Navy (2-3, 1-2 AAC) at Charlotte (1-4, 0-1 AAC)
When	Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023 | 2:00 pm (ET)
Location	Charlotte, N.C. | Jerry Richardson Stadium
Television	ESPN+ (Richard Cross, Taylor McHargue, Morgan Uber)
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. 121 or 202, SXM App Ch. 965 | Apps: Audacy (WNAV) and TuneIn (WBAL)
Live Stats	Navy Athletics
Game Notes	Navy | Charlotte | AAC
Season Statistics	Navy | Charlotte | AAC
Social Media	@NavyAthletics | @NavyFB | Facebook | Instagram

Opening Kick
•    Navy and Charlotte meet on the gridiron for the first time when the two square off on ESPN+ Saturday afternoon (2:00 pm) at a sold-out Jerry Richardson Stadium (15,000) in Charlotte, N.C.
•    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 ranks 3rd in the country in fumbles recovered with 7, 5th in turnover margin at +1.20 and 4th in turnovers lost with 3. Xavier McDonald (Sr. / Striker) is 3rd in the country in forced fumbles per game (0.60), while Luke Pirris (So. / Raider) is 3rd in the country in fumbles recovered (2).   
•    Navy, Air Force and Penn State are the only 3 teams in the country that have not thrown an interception this year. The Mids are also 10th in the country in passing yards per completion, averaging 15.27.   
•    The Mids are fourth nationally in rushing, averaging 248.2 yards per game. Alex Tecza (So. / FB) is fifth in the country in rushing yards per carry (7.64).
•    Navy is seventh in the country in punt returns, averaging 17.7 per return.
•    Safety Rayuan Lane (Sr.) is fourth in the nation in passes defended (1.6 per game).     
•    Over the last two games (USF and North Texas), Navy has been called for 15 penalties while the opposition has been called for just 1. North Texas was the first Navy opponent not to be penalized since Army in the 2016 Army-Navy Game presented by USAA.
•    Navy head coach Brian Newberry and Charlotte head coach Biff Poggi are 2 of 11 first-time head coaches in the FBS this year. Four of those 11 are in the American Athletic Conference (UAB's Trent Dilfer and USF's Alex Golesh).
    
Broadcast Coverage
•    ESPN+ will broadcast Saturday's game with Richard Cross, Taylor McHargue and Morgan Uber on the call.
•    The Navy Football Pregame Show with Pete Medhurst, Joe Miller, Keith Mills, Scott 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 2:00 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 Charlotte
1-4 Overall  |  0-1 AAC
Head Coach: Biff Poggi

•    Charlotte enters Saturday's game against Navy with a 1-4 overall record and an 0-1 mark in the American Athletic Conference.
•    Charlotte won its opener against South Carolina State 24-3, but has played a brutal stretch of four games over the last month, losing at Maryland (38-20), to Georgia State at home (41-25), at Florida (22-7) and at SMU (34-16).
•    Charlotte's Jalon Jones (Sr. / QB), a transfer from both Bethune Cookman and Jackson State, leads the 49ers in both rushing and passing. Jones has rushed for 316 yards and 3 touchdowns on 62 carries, while completing 44 of his 72 pass attempts for 420 yards with 2 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. Durrell Robinson (Fr. / RB) has 166 yards rushing on 40 carries.
•    Trexler Ivey (R-So. / QB) has also seen playing time at quarterback, completing 38 of his 59 pass attempts for 459 yards with 2 touchdowns and 3 interceptions.
•    Colorado transfer Jack Hestera leads Charlotte in receiving, catching 22 passes for 283 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Colin Weber (So. / TE) has 14 catches for 142 yards.
•    Linebacker Nikhai Hill-Green, a transfer from Michigan, leads the 49ers defense with 36 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, a sack and a pass breakup. Georgia Tech transfer linebacker Demetrius Knight II has 33 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and an interception.
•    Three-time transfer Eyabe Okie-Anoma (Alabama, UT-Martin and Michigan) is 21st in the country in sacks, averaging 0.80 per contest.
•    Punt returner Henry Rutledge has a punt return for a touchdown.
•    Youngstown State / John Carroll transfer Grant Gonya is 11th in the nation in punting, averaging 46.1 yards per punt.
•    Charlotte ranks 13th nationally in kickoff return defense (14.62) and 22nd in punt returns (14.0).
•    The 49ers have 65 transfers on their roster, including Randy Franklin (R-So. / DB) from Navy.

Coming Home
•    Navy has 10 players on its roster from the state of North Carolina, which is tied with Alabama for the sixth most of any state on Navy's roster.

Liam Barbee / So. / LB / Stanfield
Stephen Glenn / So. / P / Graham
Conner Lessane / Fr. / S / Lewisville
Alex McCalop / Fr. / NG / Greensboro
Cam Nichols / Fr. / OG / Charlotte
Justin Reed / Jr. / DE / Apex
Zarian Simms / Fr. / OT / Concord
Cameron Smith / Jr. / SB / Charlotte
Joshua Switzer / Fr. / S / Charlotte
Camari Williams / Sr. / WR / Fayetteville

First-Time Starters
•    In its 5 games this season, the Mids have had 18 different players make their first-career start.   
    
Navy's Game-By-Game First-Time Starters
• Notre Dame (6): Khalil Crawford (Sr. / FB), D.J. Donovan (Jr. / TE), Ben Purvis (So. / OG), Thomas Scully (Jr. / TE) and Camari Williams (Sr. / WR) // Jordan Sanders (Jr. / Raider).
• Wagner (5): Javan Bouton (Jr. / OG), Brent Self (Jr. / C), Trey Cummings (Jr. / OT), Brandon Chatman (So. / SB) // Andrew Duhart (So. / CB).
• Memphis (2): Alex Tecza (So. / FB) and Eli Heidenreich (So. / SB).
• North Texas (5): Blake Horvath (So. / QB), Cody Howard (So. / TE) and Drevonn Ponder (So. / FB) // Joe Hutson (Jr. / S),  Luke Pirris (So. / Raider)

Quick Strike Offense
•    Navy put together two touchdown drives of 43 seconds or less against Wagner, marking the first time the Mids have scored two touchdowns in a game that fast since Nov. 1, 2019 when they defeated UConn 56-10.
•    The Mids came back against Memphis and had a 12-second scoring drive when Alex Tecza (So. / FB) scored on a 75-yard run on the first play from scrimmage.
•    Against USF the Mids had a 17-second scoring drive when Blake Horvath (So. / QB) hit Eli Heidenreich (So / SB) with a 68-yard touchdown pass.
•    Against North Texas, Navy had its fifth scoring drive under 1 minute when Tecza scored 6 seconds after Luke Pirris  (So. / Raider) caused a fumble and Colin Ramos (Jr. / LB) recovered it. Tecza ran it in from 21 yards out to give Navy a 10-point lead in a game the Mids won by 3.

Sack Party
•    Navy recorded a school-record 8 sacks against North Texas, beating the previous record of 6 (Rice in 2005 and Temple in 2006).
•    Clay Cromwell (Sr. / DT) led the way with 2, his first two of the year, while Luke Pirris (So. / Raider), Andrew Duhart (So. / CB), Will Harbour (Sr. / LB), Xavier McDonald (Sr. / Striker) and Justin Reed (Jr. / DE) had 1 apiece.  Rayuan Lane III (Jr. / S) and Landon Robinson (So. / NG) shared a sack.
•    Navy ranks 19th in the country in sacks, averaging 3.0 per game. The Mids finished 21st in the country last year in sacks with 2.83.