8.4 yards per pass attempt ranks 25th. Notre Dame's overall completion percentage of 67.4 is ranked 16th nationally.
•    Running back Dexter Williams missed the first four games of the season after being suspended, but in just three games he is already Notre Dame's leading rusher with 370 yards and four touchdowns on 51 carries. Williams is averaging 7.3 yards per carry.
•    Miles Boykin leads the Notre Dame receivers with 32 catches for 512 yards and four touchdowns, while Chris Finke and Alize Mack have 25 catches each. Chase Claypool has 23 catches, three of which have gone for a touchdown.
•    The Notre Dame offense has lost just one fumble all year, which is tied as the second fewest in the country. Mississippi State is the only team in the country that has yet to lose a fumble.
•    Te'von Coney is the team's leading tackler with 56 stops, 5.5 tackles for a loss and a sack. Drue Tranquill is second with 46 tackles and six tackles for a loss, while Navy transfer Alohi Gilman is third on the team with 38 tackles and two tackles for a loss. Jerry Tillery has forced three fumbles, which is tied for the sixth most in the country, while Julian Love has recovered a nation's-best three fumbles. Love is also averaging 1.9 pass breakups per game, which is the fifth-best average in the country and Tillery is averaging 1.0 sacks per game, which is 12th best nationally.
•    Notre Dame's defense is giving up 18.7 points per game, the 21st best in the country.
•    Punter Tyler Newsome is averaging 46.3 yards per punt, which ranks sixth nationally.  
•    Notre Dame is eighth in the country in fewest penalties/gm (4.43) and 13th in fewest penalty yds/gm (40.14).

Amosa-Tagovailoa Or Tagovailoa-Amosa
•    Yes, Navy senior offensive tackle Adam Amosa-Tagovailoa and Notre Dame sophomore defensive lineman Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa are brothers despite the fact their last names are flipped.
•    Their father's (Tulileie) last name is Amosa and their mother's (Saipeti) maiden name is Tagovailoa.
•     Adam was born with the last name Amosa and Myron was born with the last name Tagovailoa-Amosa because their grandfather (High Chief Seu Tagovailoa, their mother's father) wanted one of his grandkids to hold the family name.
•     Prior to Adam's arrival at the Naval Academy Prep School, their grandfather passed away and their mom wanted all of her kids to hold their grandfather's last name. After finishing his final exams at NAPS, Adam came back home and legally changed his last name from Amosa to Amosa-Tagovailoa. Adam wanted to go with Tagovailoa-Amosa like Myron, but his mom wanted Amosa first so that during graduation he would be in the front of the class.
•     Their cousin is Tua Tagovailoa, the starting quarterback at Alabama and the leading candidate to win the Heisman Trophy this year.
•     Myron, who was the 39th-ranked defensive tackle last year by Scout.com, strongly considered Navy and came on an official visit, but ultimately chose Notre Dame over Navy and USC.
• Myron broke his foot in the Michigan game and is currently unable to play. Adam made his first career start at tackle against Houston and is likely to start again on Saturday.

Navy Wins Against Ranked Opponents
•    Navy's 46-40 win over No. 6/5 Houston in 2016 marked the second straight year the Mids knocked off a nationally-ranked opponent after they dealt No. 15/16 Memphis a 45-20 loss in 2015.  
•    Navy's win over Houston marked the first time the Mids had defeated an AP top 10 team since Nov. 17, 1984, when it shocked No. 2 South Carolina, 38-21.  
•    Navy's 2015 win over Memphis, meanwhile, was its first road win over an AP top 10 team since Sept. 21, 1974, when it knocked off No. 8 Penn State, 7-6
•    Navy has not beaten more than one ranked team in a season since 1957, when it defeated No. 5 Notre Dame (20-6), No. 10 Army (27-20)  and No. 8 Rice (20-7) in the Cotton Bowl.
•    Navy has not beaten a ranked opponent in three straight years since 1941-45 when the Mids did it five years in a row.