2019 Navy Football: No. 21 Navy (7-1, 5-1 AAC) at No. 16 Notre Dame (7-2)
When	Saturday, Nov. 16, 2019 | 2:30 pm (ET)
Location	South Bend, Ind. | Notre Dame Stadium
Television	NBC (Mike Tirico, Doug Flutie, Kathryn Tappen, Chris Simms, Terry McAulay)
Live Video Stream	NBC
Listen	Navy Football Radio Network (Pete Medhurst, Joe Miller, Keith Mills, Scott Wykoff) WBAL 1090 AM / 101.5 FM (Baltimore) | WNAV 1430 AM, 99.9 FM (Annapolis) | WJXL 1010 AM, 92.5 FM (Jacksonville) | WXTG 102.1 FM / 1490 AM (Norfolk, Va.) | W270DA 101.9 FM (Norfolk, Va.) | WQBK 107.9 FM (Williamsburg / Yorktown, Va.) | KWFN 97.3 FM (San Diego, Calif.) | WFED 1500 AM | WFED 104.5 FM (Western Fairfax / Loudon, Va.) | WFED 820 AM, 94.3 FM (Frederick, Md.) | WBQH 1050 AM, 93.5 FM (Washington, DC / No. Virginia) | Sirius Ch. 211 / XM Ch. 202 / Internet Ch. 965
Live Stats	Navy Athletics
Game Notes	Navy | Notre Dame | AAC
Season Statistics	Navy | Notre Dame | AAC
Social Media	@NavyAthletics | @NavyFB | Facebook | Instagram

Setting the Stage
•    No. 21 Navy and No. 16 Notre Dame will meet on the gridiron for the 93rd straight year when they square off on Saturday afternoon at Notre Dame Stadium (77,622) in South Bend, Ind. in what is the longest continuous intersectional rivalry in college football. Kickoff is set for 2:30 pm. Navy and Notre Dame have played annually since 1927, making it the third-longest uninterrupted college football rivalry overall after Minnesota vs. Wisconsin (since 1907) and Kansas State vs. Iowa State (since 1917).
•    Navy is coming off a 56-10 pounding of UConn (Nov. 1) that saw the Mids score 14 points in every quarter, while piling up 573 yards of total offense and holding the Huskies to 313 yards of total offense.
•     Navy has won five consecutive games and is looking to win six straight within the same season for the first time since 1978 when the Mids started 7-0. Navy won eight straight games over two seasons in 2014-15 (last four games of 2014, first four games of 2015). Navy last started 8-1 in 2015.
•    Notre Dame improved to 7-2 last Saturday with a 38-7 domination of Duke as quarterback Ian Book threw for 181 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 139 yards. Meanwhile, the Notre Dame defense completely shut down the Duke offense, giving up just 10 first downs and 197 yards of total offense.
•     Notre Dame has won 16 consecutive games at home, which is the third-longest home winning streak for the Irish since Notre Dame Stadium opened in 1930.
•    Navy is off to a 7-1 start for the second time in the Ken Niumatalolo era and for just the sixth time since 1960.
•    Under Niumatalolo, Navy is 29-21 (.580) with more than one week to prepare for an opponent.
•     This marks the fourth time in the last five years that Navy has cracked the top 25 (2015, 2016, 2017, 2019), which also coincides with Navy joining the American Athletic Conference. Prior to joining the American, Navy hadn't been ranked in the Associated Press top 25 since the final poll of the 2004 season when the Mids were ranked 24th after a 10-2 season.
•     This is the first time that both Navy and Notre Dame are ranked in the top 25 entering their annual game since 1978 when No. 15 Notre Dame knocked off No. 11 Navy, 27-7.
•    Navy last beat a ranked opponent in 2016 when the Mids stunned No. 6 Houston, 46-40, in Annapolis. Navy last beat a ranked Notre Dame team in 2009 when the Mids upset the 19th-ranked Irish, 23-21, in South Bend. Navy also beat a ranked Notre Dame team in 1957, 1944 and 1936.
• Ken Niumatalolo has led Navy to four top 25 wins during his tenure, which is tied with George Welsh for the second most in school history. Eddie Erdelatz beat 10 top 25 teams from 1950-58.
• Ken Niumatalolo's three wins against Notre Dame is tied with Wayne Hardin for the most in school history. Hardin coached both of Navy's Heisman Trophy winners (Joe Bellino-1960 and Roger Staubach-1963).
•    NBC will televise Saturday's game with Mike Tirico (play-by-play), Doug Flutie (color), Kathryn Tappen (sideline), Chris Simms (field analyst) and Terry McAulay (rules analyst) on the call. Liam McHugh and Chris Simms will handle halftime.
•    The Navy Football Insider Show with host Joe Miller and with contributions from Pete Medhurst, Keith Mills and Scott Wykoff will air on Thursday night from 7:00-8:00 pm on WBAL Radio (1090 AM).
•    The Navy Football Tailgate Show on WNAV Radio 1430 AM / 99.9 FM will air from 12:30-1:30 pm with Wylie Baker and Bill Lusby serving as the hosts.
•    The Navy Football Insider Show Game Day Edition with Wykoff serving as the host and with contributions from Medhurst, Miller and Mills will air from 1:00-1:30 pm on WBAL Radio (1090 AM).
•    The Navy Football Pregame Show with Medhurst, Miller, Mills and Wykoff will get underway at 1:30 pm on the Navy Radio Network, followed by game action beginning at 2:30 pm with Medhurst, Miller and Mills on the call. The radio broadcast is presented by Navy Federal and Navy Mutual.
•    Following the contest, Medhurst, Miller, Mills and Wykoff will recap the evening's events in a 30-minute postgame show.

Scouting Notre Dame
•    Notre Dame enters Saturday's game with an 8-2 record and has won six of its last seven contests. The Irish own wins over Louisville (35-17), New Mexico (66-14), Virginia (35-20), Bowling Green (52-0), USC (30-27), Virginia Tech (21-20) and Duke (38-3). Their losses have come on the road at then #3 Georgia (23-17) and then #20 Michigan (45-14). Notre Dame has won 16 consecutive games at home, which is the third-longest home winning streak for the Irish since Notre Dame Stadium opened in 1930 (won 28 straight from 1942-50 and 19 straight from 1987-90).
•    The Irish are led by quarterback Ian Book, who has completed 58 percent of his passes for 2,009 yards with 21 touchdowns (18th nationally) and six interceptions. He is also the team's second-leading rusher with 390 yards and four touchdowns.   
•    Tony Jones Jr. leads the Notre Dame rushing attack with 597 yards and four touchdowns on 95 carries. His 6.2 yards per carry is the 23rd-best average in the country.
•    Chase Claypool leads all Notre Dame receivers with 42 catches for 651 yards and five touchdowns. Cole Kmet has five touchdown catches among his 29 grabs for 327 yards.
•    Asmar Bilal leads Notre Dame in tackles with 56, while Drew White has 55. White leads with eight tackles for a loss, while Khalid Kareem has a team-high 4.5 sacks and eight quarterback hurries. Kyle Hamilton has three picks for the Irish.
•     Notre Dame's defense is 18th in the country in third down defense (.311) and 19th in fourth down defense (.385). It is ninth nationally in fumble recoveries (10) and 13th in turnover margin (0.78). The Irish are seventh in passing yards per game (171.8) and 12th in team passing efficiency defense (111.44). They are averaging 7.3 tackles for a loss per game, which ranks 19th nationally.

Bowl Eligible
•    Navy is bowl eligible for the 15th time in the last 17 years. However, for the first time during that run, Navy will not know which bowl game it will go to until bowl announcements are made on Sunday, Dec. 8, since the Mids now fall under the American Athletic Conference umbrella for bowl games.
•    Possible bowl game locations for the Mids include the Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl in Frisco, Texas on Dec. 20 (Conference USA, MAC,); The AutoNation Cure Bowl in Orlando, Fla. on Dec. 21 (Sun Belt); the Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl in Boca Raton, Fla. on Dec. 21 (MAC, Conference USA); the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa, Fla. on Dec. 23 (Conference USA); the SoFi Hawai'i Bowl in Honolulu, Hawai'i on Dec. 24 (BYU, Mountain West); the Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman in Annapolis, Md. on Dec. 27 (Notre Dame,  ACC); the Birmingham Bowl in Birmingham, Ala. on Jan. 2 (SEC) or the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic on Dec. 28 in Arlington, Texas (at-large opponent) if Navy is selected as the top team from the Group of 5.  
•    The AAC also has secondary bowl agreements with the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tenn. on Dec. 31 (Big 12 vs. SEC) and with the Walk-On's Independence Bowl on Dec. 26 in Shreveport, La. (SEC vs. ACC or Notre Dame). If either of those bowls can't fill their slots, an AAC team could be placed in one of those two bowls.  

Power 6
•    Navy is one of four teams in the American Athletic Conference in the top 25, joining No. 17 Cincinnati, No. 18 Memphis and No. 20 SMU.
•    Only the Big Ten (6) and SEC (5) have more teams ranked than the American. Trailing the American is the Big 12 (3), ACC (2), Pac-12 (2) and Mountain West (2).
•    Bill Connelly's SP+ division rankings on ESPN.com has the AAC West, which Navy is a member of, ranked ahead of the Pac-12 South, the ACC Atlantic and the ACC Coastal.
•    The American is the only FBS conference with four teams with one loss or less (Cincinnati, Memphis, SMU and Navy).
•    The American is ranked as the fifth-best conference in the model of computer rankings that was used in the compilation of the Bowl Championship Series. These ratings include the Amerson & Hester, Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Sagarin and Wolfe Rankings. The AAC is just behind the Pac-12 and ahead of the ACC.

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 20 team since Nov. 7, 2009, when Navy knocked off #19 Notre Dame, 23-21, in South Bend. Navy has not beaten a Top 10 team on the road since Sept. 21, 1974, when the Mids won at State College over #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.

7-1
•     Navy is off to a 7-1 start for the second time during Ken Niumatalolo's tenure and for just the sixth time since 1960.
•     In 2015, Navy started 9-1 and finished 11-2. The Mids were AAC West Division Co-Champs with Houston, beat Army and Air Force to win the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy and beat Pitt to win the Military Bowl.
•     In 2004, Navy started 7-1 and finished 10-2. The Mids beat Army and Air Force to win the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy and beat New Mexico to win the Emerald Bowl.
•     In 1978, Navy started 7-1 and finished 9-3. The Mids beat Army and Air Force to win the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy and beat BYU in the inaugural Holiday Bowl.
•     In 1963, Navy started 9-1 and finished 9-2. The Mids defeated Notre Dame and Army and were ranked as high as No. 2 in the country. Navy lost to Texas in the Cotton Bowl in what was considered the National Championship Game. Roger Staubach won the Heisman Trophy that year.   
•     In 1960, Navy started 9-1 and finished 9-2. The Mids beat Army, Air Force (first-ever game between Navy and Air Force) and Notre Dame. The Mids lost to Missouri in the Orange Bowl. Joe Bellino won the Heisman Trophy that year.