Navy (3-4, 2-2 AAC) at Temple (2-6, 0-4 AAC)
When	Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023 | 2:00 pm (ET)
Location	Philadelphia, Pa. | Lincoln Financial Field | Fan Guide
Television	ESPN+ (Noah Ree, Barrett Brooks)
Live Video Stream	WatchESPN and ESPN+
Listen	Navy Football Radio Network (Pete Medhurst, Joe Miller, Keith Mills, Scott Wykoff) WBAL 1090 AM / 101.5 FM (Baltimore) | WFED 820 AM, 94.3 FM (Frederick, Md.) | WFED 1500 AM (Washington, D.C.) | WFED 104.5 FM (Western Fairfax / Loudon, Va.) | WNAV 1430 AM, 99.9 FM (Annapolis) | KWFN 97.3 FM (San Diego) | WGH 1310 AM / 100.9 FM (Norfolk, Va.) | WJGM 105.7 FM (Jacksonville, Fla.) | Satellite: Sirius Ch. 94 or 202, SXM App Ch. 965 | Apps: Audacy (WNAV) and TuneIn (WBAL)
Live Stats	Navy Athletics
Game Notes	Navy | Temple | AAC
Season Statistics	Navy | Temple | AAC
Social Media	@NavyAthletics | @NavyFB | Facebook | Instagram

Opening Kick
•    Navy and Temple meet for the 18th time on the gridiron when the two square off on Saturday afternoon (2:00 pm) at Lincoln Financial Field (69,596) in Philadelphia.
•    Navy leads the all-time series against Temple 9-8, including a 3-3 mark as AAC foes. Navy has won the last 3 contests, including one game decided in overtime (27-20 in 2022) and one game decided by 2 points (31-29 in 2020).  
•    The Mids are 3-3 against Temple in games played in Philadelphia.
•    Temple defeated Navy 34-10 in the 2016 American Athletic Conference Championship Game in Annapolis.  
•    Navy, picked 9th in the American Athletic Conference preseason poll, enters Saturday's game tied with Rice for 7th place, but just 1 game out of 4th place and 2 games out of 1st place.
•    The Mids will play the longest regular-season schedule in the country this year. Navy played the nation's first regular-season college football game of the season on August 26 against Notre Dame at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland and will play the final regular-season game of the year on Dec. 9 vs. Army at Gillette Stadium in New England.
•    Navy's defense is tied for 2nd in the country in fumbles recovered with 9.
•    Navy's 2 interceptions thrown (both against Air Force) are the 4th fewest in the country.
•    Navy's 5 turnovers lost his year ties for the 4th fewest in the country.
•    Navy's red zone defense is 4th in the country, allowing opponents to score just 65 percent of the time.
•    Navy is 6th in the country in turnover margin at +1.14.
•    Temple is tied for 8th in the country in fewest penalty yards per game (35.4).
•    Xavier McDonald (Sr. / Striker) is tied for 5th in the country in forced fumbles per game (0.43), while Luke Pirris (So. / Raider) and Justin Reed (Jr. / DE) are tied for 7th in fumbles recovered (2).   
•    Alex Tecza (So. / FB) is 7th in the nation in rushing yards per carry (7.1).
•    Rayuan Lane (Sr. / S) is tied for 4th in the nation in passes defended (1.4 per game).    
•    Temple quarterback E.J. Warner is 9th in the country in completions per game (25.5). Warner has missed the last 2 games with an injury.
•    Over the last 4 games (USF, North Texas, Charlotte and Air Force), Navy has been called for 25 penalties, while the opposition has been called for just 11. North Texas was the first Navy opponent not to be penalized in a game since Army in the 2016 Army-Navy Game presented by USAA.

Broadcast Coverage
•    ESPN+ will broadcast Saturday's game with Noah Reed and Barrett Brooks on the call.
•    Scott Wykoff will host a one-hour Navy Insider on WBAL Radio (1090 AM) starting at 12 noon.
•    The Navy Football Pregame Show with Pete Medhurst, Joe Miller, Keith Mills, Wykoff and special commentary from John Feinstein will get underway at 1:00 pm on the Navy Radio Network, followed by game action beginning at 2 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.

Scouting Temple
2-6 Overall  |  0-4 AAC
Head Coach: Stan Drayton

•    Temple enters Saturday's game with a 2-6 record with wins over Akron (24-21) and Norfolk State (41-9) and losses to Rutgers (36-7), Miami (41-7), Tulsa (48-26), UTSA (49-34), North Texas (45-14) and SMU (55-0).
•    The Owls have been without sophomore quarterback E.J. Warner, the son of NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner,  for the last 2 games due to injury. Warner played well against UTSA and led the Owls to 34 points, but also took several big shots.
•    Last year, Warner lit up the Navy defense for 268 yards and a touchdown, as he nearly led the Owls to a comeback win.
•    Warner has completed 153 of his 271 passes for 1,741 yards with 12 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. He is 9th in the country in completions per game (25.5), 12th in passing yards per game (290.2) and 20th in total offense per game (292.0).
•    Warner's favorite receivers are Amad Anderson Jr. (28 catches for 397 yds and 1 TD), a graduate transfer from Purdue, and graduate tight end David Martin-Robinson (25 catches for 305 yds and 2 TDs).
•    The Temple running game is paced by freshman running back Joquez Smith (62 carries, 299 yds and 1 TD) and redshirt sophomore running back Darvon Hubbard (52 carries for 236 yds and 2 TDs), a transfer from Texas A&M.
•    The Temple defense is led by Tywan Francis (60 tackles, 4 TFLs and an interception), a graduate transfer safety from Colorado State, and graduate linebacker Jordan Magee (60 tackles, 8 TFLs, 2.5 sacks and a forced fumble). Francis is 12th in the country in solo tackles per game (5.2).
•    Temple has been a very disciplined team this fall, ranking 8th nationally in fewest penalty yards per game (35.4) and 23rd in fewest penalties per game (4.8).
•    Redshirt freshman safety Sam Martin is a dangerous kick returner who is ranked 11th in the country in combined kick return yardage (438) and has returned 1 kickoff for a touchdown.
•    Temple has 35 transfers on its roster, including 20 from the Football Bowl Subdivision.

The City of Brotherly Love is Navy's Second Home
•    Philadelphia is like a second home to Navy football, as no city has hosted the Midshipmen outside of Annapolis more than the City of Brotherly Love.
•    Saturday will be the 148th game Navy has played in Philadelphia with the Mids holding a 70-69-8 (.503) record in those contests.
•    Philly is the traditional home of the Army-Navy game as the city has hosted the greatest rivalry in sports 90 times.

Woodson Comes Off The Bench To Lead Navy To a 14-0 Shutout of Charlotte; Makes His First-Career Start against Air Force
• Braxton Woodson (Fr. / QB) became the second quarterback in as many weeks to come off the bench to lead Navy to a win.
• On Oct. 7, Tai Lavatai (Sr.) came off the bench and replaced injured starting QB Blake Horvath (So.) to lead Navy to a 27-24 win over North Texas.
• Against Charlotte (Oct. 14), Woodson, who replaced an injured Lavatai after the first series of the game, led Navy to the win over the 49ers. Woodson settled down after the first half and played well over the final 30 minutes, throwing a 69-yard touchdown pass to Eli Heidenreich (So. / SB) for the first points of the game. Woodson finished the day with 85 yards passing and 58 yards rushing.
• Woodson made his first-career start in Navy's 17-6 loss to #22 Air Force.
•    He is just the 6th freshman in school history to start a game at quarterback and the 3rd to make his first career-start against Air Force.
•    Navy is one of just 6 FBS teams to start 3 different quarterbacks this year, joining Arizona State, Arkansas State, Ball State, Cal and Texas Tech.

Freshmen QBs in First-Career Start at Navy    
•    Braxton Woodson: 2023 vs. Air Force (L, 17-6)
•    Xavier Arline: 2020 at Tulane (Navy won 27-24, but Arline was replaced at the half and senior Dalen Morris came in to lead Navy to the biggest second-half comeback in school history after trailing 24-0 at the half. Arline earned the start in just the second game of the year, the earliest first-career start by a Navy freshman QB in program history.
• Keenan Reynolds: 2012 at Central Michigan (W, 31-13. Reynolds came off the bench at Air Force and led Navy to a 28-21 comeback win in overtime the week before. He started the next game against Central Michigan and the rest was history).
• Jim Kubiak: 1991 vs. Air Force (L, 46-6)
• Alton Grizzard: 1987 vs. Air Force (L, 23-13)
• Mike Roban: 1974 at Georgia Tech (L, 22-0)

Winning the Turnover Battle
•    Navy is tied for 4th in the nation in turnovers lost (5) and 6th in turnover margin (+1.14 per game).  
•    The Mids are tied for 2nd in fumble recoveries (9).

Red Zone Tough
•    Navy ranks 4th in the country in red zone defense, giving up scores just 65 percent of the time.
•    Opponents have scored 13 touchdowns (7 rushing, 6 passing) while the Mids have held the opposition off the board 7 times.

Few First Downs Allowed
•    The Navy defense has given up just 128 first downs on the year, the 11th fewest in the country.

Third Down Defense
•    The Navy defense is 11th in the nation in third down defense (.293).