Navy (1-1, 0-0 AAC) at Memphis (2-0, 0-0 AAC)
When	Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023 | 6:30 pm (CT) / 7:30 pm (ET)
Location	Memphis, Tenn. | Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium
Television	ESPN (Matt Barrie, Dan Mullen, Harry Lyles Jr.)
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. 137 or 201, SXM App Ch. 964 | Apps: Audacy (WNAV) and TuneIn (WBAL)
Live Stats	Navy Athletics
Game Notes	Navy | Memphis | AAC
Season Statistics	Navy | Memphis | AAC
Social Media	@NavyAthletics | @NavyFB | Facebook | Instagram

Opening Kick
•    Navy and Memphis meet on the gridiron for the ninth time, all as American Athletic conference foes, in the conference opener for both teams when the two square off on ESPN Thursday night (7:30 pm ET / 6:30 pm CT) at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium in Memphis. Memphis is the only undefeated team remaining in the AAC and is receiving votes in the coaches poll.
•    Memphis leads the series 5-3 and has won four-straight games against the Mids. Navy is 1-3 against the Tigers in Memphis with the last win coming in 2015 (45-20). Last year, the Tigers handled Navy 37-13 in Annapolis.
•    Thursday's contest marks the third-consecutive time the Navy-at-Memphis game has been the ESPN Thursday night game. The Tigers handed Navy one of its two losses in 2019 (35-23) and won the 2021 meeting 35-17.
•    Since joining the American Athletic Conference in 2017, the Mids are just 3-7 in games that are not played on Saturday including 0-3 in Thursday night games. The Mids are also 0-2 on Friday afternoon games and 3-2 in Friday night games.
•    Navy will have the longest regular season in the country this fall. Navy played the nation's first regular-season college football game of the year against Notre Dame on August 26 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 24-0 victory over Wagner was the Mids' first shutout win since 2008 when Navy beat Army 34-0. Additionally, it's the first shutout win at home since blanking Lafayette 7-0 in 1994.  
•     The Mids will have their second bye of the year next week before playing host to USF on Sept. 30.  Navy will have played just 3 games in the first 35 days of the season (8-26 vs. Notre Dame, 9-9 vs. Wagner and 9-14 at Memphis).
    
Broadcast Coverage
•    ESPN will carry Thursday's game with Matt Barrie (play by play), Dan Mullen (color) and Harry Lyles Jr. (sidelines) 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 6:30 pm on the Navy Radio Network, followed by game action beginning at 7:30 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.

Scouting Memphis
2-0 Overall  |  0-0 AAC
Head Coach: Ryan Silverfield

•    Memphis enters Thursday night with a 2-0 record with easy wins over Bethune-Cookman (56-14) and Arkansas State (37-3).
•    The Tigers are led by Seth Henigan (Jr / QB), who has completed 48 of his 65 passes for 573 yards with 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.
•    Henigan's favorite targets are fifth-year running back Blake Watson, a transfer from Old Dominion, and junior wide receiver Roc Taylor. Both have 9 catches with Watson gaining 62 yards and Taylor 90.  
•    Redshirt junior DeMeer Blankumsee, a transfer from Toledo, fifth-year wide receiver Tauskie Dove, a transfer from Missouri and redshirt senior Joe Scates, a transfer from Iowa State, have been Henigan's big play targets.  Blankumsee has 7 catches for 122 yards (17.4 yds/catch), Dove 4 catches for 124 yards (31.0 yds/catch) and Scates 2 catches for 49 yards (24.5 yds/catch).
•    Watson leads the Tigers' ground attack with 126 yards and 3 touchdowns on 30 carries, while sophomore Sutton Smith has carried the ball 23 times for 120 yards and 2 touchdowns.
•    The Memphis defense is paced by redshirt sophomore Chandler Martin, a transfer from East Tennessee State, and fifth-year linebacker Cincir Evans, a transfer from Coastal Carolina. Martin has 11 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble, while Evans has 8 stops and a tackle for a loss.
•    The Tigers were able to completely reboot their roster this year by getting 26 players from the transfer portal.
    
Volunteer Navy
•    Navy has 5 players on its roster who hail from the state of Tennessee - Jaxson Campbell (So / Striker / Thompson's Station), Roderic Lewis (So / Bandit / Mason), Gavin Noe (Fr / FB / Norris), Elijah Oatsvall (So / LB / Franklin) and Jordan Sanders (Jr / Raider / Chattanooga).

Home-Opening Win
•    Last Saturday's shutout of Wagner was Navy's first win in a home opener since 2019 when it walloped Holy Cross 45-7.  Navy had been outscored 118-17 in the previous three home openers combined against BYU, Marshall and Delaware.

Navy in AAC Openers
•    Navy is 6-2 in American Athletic Conference openers, including 1-1 on the road. The Mids won their first six conference openers, but have dropped their last two.
•    This will be the third time Navy has opened up conference play against Memphis (W 22-21 in 2018 / L 37-13 in 2022).
•    After playing its first-five conference openers at home, Navy will be on the road for the third time in the last four years (2020, W 27-24 at Tulane / 2021, L 28-20 at Houston).

Pitching a Shutout
•    Navy's 24-0 win over Wagner was the Mids' first shutout victory since Dec. 6, 2008 when Navy stomped Army 34-0.
•    It was the first home shutout win since Oct. 15, 1994 when the Mids beat Lafayette 7-0.  
•    It was Navy's first shutout in the first half since blanking Air Force in the opening half on Oct. 3, 2015, in a game the Mids went on to win 33-11.
•    It was the first time Navy has held an opponent without a touchdown since Oct. 19, 2019 when Navy beat USF 35-3.

Navy Offense Eclipses the 400-Yard Mark
•    Navy (408 yards vs. Wagner) eclipsed 400 yards of total offense for the first time since Oct. 14, 2022, when the Mids ran up 510 yards of total offense against SMU.

Air Navy
•    Navy's 163 yards of passing against Wagner are the most since Oct. 31, 2020, when the Mids threw for 239 yards in a loss to SMU.

Opening-Drive Touchdown
•    Navy scored a touchdown on the opening drive against Wagner (3-yd run by Daba Fofana), marking the first time Navy had scored on its opening drive of the game since Nov. 19, 2022 when the Mids upset UCF 17-14.
•    Additionally, it was the first time the Mids scored a touchdown on their opening drive of the game at home since Nov. 20, 2021, in a 38-35 loss to East Carolina.

First Drive Tells the Tale
•    Over the last two years, Navy is 5-1 when the opponent did not score on its opening drive and 0-8 when it does.  
Quick Strike Offense
•    Navy put together two scoring 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.