2019 Navy Football:   Navy (1-0, 0-0 AAC) vs. East Carolina (1-1, 0-0 AAC)
When	Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019 | 3:30 pm (ET)
Location	Annapolis, Md. | Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium | Parking & Fan Guide | Clear Bag Policy
Television	CBS Sports Network (John Sadak, Randy Cross, Sheehan Stanwick Burch)
Live Video Stream	CBS Sports Network
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. 105 / XM Ch. 202
Live Stats	Navy Athletics
Game Notes	Navy | East Carolina | AAC
Season Statistics	Navy | East Carolina | AAC
Social Media	Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Setting the Stage
•    Navy and East Carolina will meet for the seventh time on the gridiron, and for the third time as conference foes, when they square off on Saturday afternoon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (34,000). Kickoff is set for 3:32 pm and the presenting game day sponsor is AAFMAA. Saturday's game marks the first conference game of the year in the American Athletic Conference.
•    This is the fifth-consecutive year Navy has opened American Athletic Conference play at home. The Mids are 4-0 (1.000) in AAC openers, defeating East Carolina, 45-21, in the 2015 season opener, which was also Navy's first-ever conference game. In 2016, Navy defeated UConn, 28-24, stopping the Huskies at the one-yard line in the final seconds. In 2017, Navy edged Tulane, 23-21, and in 2018, the Mids knocked off eventual AAC West Division Champion Memphis, 22-21.     
•    CBS Sports Network will televise Saturday's game nationally with John Sadak, Randy Cross and Sheehan Stanwick Burch on the call.
•    The Navy Football Insider Show with host Joe Miller will air on Thursday night from 7:00-8:00 pm on WBAL Radio (1090 AM or WBAL.com). Pete Medhurst and Keith Mills will also contribute to the show.
•    The Navy Football Tailgate Show on WNAV Radio 1430 AM / 99.9 FM will air at 1:30 pm with Wylie Baker and Bill Lusby.
•    The Navy Football Insider game day edition will air on Saturday at 2:00 pm on WBAL Radio (1090 AM, WBAL.com) with host Scott Wykoff. Pete Medhurst, Joe Miller and Keith Mills will also contribute to the show.
•    The Navy Football Pregame Show with Medhurst, Miller, Mills and Wykoff will get underway at 2:30 pm on the Navy Radio Network, followed by game action beginning at 3:30 pm with Medhurst, Miller and Mills on the call.   
•    Following the contest, Medhurst, Miller, Mills and Wykoff will recap the day's events in a 30-minute postgame show.

Game Day Festivities
•    The Navy football team will arrive at the Blue Angel on the West (Blue) side of the stadium at approximately 1:00 pm. The team will walk down the sidewalk and through NavyFest before walking to the tunnel. Fans are invited to stand on both sides of the sidewalk to cheer on the players.
•    The March-On of the Brigade of Midshipmen will begin at 3:11 pm.
•    The National Anthem will take place at 3:21:30 pm, followed by a flyby at the end of the National Anthem.
•     Saturday's flyby will feature four Boeing F/A-18 Hornets from the "Fighting Omars" of VFC-12 based out of Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia Beach, Va. Piloting the lead aircraft will be former Navy football player Lt. Cmdr. Wayne "Frank the Tank" Irons, Class of 2005. The wing aircraft will be piloted by Cmdr. Todd "Gilligan" Cleveland, Class of 2002, Cmdr. Nate "Simba" Lyon, Class of 2002 and Lt. Cmdr. Clayton "Defrag" Johnson, Class of 2007. The Omars are an Adversary squadron supporting combat readiness for U.S. Navy Fleet squadrons.
•     There will be a parachute jumper from Team Fastrax that will be carrying an American flag at 3:24 pm.
•    Kickoff on Saturday is slated for 3:32 pm. Please note there is a chance kickoff and all activities noted above could be pushed back by five minutes if the first game on CBS Sports Network (Maryland at Temple) is running long. That decision will be made before the 60-minute clock starts at 2:32 pm.
•    The Navy men's gymnastics team will be honored between the first and second quarters. The Mids finished 10th at the 2019 NCAA Championship, won the ECAC Championship for the second-consecutive year and came from behind in the final two events to win the N-Star at Army.
•    At halftime, there will be a tribute video played in honor of former Navy women's cross country coach Karen Boyle, who retired last year. Guiding the Navy women's cross country team since 1987 when the Mids competed in the NCAA Division II ranks, Boyle wrapped up her 32nd season last fall. As part of her final campaign, Navy defeated Army in the squads' annual Star Meet by a score of 24-31, while placing third at the Patriot League Championship on the strength of four top-30 individual results. That success was nothing new to Boyle, as her teams at Navy went 21-11 versus Army during her tenure and finished in the top-three at the Patriot League Championship in 12 of 16 years. A four-time Patriot League Coach of the Year, Boyle earned that accolade following each of the Mids' four league titles in 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2012.
•    The pilots from the flyby will be recognized between the third and fourth quarters.  
•    Following the game, Navy's alma mater, Navy Blue & Gold, will be played as the team stands at attention in front of the Brigade of Midshipmen. It is one of the best traditions in all of sports.

Scouting East Carolina
•    East Carolina enters Saturday's contest with a 1-1 record.  The Pirates lost to NC State, 34-6, in the opener and defeated Gardner-Webb, 48-9, last week.
•    First-year head coach Mike Houston came to East Carolina from James Madison, where he compiled a 37-6 record in three years. Houston led the Dukes to the 2016 FCS national title and the 2017 FCS National Championship game.
•    Houston was also 14-11 in two years at The Citadel and 29-8 in three years at Lenoir-Rhyne.
•    East Carolina is led by sophomore quarterback Holton Ahlers, who played in 10 games and started five last year as a true freshman for the Pirates. Ahlers made his first career start last year in ECU's 41-19 thrashing of North Carolina.
•    Ahlers is completing 59 percent of his passes this year for 363 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.
•    Ahlers favorite target is Blake Proehl, son of 17-year NFL wide receiver Ricky Proehl who finished his NFL career with 669 receptions for 8,878 yards and 54 touchdowns for six different organizations including two Super Bowl Champions – 1999 St. Louis Rams and 2006 Indianapolis Colts. Proehl has caught 12 passes for 113 yards and the lone receiving touchdown for the Pirates.
•    Darius Pinnix leads the East Carolina rushing corps with 157 yards and two touchdowns on 32 carries.
•    Inside linebacker Xavier Smith leads the ECU defense with 17 tackles, three pass breakups and a forced fumble.

Navy Picked To Finish Fifth In The AAC West Division
•    The UCF Knights, who have won 25 of their last 26 games, have been selected as the favorite to win the 2019 American Athletic Conference Championship in the conference's preseason media poll.
•     UCF received 12 of a possible 30 votes to win the league title, while the Knights were listed first on 19 ballots in the East Division race.
•     Memphis was the media's choice in the West Division as the Tigers received 15 first-place votes and 165 points to edge Houston in a close vote.
•     Cincinnati was projected as the overall conference champion on eight ballots, while Memphis received six votes for the league title, while Houston was the choice on four ballots.
•     UCF finished the regular season unbeaten for the second straight season in 2018, as the Knights went on to capture their fourth AAC Championship and advance to the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl. The Knights return 39 letterwinners and 13 starters from last year's team, which went 12-1 and finished the year ranked No. 11 in the Associated Press Poll.
•     Memphis was named as the favorite in the West Division for the third straight year as the Tigers claimed 15 of the 30 first-place votes for 165 points. Mike Norvell's Tigers have 16 returning starters from last year's team which won the West Division title by taking its last four conference games.
•     The AAC welcomes three new head coaches to the sidelines in 2019. Mike Houston, the former James Madison coach, takes over at ECU; Dana Holgorsen, formerly of West Virginia, is now at Houston; and former Northern Illinois coach Rod Carey will man the sidelines at Temple.
• The fourth American Athletic Conference Football Championship will be played Dec. 7, at the home site of the division champion with the best conference record.

2019 AAC PRESEASON MEDIA POLL
East Division
169 (19) - UCF
157 (11) - Cincinnati
107 - USF     
101 - Temple 
66 - East Carolina
30 - UConn  

West Division
165 (15) - Memphis 
162 (14) - Houston 
108 - Tulane   
87 (1) - SMU 
70 - Navy  
38 - Tulsa   

Freshman Kicker On the Mark
•    Freshman kicker Bijan Nichols had a terrific debut in Navy's season-opening 45-7 win over Holy Cross.  
•    Nichols went 6-6 on extra-points and booted a 44-yard field goal in his only attempt.
•    Nichols was Navy's first freshman starter at kicker since Nick Sloan in 2012.
•    Navy and Army are two of only 11 schools that are starting a true freshman kicker. Even more unique, the Army and Navy kickers are from towns just seven miles apart. Talley is from Rockwall, Texas and went to Rockwall High School, while Nichols is from Heath, Texas and attended Rockwall-Heath.

First Time Starters
•    Navy had six players make their first career start in the Holy Cross game (two on offense and four on defense).
•    Junior right tackle Billy Honaker and junior wide receiver Ryan Mitchell made their first career starts on offense.
•    Junior defensive end Jackson Perkins, senior defensive tackle Marcus Edwards, senior linebacker Walter Little and junior safety Evan Fochtman made their first career starts on defense.

A's Make Plays
•    Navy's slot backs, or A Backs as they are called in the offense, had a terrific day against Holy Cross.  
•    The slot backs combined for 270 yards rushing and one touchdown on 25 carries (10.8 yards per rush).
•    Junior CJ Williams led the way with 91 yards rushing on 10 carries and a touchdown, while junior Myles Fells had 56 yards rushing on three carries and junior Tazh Maloy ran for 55 yards on four carries. Junior Keoni Kordell-Makekau added a spectacular 29-yard catch to the A's day.

Tough Against the Run
•    The Navy defense gave up just 64 yards on the ground in the season opener against Holy Cross.
•    Allowing 64.0 rushing yards per game, Navy is ranked 10th nationally in rushing defense.