Navy Travels to East Carolina on Saturday

Setting the Stage 
•  Navy and East Carolina will meet on Saturday afternoon at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium (50,000) in Greenville, N.C. Kickoff is set for 4:00 PM and the game will be televised nationally by ESPNews. 
•  With a win on Saturday, Navy will clinch the West Division title of the American Athletic Conference. The Mids lead Houston and Tulsa by one game in the loss column and Memphis and SMU by two games. Navy has already defeated Houston, Tulsa and Memphis. The Mids travel to Dallas next Saturday (11-26) to play SMU. 
•  Navy leads the all-time series against ECU, 4-1, including a 45-21 victory last year in Annapolis in the Mids' first-ever conference game.
•  Navy is 24-5 (.828) over its last 29 games with three of the five losses coming against ranked opponents and all five of the losses coming away from home (Notre Dame at FedExField in 2014, at Notre Dame in 2015, at Houston in 2015, at unranked Air Force in 2016 and at unranked USF in 2016). The Mids own wins over top-15 programs Memphis (2015) and Houston (2016) during that same time period.
•  Navy is 12-2 (.857) in the AAC since joining the conference at the start of the 2015 season.
•  Navy's senior class (`17), which boasts a 36-13 (.735) mark, needs one win to become the school's all-time winningest class over a four-year period. Last year's seniors (36-16, .692) tied the Class of 1909 (36-7-5, .802) for the school record with 36. 
•  Navy owns the nation's longest home winning streak, having won 15 consecutive games at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. 
•  Navy has won conseuctive games by a combined total of three points (28-27 over Notre Dame, 42-40 over Tulsa). It is the fewest combined points Navy has won by in consecutive games in school history.
•  Over the last five years, Navy is 25-1 (.962) when winning the turnover battle.
•  Under head coach Ken Niumatalolo, the Mids are 33-11 (.750) in the months of November and December, including 16-3 (.842) over the last four years.
•  Kevin Brown and Al Groh will call the action for ESPNews. 
•  The Navy Football Tailgate Show on WNAV 1430 AM / 99.9 FM will air at 2:00 PM.
•  The Navy Football Pregame Show with Pete Medhurst, Omar Nelson, Joe Miller and Tim Murray will get underway at 3:00 PM, followed by game action beginning at 4:00 PM on the Navy Radio Network.  •  Following the contest, Medhurst, Nelson, Miller and Murray will recap the day's events in a 30-minute postgame show.

Scouting East Carolina
•  East Carolina enters Saturday's game with a 3-7 record, but have proven it can play with anybody. The Pirates have beaten Western Carolina (52-7), NC State (33-30) and UConn (41-3).  ECU has losses to South Carolina (20-15), Virginia Tech (54-17), UCF (47-29), USF (38-22), Cincinnati (31-19), Tulsa (45-24) and SMU (55-31).
• ECU features the best receiver in the nation in senior Zay Jones.  Last week against SMU, despite drawing double and triple coverage during most of the game, Jones finished with 12 catches for 173 yards and a touchdown. It marked his 17th game with 10 or more catches, his 18th with triple digit receiving yardage and his 14th with 10-plus receptions and 100 or more yards. The leading receiver at the NCAA FBS level needs eight catches to pass former Pirate teammate Justin Hardy (2011-14) as the career receptions leader in NCAA FBS history at 388. He is just 22 yards shy of surpassing Hardy's ECU single-season record for reception yards with 1,473 through 10 games.
•  The Pirates have played two quarterbacks this year.  Phillip Nelson, a transfer from Minnesota, has completed 237 of his 349 passes for 2,621 yards with 16 touchdowns and eight interceptions.  Gardner Minshew has completed 82 of 143 passes for 926 yards and four touchdowns.    
•  James Summers leads the Pirate ground attack, rushing for 683 yards and six touchdowns on 129 carries.
•  Jordan Williams leads the defense with 69 tackles and four tackles for a loss, while Dayon Pratt has recorded 58 tackles, 7.5 tackles for a loss, 2.5 sacks and four pass breakups.
•  David Plowman has made 15 of his 20 field goal attempts with a long of 49, while punter Worth Gregory is averaging 41.8 yards per punt.

AAC Standings Update
•  Navy (West) and Temple (East) control their own destiny in regards to the AAC standings. The Mids need to beat ECU or SMU to win the West, while Temple needs to beat both Tulane and ECU or win one of those two if USF loses to either SMU or UCF to win the East.
•  The AAC and the SEC are the only two FBS conference where every team has won at least three games this year.
•  Road teams are 13-24 (.351) in AAC games this year.  

Worth Accounts For 4 TDs, Leads Navy Over Tulsa 42-40
•  (AP) - Navy quarterback Will Worth ran for 122 yards and scored three touchdowns and the Midshipmen took control of the American Athletic Conference's West Division with a 42-40 victory over Tulsa on Saturday.
• Navy is now in the driver's seat to earn a spot, and possibly host, the AAC Championship Game on Dec. 3. The Mids have won 15 consecutive games at home - now the longest home streak in the nation after Clemson's 21-game streak was snapped by Pitt.
• Worth, who also threw for a score, has a touchdown in all nine games this season, tying Chris McCoy (1995-97) for the second-longest streak in school history. It was also Worth's fifth straight game with 100 or more rushing yards.
• Tulsa quarterback Dane Evans became the school's all-time passing leader after going 16 of 27 for 369 yards with four touchdowns. Evans also had a 1-yard touchdown run that pulled the Golden Hurricane to within 38-37 with 10:34 left in the game.
• Justin Hobbs caught five passes for 123 yards, while Josh Atkinson had five receptions for 102 yards with a touchdown for Tulsa (7-3, 4-2).
• Navy senior Dishan Romine ran for 97 yards on six carries and got his first career touchdown with a 41-yard scamper that provided a 14-10 lead. Romine also had a 48-yard return on the opening kick-off that set up Navy's first touchdown.

Navy Football Headed To The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex Area For Bowl Game
•  The Navy football team is headed to a bowl game for the 13th time in the last 14 years after a 28-27 victory over Notre Dame on Nov. 5 at EverBank Field in Jacksonville. 
• Navy already had a contractual agreement to play in the 2016 Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl as an Independent before joining the American Athletic Conference.  The Armed Forces Bowl will be played at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth on Friday, Dec. 23 at 4:30 PM (ET), 3:30 PM (CT) against a team from the Big 12. 
• Navy is still very much in play for the Group of Five bid to a New Year's Six Bowl, which goes to the top-ranked conference champion among the Group of Five Conferences (American Athletic Conference, Mountain West, Conference USA, Mid-American and Sun Belt) as selected by the College Football Selection Committee. The Group of Five Champion will play in the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium (Cowboys Stadium) on Monday, Jan. 2 at 1:00 PM (ET), 12 noon (CT) against a team from the Power 5.
• If Navy is selected for the Cotton Bowl, that would preempt the contractual agreement with the Armed Forces Bowl.
• Tickets are available now for the Armed Forces Bowl at navysports.com
• Tickets prices are $30 (End Zone General Admission), $50 (Upper Level Sideline), $60 (Lower Level Goal Line) and $75 (Lower Level Sideline).  Donated tickets for midshipmen and enlisted personnel and their families are $60.
• If Navy is selected for the Cotton Bowl, fans who purchase Armed Forces Bowl tickets can transfer their purchase towards a Cotton Bowl ticket or request a refund.

700 Club
•  Navy needs one more win to become the 24th school in the FBS and the first Service Academy to reach 700 wins in its history.
•  Navy's has amassed a 699-549-57 record in what is its 136th season of football.
•  Michigan is the all-time leader with 934 wins, while Notre Dame is second with 896.  

Senior Class Goes For Wins Record
•  Navy's senior class (`17), which boasts a 36-13 (.735) mark, needs one win to break the school's all-time wins record over a four-year period.
•  Last year's seniors (`16) tied the Class of 1909 for the school record with 36 only to be tied by this year's senior class with at least four and potentially five games remaining. The Class of 2016 finished with a 36-16 (.692) record, while the Class of 1909 went 36-7-5 (.802).