MILITARY BOWL
NAVY MIDSHIPMEN vs. VIRGINIA CAVALIERS
Thursday, Dec. 28
1:30 p.m. ET
Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium
(34,000/FieldTurf)
Annapolis, Maryland
Television
ESPN
Clay Matvick, Kirk Morrison and Alex Corddry
National Radio
ESPN Radio
SiriusXM 80
John Brickley and Brad Edwards
Navy Radio
WBAL-AM 1090 (flagship)
THE GAME
The Military Bowl is the only bowl game to be played in the Washington, D.C., region and the first to be played on the campus of one of the nation’s service academies … The Military Bowl has provided more than $700,000 to the USO and other organizations that support the nation’s military … American Athletic Conference teams are a combined 1-2 in the Military Bowl since the league’s formation in 2013 … Navy was a 44-28 winner against Pittsburgh in 2015 for the conference’s only victory … Teams that are current mempbers of The American are a combined 1-5 in the Military Bowl since the game’s inception … Navy will make its third appearance in the Military Bowl, while Virginia will make its first appearance in the game … Navy and Virginia have met 39 times previously in a series that dates to 1889 … Navy is 28-11 all-time against Virginia, butthe Cavaliers have won the last five matchups … Navy’s last win against Virginia was a 20-10 decision Sept. 13, 1986 … The teams have not met since a 47-10 win by Virginia Sept. 10, 1994 … Navy is 20-6 against Virginia in Annapolis … Navy graduate George Welsh ’56 coached at both Navy (1973-81) and Virginia (1982-2000) and finished his career as the all-time wins leader at both institutions.
NAVY
6-6, 4-4 American
Head Coach
Ken Niumatalolo (Hawaii ’89)
83-48, ninth season
Notes
Navy has endured a roller-coaster type of season … The Midshipmen opened the year with five straight wins and were ranked No. 24 in the Oct. 9 Amway coaches’ poll, but find themselves mired a stretch of six losses in seven games to close the regular season … Navy has played competitively in every game this season — the largest margin of defeat for the Midshipmen has been 10 points, while two of the setbacks were decided by three points or fewer … Navy is making its 14th bowl appearance in 15 seasons … The Midshipmen have made 22 bowl appearances overall and are 10-11-1 in their previous games … Since joining the American Athletic Conference in 2015, Navy is 18-6 in conference games, trailing only USF (19-5) for the best record in league play … Head coach Ken Niumatalolo is Navy’s all-time leader in wins (83) and is the 10th-longest-tenured coach in NCAA FBS … Navy is ranked second nationally in rushing offense, averaging 343.0 yards per game … The Midshipmen are ninth nationally in fewest penalties (4.2 per game) … Navy will go with QB Malcolm Perry against Virginia … Perry, who spent most of the season at slotback, moved to quarterback for the Midshipmen’s Nov. 11 game against SMU (a 43-40 win) … Perry missed the game at Notre Dame due to injury, but has seen action at quarterback in each of the last two games … Perry has rushed for 1,068 yards on 122 carries, averaging 8.8 yards per carry and 97.1 yards per game with nine touchdowns … QB Zach Abey has rushed for 1,325 yards and 14 touchdowns … The leading receiver is WR Tyler Carmona, who has 14 catches for 381 yards and four TDs … The defense is led by LB Micah Thomas, S Sean Williams and LB D.J. Palmore, who were all chosen to The American’s all-conference team … Palmore. a second-team selection, has 73 tackles with 2.5 sacks and a team-leading 12.5 tackles for loss to go with three fumble recoveries … Thomas and Williams, who were both honorable mention all-conference picks, are the two tackles leaders on the squad … Thomas has 81 stops with a team-high three interceptions, while Williams has 74 tackles … Navy is 2-6 in 2017 against teams that qualified for a bowl game … The six teams that defeated Navy this season have a combined record of 54-18 (.750).
VIRGINIA
6-6, 3-5 ACC
Head Coach
Bronco Mendenhall (Oregon State ’88)
8-16, second season at Virginia
107-59, 13th season as collegiate head coach
Notes
Virginia makes its 19th appearance in a bowl game as the Cavaliers face an American Athletic Conference opponent for the first time in postseason play … Virginia is one of four teams in 2017 bowl games that will play at its opponent’s home stadium, joining Akron (Boca Raton), Iowa State (Liberty) and Wisconsin (Orange) … Virginia began its season with five wins in its first six games, but the Cavaliers dropped five of their last six to close the season … Virginia is 1-0 against The American this season with a Sept. 16 win against UConn in Charlottesville … Virginia was projected to finish seventh in the ACC Coastal Division, but the Cavaliers went 3-5 in conference play to register a fourth-place finish, tying with Duke and Pittsburgh … Head coach Bronco Mendenhall is in his second season at Virginia after spending 11 years as head coach at BYU … Mendhenhall has reached a bowl game 12 times in 13 seasons as a collegiate head coach … LB Micah Kiser was named to numerous All-America teams, including a first-team selection from Sporting News … Kiser also won the William V. Campbell Trophy as the top scholar-athlete in collegee football … Kiser has registered 134 tackles with 5.0 sacks, 9.5 tackles for loss and two fumble recoveries this season, while he enters the Military Bowl with exactly 400 tackles in his career … S Quin Blanding also was chosen as an All-America selection by Walter Camp, Sporting News and the FWAA, which all had him on the second team … Blanding has made 121 stops and has a team-high four interceptions … Kiser, Blanding and LB Jordan Mack, who has 105 stops, make Virginia the only team nationally to have three players with at least 100 tackles in 2017 … They lead a defense that has allowed an average of 26.7 points and 357.8 yards per game … The Cavaliers have been led offensively by QB Kurt Benkert, a transfer from ECU who has thrown for 3,062 yards and 25 touchdowns against eight interceptions in 2017 … RB Jordan Ellis is the leading rusher with 799 yards and six touchdowns on 204 carries … WR Olamide Zaccheaus leads the team with 80 receptions for 833 yards and five touchdowns and is the second-leading rusher with 182 yards and a TD … WR Andre Levrone has a team-leading seven touchdown receptions.