Navy Midshipmen 1-6 (1-4) at Tulsa Golden Hurricane 3-4 (2-1)
Friday 29 October 2021, 7:30 pm ET / 6:30 pm CT
H.A. Chapman Stadium, Tulsa Oklahoma

TV: ESPN2
Play-by-Play: Jason Benetti, Analyst: Andre Ware, Sideline: Paul Carcaterra

RADIO: Navy Radio Network incl Sirius 137, XM 201, SXM App 964
Play-by-Play: Pete Medhurst, Analyst: Joe Miller, Sideline: Keith Mills, Studio: Scott Wykoff, Pregame Commentary: John Feinstein

OPENING KICK
• Navy and Tulsa meet for the ninth time in series history and for the seventh time as conference foes when the two square off on Friday night (7:30 pm ET) at Skelly Field at H.A. Chapman Stadium (30,000). Friday night’s game will be televised by ESPN2.
• Navy leads the all-time series against Tulsa 6-2, including a 5-1 mark in AAC games. Tulsa won last year’s contest in Annapolis 19-6. The Mids are 4-0 all-time in games played at Tulsa.
• Navy is 31-21 (.596) in the American Athletic Conference since joining in 2015. That record is tied with Cinicinnati for the fifth-best mark in the conference during that time. Only Memphis (35-17), Temple (32-18) and UCF (33-19) have been better. Navy has defeated every team in the conference at least once.
• Senior corner Michael McMorris has forced 3 fumbles this year which is tied for the fifth most in the country.
• Senior safety Kevin Brennan, senior wide receiver Mychal Cooper, senior linebacker Diego Fagot and senior slot back Chance Warren were selected as team captains for the 2021 season by their teammates. Being selected team captain is the greatest honor a Navy athlete can receive, to be chosen the leader of a group of leaders.
• Cooper was also chosen to serve as the Captain of the Captains by a vote of the team captains of all 33 of Navy’s varsity sports. It’s the second time in three years that a football player has been selected. Ford Higgins was the Captain of the Captains for the 2019-20 academic year.
• Fagot is on the “Watch Lists” for the 2021 Chuck Bednarik Award (Maxwell Football Club) and the Bronko Nagurski Trophy (Football Writers Association of America) which are presented to the top defensive player in college football.
• Fagot was named a Third-Team Preseason All-American by Phil Steele’s College Football Magazine, while Fagot (first team), senior corner Michael McMorris (third team), sophomore nose guard Donald Berniard Jr. (fourth team), senior safety Kevin Brennan (fourth team) and junior kicker Bijan Nichols (fourth team) were named to Steele’s All-AAC team. Fagot is a two-time All-AAC performer, garnering second-team honors by the league’s coaches as a junior and first-team recognition as a sophomore.
• Navy senior fullback Isaac Ruoss has been named a semifinalist by the National Football Foundation for the 2021 William V. Campbell Trophy, which is also known as the Academic Heisman. Ruoss was not among the finalists whom the National Football Foundation announced on Oct. 27. Ruoss, who majors in quantitative economics, carries a 3.87 grade-point average and has only received four B’s at the Naval Academy. On the field, Ruoss is Navy’s leading rusher with 388 yards and 2 touchdowns on 98 carries (4.0 yds/carry) and has caught 2 passes for 15 yards.
• Head coach Ken Niumatalolo earned his 100th-career victory last fall (Oct. 10) when the Mids defeated Temple in Annapolis. He is the 24th active coach with 100-career wins and just the sixth active coach to achieve it all at one school.
• Navy is 43-31 (.581) in the Niumatalolo era (2008-present) in one-score games (8 points or less).
• Navy has just one player from the state of Oklahoma. Sophomore corner Kamron Love hails from Edmond, Okla.

SCOUTING TULSA
3-4 Overall | 2-1 AAC
Head Coach: Philip Montgomery
• Tulsa enters Friday’s game with a 3-4 record. Having won two-straight contests and three of the last four, the Golden Hurricane are 2-1 in the AAC.
• Tulsa started the year 0-3, losing a 19-17 decision to UC Davis (who is 7-1) at home, dropping a hard-fought 28-23 decision at Oklahoma State and losing at Ohio State 41-20. Tulsa trailed the Buckeyes by just 7 (27-20) with 12 minutes remaining in the game.
• Since losing to Ohio State, the Golden Hurricane have earned wins over Arkansas State (41-34), Memphis (35-29) and USF (32-31). Their only loss during that stretch was a 45-10 defeat at the hands of Houston.
• Tulsa has 17 transfers on its roster, including 8 from the Autonomy Five.
• Tulsa has done a great job of taking care of the football, losing just 2 fumbles all year.
• The Tulsa passing attack is averaging 14.19 yards per completion, which ranks 17th nationally, while it is averaging 469.4 yards per game of total offense (21st).
• The Tulsa defense has been disruptive, averaging 6.6 tackles for a loss on the year, which is the 17th best in the country.
• Kicker Zack Long has put together an All-American type of season going 9-9 on field goals and 19-19 on extra points. He is one of just seven kickers in the country who has not missed a field goal this year. Meanwhile, punter Lachlin Wilson is 10th in the country in punting averaging (47.6 ).
• Cornerback Travon Fuller, a transfer from Texas A&M, is fifth in the nation in passes defended (1.4 per contest). Fuller played in 13 games for Texas A&M in 2019.
• Quarterback Davis Brin has had an outstanding year for Tulsa, ranking 15th in the country in passing yards per completion (14.19), 16th in passing yards per game (275.7) and 21st in total offense (278.1 yards per game).
• Brin’s favorite target is Sam Crawford Jr., who is averaging 18.6 yards per catch (23rd).
• The Golden Hurricane also feature one of the top running back duos in the country. Shamari Brooks has rushed for 561 yards and 4 touchdowns on 109 carries, while Deneric Prince has rushed for 371 yards and 3 touchdowns on 66 carries.
• In Tulsa’s last game against USF, Brooks rushed for 145 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries, while Prince rushed for 110 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries.
• Tulsa ran the ball 49 times for 269 yards, while throwing the ball 39 times for 266 yards in the 32-31 win over the Bulls.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE - Navy is playing the third-toughest schedule in the country this year based on opponent winning percentage from the previous year.
• The Mids’ 12 opponents this fall combined for a 72-42 (.632) record in 2020. Only Arkansas (.644) and UMass (.644) have tougher slates based on last year’s results. Navy’s opponents so far this year, including Tulsa, are a combined 41-17 (.707). SMU (L, 31-24) and Cincinnati (L, 27-20) are both ranked in the top 25.

YOUTH IS SERVED - Navy is fielding one of its youngest teams in recent memory.
• The Mids are starting 2 freshmen (both on defensve) and 7 sophomores (4 on offense, 3 on defense) and have 33 freshmen or sophomores who are on the three-deep depth chart (14 on offense, 19 on defense).
• Those numbers do not include a sophomore kickoff specialist, a freshman long snapper, a freshman punter and a freshman kickoff return specialist.
• At one point against Cincinnati, the Mids had 6 freshmen on the kickoff team.

NOTABLE INJURIES - The Mids have lost multiple key players due to injuries this
year.
• Starting bandit Mitch West is out for the year (knee)
• Starting left tackle Jake Cossavella is out for the year (leg)
• Second-team wide receiver Marcell Gleaton is out for the
year (knee)
• Second-team safety Derek Atwaters is out (knee)
• Second-team safety Ajani Cuevas-Gillis is out (shoulder)
• Second-team center Luke Coleman is out (knee)
• Starting free safety Kevin Brennan is questionable
(shoulder)
• Starting linebacker Will Harbour is questionable (shoulder)

FIRST-TIME STARTERS: 17 Navy players have earned their first-collegiate starts in the Mids’ 7 games this season, including a trio of freshmen. In 2020 Navy had 26 different players make a first-collegiate start, tied for the most in FBS. By game:
MARSHALL (8): Carlinos Acie (SB), Nick Bernacchi (OG), Jake Cossavella (OT), Tai Lavatai (QB), Joshua Pena (OG), Isaac Ruoss (FB), Jacob Busic (DE), and Will Harbour (LB)
AIR FORCE (1): James Harris II (FB)
HOUSTON (3): Luke Coleman ©, Jayden Umbarger (WR), Xavier McDonald (Striker)
UCF (3): Darrellson Masaniai ©, Tyler Fletcher (Striker) and Marcus Moore (FS)
SMU (1): Sam Glover (OT)
CINCINNATI (1): Rayuan Lane (FS)

I like Navy's chances in this game. Tulsa is getting better and has a strong offense, but Navy is maturing every game and we match up well to their strengths and weaknesses. It should be fun.

Go Navy, Beat Tulsa!

This is a game that Tulsa will probably dominate statistically but still make enough dumb mistakes to lose.

A preview podcast:

https://art19.com/shows/bleav-in-navy

(10-29-2021 10:09 AM)panicstricken Wrote:  This is a game that Tulsa will probably dominate statistically but still make enough dumb mistakes to lose.

I was looking at last year's game stats, and they are EERILY similar between the two teams.
With the exception of 140 yards more passing for Tulsa. And of course the final score.

At 3:09 in the 3rd, it was tied 6-6. Tulsa had three good drives (which included about 120 yards of passing) and Navy continued the offensive futility both teams had shown for the first 42 minutes.

This season has me too drained to even try pre-game smack. Navy has looked as bad as last year at moments, and has had some moments of the Navyest Navy Football since the 2004 Emerald Bowl --21 play TD drive vs Memphis, anyone? Basically both in the same games.

Go Navy!

Crowd looks pretty light.

Hoping for an entertaining game here.

(10-29-2021 06:44 PM)DaytonUCFan Wrote:  Crowd looks pretty light.

Hoping for an entertaining game here.

Stadium only seats 25,000 so probably only about 4,000 to 5,000 in attendance. That has been the problem all year.

Cmon Navy!

The interview with Drew Pearson was pretty cool.

Navy defense looking good

hustle saves 4 points

(10-29-2021 07:34 PM)Memphis Yankee Wrote:  The interview with Drew Pearson was pretty cool.

I laughed at the part about him and Roger and bragging rights

Glad my team was part of honoring a class act

(10-29-2021 07:40 PM)TodgeRodge Wrote:  hustle saves 4 points

Mikey McMorris is our best cover corner (great breakup earlier) and if he's not the fastest giy on the team he's top 2

this game is painful

Tulas fans, what are the chances that Monty gets fires this season? I promise Tulane has no interest in your DC and we are just asking for a friend.

(10-29-2021 05:46 PM)slhNavy91 Wrote:  

(10-29-2021 10:09 AM)panicstricken Wrote:  This is a game that Tulsa will probably dominate statistically but still make enough dumb mistakes to lose.

I was looking at last year's game stats, and they are EERILY similar between the two teams.
With the exception of 140 yards more passing for Tulsa. And of course the final score.

At 3:09 in the 3rd, it was tied 6-6. Tulsa had three good drives (which included about 120 yards of passing) and Navy continued the offensive futility both teams had shown for the first 42 minutes.

This season has me too drained to even try pre-game smack. Navy has looked as bad as last year at moments, and has had some moments of the Navyest Navy Football since the 2004 Emerald Bowl --21 play TD drive vs Memphis, anyone? Basically both in the same games.

At the half, the stats are again a near mirror image

If I were in sales, I'd be talking up a titanic defensive struggle. Everyone putting a hat on a hat, and every yard is hard won

lifetime extension for monty