Navy and SMU will meet Saturday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (34,00) in Annapolis on Senior Day. Kickoff is set for 3:30 PM (ET) and the game will be televised by CBS Sports Network with John Sadak, Randy Cross and Sheehan Stanwick-Burch on the call. This is the 19th meeting all-time between the two schools, but just the third as American Athletic Conference foes.
Navy enters play in fourth place in the West Division, 1/2 game behind SMU for third and 1 game behind Houston for second. The Mids still have a shot at finishing in a tie for first place, but would need wins over SMU and Houston, an SMU win over Memphis and a Memphis loss to East Carolina on the final weekend. The Mids would lose out in a headto-head tie with Memphis, but a four-way tie with Memphis, SMU and Houston is too convoluted to break at this point.
An SMU win on Saturday would set up a showdown for a share of first place next weekend when it plays at Memphis
Navy’will honor its 34 seniors in a pregame ceremony on Saturday. The senior class has compiled a record of 33-15 (.688), which puts them four wins away from tying the school record for wins by a senior class and five from breaking the record. Navy has at least four and as many as six games remaining if it makes it to the AAC Championship Game and a bowl game.
The National Anthem will take place at 3:16 PM, followed by fly-over featuring two Bell-Boeing MV-22 Ospreys from the “Blue Knights” of Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 365 based out of Marine Corps Air Station New River in Jacksonville, N.C. Piloting the lead aircraft will be Major Jason “Crome” Harris, USNA Class of 2003, and Capt. Anthony “Cheesecake” Beaupre, USNA Class of 2012. The dash two aircraft will be piloted by Captain Drew “WANG” Presnell, USNA Class of 2012 and Captain James “Bob” Barker, USNA Class of 2012. The Blue Knights recently returned home from eight months of supporting operations in the 5th Fleet as part of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit followed by Hurricane Relief operations in Puerto Rico.
GAME COVERAGE
- Saturday’s game will be televised nationally by CBS Sports Network with John Sadak, Randy Cross and Sheehan Stanwick-Burch on the call
- WBAL Radio (1090 AM) will air a two-and-a-half hour preview show before the 60-minute network pregame show beginning at 12 noon with Keith Mills and Scott Wykoff live from Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
- The Navy Football Tailgate Show on WNAV 1430 AM / 99.9 FM will air at 1:30 PM.
- The Navy Football Pregame Show with Pete Medhurst, Joe Miller and Tim Murray will get underway at 2:30 PM, followed by game action beginning at 3:30 PM on the Navy Radio Network.
- Following the contest, Medhurst, Miller and Murray will recap the day’s events in a 30-minute postgame show.
- Eye On Annapolis will also be covering the game on Twitter and will have pre-game, end-of-quarter, halftime and end of game recorded updates. Photos of the action will be handled for us by Kevin Carroll from a digital cure photography
