NAVY at FLORIDA ATLANTIC
Friday, Sept. 1 • 8 p.m. • ESPNU
FAU Stadium (29,945/Natural Grass)
Boca Raton, Florida
Television
ESPNU
Dave Lamont, Kelly Stouffer and Tiffany Green
Radio
WBAL-AM 1090 (Navy flagship)
THE GAME
Friday’s game will be the second meeting between Navy and Florida Atlantic … The Midshipmen were 24-17 winners in Annapolis Nov. 3, 2012, behind QB Keenan Reynolds, who rushed for 159 yards and a touchdown and threw two TD passes to WR Brandon Turner … The win for Navy clinched a spot in the 2012 Fight Hunger Bowl.
NAVY
0-0, 0-0 American
Head Coach
Ken Niumatalolo (Hawaii ’89)
77-42, ninth season
Notes
Navy is a combined 20-7 in its two seasons as an American Athletic Conference member … The Midshipmen went 9-5 overall, won The American’s West Division with a 7-1 conference record and hosted the 2016 conference championship … Navy has registered five straight winning seasons and has been above .500 in eight of Ken Niumatalolo’s nine seasons as head coach … QB Zach Abey, who made his first career start in last year’s Army-Navy game, is projected as the 2017 starter … Abey rushed for 384 yards and six touchdowns last year … LB D.J. Palmore registered team highs with 6.0 sacks and 11.5 tackles for loss, while LB Micah Thomas led the team with 107 tackles in 2016 … Navy’s 2017 season will be chronicled on Showtime’s ‘A Season With’ series, which had previously featured Notre Dame (in 2015) and Florida State (2016).
FLORIDA ATLANTIC
0-0, 0-0 Conference USA
Head Coach
Lane Kiffin (Fresno State ’96)
0-0, first season at Florida Atlantic
35-21, sixth season as collegiate head coach
Notes
Florida Atlantic has turned to Lane Kiffin to stem the tide of three straight 3-9 seasons … Kiffin, who most recently served as Alabama’s offensive coordinator, has prior head coaching stops at USC and Tennessee and with the NFL’s Oakland Raiders … The Owls return 17 starters from last year’s squad, though the lineup on the field could look noticeably different in 2017 with the addition of a number of transfer students … The starting quarterback appeared to be a three-man race late into training camp, though QB Jason Driskel took most of the snaps last season … RB Devin Singletary rushed for 1,021 yards and 12 touchdowns, while RB Greg Howell had 828 yards and a team-high 13 TDs last season … LB Azeez Al-Shaair was a Conference USA second team pick in 2016.