Know Your Stadiums: Navy-Marine Memorial Stadium
Navy-Marine Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland. | bloguin.com
The Naval Academy plays in the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium is an outdoor stadium near the campus of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. As well as being the home of the Navy football team, but also the men’s lacrosse team and the Chesapeake Bayhawks lacross team. It will also be the home of the Military Bowl starting in 2013.
The stadium opened on September 26, 1965 with a win over William & Mary 29-2.
The stadium serves as a memorial to the Navy and Marine Corps and is dedicated to those who have served, and will serve, as upholders of the traditions and renown of the Navy and Marine Corps.
Prior to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Navy played their football games at Thompson Stadium which seated only 12,000. Navy-Marine Memorial Stadium seats 34,000 officially but has a record attendance for the Navy vs Air Force game in October 5, 2013 is 38,225 to see the Midshipmen win 28-10.
In 2004 the stadium underwent a major renovation. Among the improvements the press box was expanded, 140 club seats and associated club lounge, private suites, new stadium seating in the northwest end zone, ADA enhancements, updated restrooms, concession areas and stadium operation facilities, new banquet facilities and renovated locker room facilities.
The stadium surface was natural grass until the 2005 season when it was replaced with FieldTurf.
Navy’s rivalry game against Army has never been played at Navy-Marine Memorial Stadium. Instead they play at a neutral site between the campuses on the east coast, most often in Philadelphia and with occasional visits to Baltimore and East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Also, the Navy’s rivalry game against Notre Dame has never been played in Annapolis since the series began in 1927. All of Navy’s home games have been played in either Baltimore, Philadelphia, Cleveland, East Rutherford, Orlando or Dublin, Ireland over the years. However, since 1953, all of Notre Dame’s home games have been played in South Bend.
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- Aerial photo of Navy-Marine Memorial Stadium. | Militarybowl.org
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- A view of Navy-Marine Memorial Stadium from the pressbox on a game night. | wikipedia.org
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- Navy-Memorial Memorial Stadium | grfx.cstv.com
South Alabama vs Navy By The Numbers
South Alabama travels to play Navy tomorrow in Annapolis, Maryland. Kickoff for the game is set for 2:30 CST and the first of a home-and-home series.
The Midshipmen run the triple-option which is now considered a throw-back offense. However they run it to near perfection which is not unexpected from a service academy. In the Midshipmen’s 38-34 loss to Notre Dame they did not commit a single penalty.
The key to any team that runs the triple-option is the quarterback. This holds true with Navy. Keenan Reynolds is the engine that makes the Navy offense go. Reynolds is the team’s leading rusher with 825 yards and 18 touchdowns. He also throws for an average of 90.4 yards per game, though they rarely go to the air. He does have six touchdown passes and has been intercepted twice in 91 attempts.
When the midshipmen throw 9 or fewer passes, they have a much higher winning percentage.
Navy ranks 5th in the nation in rushing offense with an average of 306.6 yards per game and 32 rushing touchdowns on the season. The Jags rank 72nd in the nation in ushing with an average of 162.8 yards per game and 18 touchdowns.
South Alabama ranks 31st in the nation is passing offense with an average of 274.4 yards per game and 10 touchdowns. Meanwhile, Navy ranks 122nd out of 123 with an average of 97.1 yards per game with six touchdowns.
South Alabama ranks 46th in total offense with an average of 437.1 yards per game and 29 touchdowns. Navy ranks 69th in the nation with an average of 403.7 yards per game of total offense with 38 touchdowns.
In total defense, South Alabama ranks just ahead of Navy in overall yards per game allowed. The Jags rank 73rd with an average of 407.6 yards per game and 26 touchdowns. Navy ranks 76th in the nation and allows an average of 412.9 yards per game and 31 touchdowns.
Navy Ranks 27th in the nation in pass defense by allowing an average of 213.2 yards per game through the air or an average of 10.32 yards per completion. The Jags rank 66th in the nation allowing an average of 232.5 yards per game and 11.41 yards per completion.
The Jags rank 79th in the nation in rushing defense allowing an average of 175.1 yards per game and a naverage of 4.64 yards per rush and only eight touchdowns. Navy ranks 98th in the nation in rushing defense by allowing an average of 199.7 yards per game and an average of 4.94 yards per rush. They have only given up 14 rushing touchdowns on the season.
Navy ranks 53rd in the nation in scoring offense with 30.9 points per game. South Alabama ranks 63rd in scoring offense with an average of 29.4 points per game.
Navy ranks 64th in the nation in scoring defense allowing an average of 26.4 points per game while South Alabama ranks 72nd in the nation by allowing an average of 27.6 points per game.
The Jags have lost four games this season by two points or less and their three conference losses has been by a total of four points. Their largest loss of the season was by seven points to the University of Tennessee.
Wes Saxton is the team’s leading receiver with 39 receptions for 496 yards while averaging 62.0 yards per game. Shavarez Smith is second on the team with 29 catches for 551 yards and two touchdowns while averaging 68.9 yards per game. Jereme Jones is third with 28 catches for 335 yards and two touchdowns with an average of 41.8 yards per game. Danny Woodson ranks fourth on the team with 26 catches this season for 439 yards and four touchdowns. However Woodson is gone for the season with a ruptured achilles. The next two receivers have 14 catches each with Bryant Lavender gaining 168 yards and Jay Jones gaining 114 yards. Lavender is the only one of the two with a touchdown.
Look for Corey Besteda to be used more with Woodson gone for the season.
Jay Jones is the leading rusher with 446 yards on the season with three touchdowns. Ross Metheny is second with 359 yards and eight touchdowns. Cris Dinham is the third leading rusher with 266 yards and two touchdowns, though he is also gone for the remainder of the regular season with a knee injury. He could possibly return if the Jags get to go to a bowl game though.
Brandon Bridge is fourth in rushing with 196 yards, Kendall Houston is sixth an the last Jag in triple digits rushing with 101 yards.
Tomorrows game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network as well as every Jaguar game it will be broadcast on 105.5FM WNSP and streamed on wnsp.com.
Also look for Terrance Timmons and Julien Valentin to possibly get more playing time in Dinham’s absence.
USA Soccer Begins NCAA Tournament Play Tomorrow Against #1 Seed Florida State
Tomorrow, the University of South Alabama women’s soccer team will make their debut in the NCAA Tournament. This will be their first-ever appearance and they will do it against the #1 overall seeded Florida State Seminoles at Seminole Soccer Complex in Tallahassee. The match is set to begin at 6pm CST.
USA (14-5-3) defeated Western Kentucky to win the 2013 Sun Belt Conference Tournament and earned an automatic bid to the tournament. They will be facing a Seminole team who finished the season with an 18-1-3 record, won the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament and will be hosting their fifth-consecutive NCAA Tournament first-round match on Friday.
This will be the sixth time these two teams have met each other with FSU having won the previous five meetings by a combined score of 20-2. The last time they met was in 2009 when the ‘noles won 8-0.
The Jags enter the match tomorrow with a five-match winning streak and riding an emotional high from the SBC Tournament. They have outscored those five opponents 11-4 during that run.
FSU defeated #25 Duke, #4 North Carolina and #6 Virginia Tech to win the ACC Tournament title and play in their 14th consecutive NCAA Tournament. Meanwhile, USA defeated Georgia State, Arkansas State and regular-season champ Western Kentucky to win the first SBC Tournament in program history.
The winner between the Jags and the Seminoles will face the winnver between Ole Miss and Jackson State in the second round.
Annual Red-Blue World Series Starts Today
The Jaguar Baseball team will begin their annual Red-Blue World Series on Thursday at Eddie Stanky Field.
The three-game series will begin at 3:30pm on Thursday, game two will be at 3:30pm on Friday with the finale starting at 11am on Saturday. Game three will be played regardless of the outcomes of the first two games.
Ben Taylor will start for the Red team in the series opener facing the left-handed Jared Gates of the Blue team. Locke St. John will start for the Red team in game two facing off against James Traylor for the Blue team. Then the finale will see Hunter Soleymani for the Red team and Dillon Buhrkuhl for the Blue team as the starters.
The Red-Blue World Series is traditionally the end of the fall practice at USA. Rosters for the Red-Blue World Series have not been released yet.
Texas Rallies Past USA In Second Half To Win 84-77
South Alabama men’s basketball team led by as many as 17 over the Texas Longhorns, but they outscored the Jags 53-32 in the second half including a 20-5 run at the end of the game to defeat the Jags 84-77 Tuesday night.
Jaguar senior Augustine Rubit scored a team-high 22 points, including the first nine of the game and his first two 3-pointers of his career. He also came down with a team-high of eight rebounds.
Fellow senior Antoine Allen nailed four first-half 3-pointers to tie his personal best. Mychal Ammons also had four three-pointers to add 16 points of his own.
The game was a tale of two halves. The first half was all Jaguars after they allowed Texas to score the first two points of the game, they would score the next six, including one of Rubit’s two triples. They would rush out to a 15-6 lead.
With 5:30 left till halftime, UT would cut the deficit to four points, but the Jags would respond with a 13-1 run to give the Jags a healthy 42-26 lead.
The second half was all Texas. The Longhorns trailed 72-64 with 7:30 left to play as Holmes started a 9-0 run to take their first lead since the opening shot of the game.
After a three to regain the lead, Texas tied it back up at 75-all. Ammons would give USA their final lead of the game with a layup, but the final points of the game would all go to Texas. They would make two free-throws then force a stop and convert it into a fast-break layup.
“First and foremost, I thought our team was well prepared,” USA head coach Matthew Graves said. “Our coaching staff did an excellent job of having our guys ready. We came out and attacked well versus their zone early. We did shoot a lot of 3s, but at the same time, when we went back and talked about it at halftime, they were good shots. We’ve got an undersized ballclub, but we have five starters that are all capable of making 3s.”
“In the second half, when Texas switched to their man-to-man defense, I was really disappointed with our ability to attack them. I thought once we had them spread out a little bit, we ended up driving the ball too much and we didn’t make the extra pass like we did in the first half. We had 10 assists in the first half and two in the second half. Against a man-versus-zone, it really shouldn’t be like that.”
“You have to credit Texas,” Graves said. “We had them down early and it’s a credit to them and their coaching staff that their players didn’t hang their heads and they came back and fought. Unfortunately we were on the wrong end tonight.”
Rubit moved into sixth place in school history with 1,421 points as he passed Demetric Bennett. He is also tied for sixth place in career blocks with 95 and is one shy of third place in career free throws made with 423.
South Alabama returns home to face Southern Miss on Monday, November 18 at the Mitchell Center as part of the CBE Classic. Tip off of that game is scheduled for 7:05pm.
Coach Jones Monday Press Conference
Head coach Joey Jones spoke with the media on Monday to preview his team’s trip to Navy on Saturday. Below are some highlights from the press conference.
“We’re looking forward to the game in Annapolis with Navy,” Jones began. “They are a great football team — they took Notre Dame down to the wire, 38-34 — and haven’t had any trouble moving the ball on anybody. They’ve done a good job offensively and play real scrappy defense. It’s going to be a good football game, I’m looking forward to it.”
Jones spoke about the environment he expects on game day in Maryland. “One thing we have to keep in mind is we are going to play a football game and not get caught up in whatever is around the stadium and what is going on during the game. From what I hear it’s going to be an exciting atmosphere in Annapolis, they are very proud of their football team. But we are very proud of our team too and are excited about going up there and playing them.”
Jones talked about what he wants to see out of his team this week while preparing for Navy. “We’re just trying to get better fundamentally. We worked three days last week, I thought we got better, and thankfully we had three days to work on their offense because they are very difficult to prepare for. I don’t think people understand the difficulties in playing this offense. But we have a good plan, we have to go out and execute it.”
He then answered a question about the most difficult aspects of defending Navy’s triple-option offense. “They make adjustments to everything you do, they know teams can’t prepare and have a lot of schemes against them. Most teams have two or three plans against the option attack, but they’ve been doing it long enough where they have answers to that. The most difficult thing will be for us to adjust in the game. Hopefully we can respond and make a few adjustments on the sideline during the game, that’s the biggest thing we will have to do.”
Jones also answered a question about what he wants to see from the Jaguar offense on Saturday. “Their defensive front is a little different from most teams we play, but they play extremely hard. They are real sound in what they do, they are a bend-but-don’t-break defense. We have to be able to sustain drives, we have to keep their offense off the field, and we can’t have three-and-outs and expect to win the ball game. We’ve got to be able to drive the ball down the field and change the field position at worst but hopefully score.”
Talking about the offense and what the team needs to do offensively against Navy, Jones had this to say. “I don’t think it’s different from what we’ve been doing, we are going to try and isolate some players if we can. We have to be smart about what we call because we can’t get into a pass-happy game either, we’ve got to be able to run the ball as well. It’s very critical that you stay ahead of the chains where you are not third-and-eight or third-and-10 against them, because they can make you pay.”
He spoke about being aggressive defensively against the Navy offense. “You can do some things aggressively, but you have to be careful about your blitzing because if they find that you’re blitzing inside they are going to get the ball outside, pitch it on you and be around the perimeter. But you can definitely mix things up and be aggressive, but what we have to do for the most part is play great technique. That’s the best way teams can play against this offense, if you try to get fancy and draw things up that look good on the board, all of a sudden they’re in the end zone.”
South Alabama and Navy will kick off at 2:30pm in Annapolis, Maryland. The game will be broadcast on 105.5FM and WNSP.com with television converage by CBS Sports.
USA Volleyball’s Daniel Earns More SBC Weekly Honors And Makes History
Freshman Mechell Daniel was named Sun Belt Freshman of the Week for the fourth time this season. This is the sixth consecutive week a Jaguar has earned the honor. She also made Sun Belt History by being the first honoree to earn Freshman of the Week and Offensive Player of the Week honors in the same week. Photo by Brad Puckett | usajaguars.com
Mechell Daniel made history on Monday when she earned both Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week and Sun Belt Freshman Player of the Week honors. She is only the fifth Jaguar to earn the offensive player of the week honor.
This is the fourth time Daniel has been named the freshman player of the week and marks the sixth-consecutive week the honor went to a South Alabama Jaguar. This is the first time Daniel has been named the offensive player of the year in her Jaguar career.
In helping to lead the Jaguars to a perfect 3-0 record this week and clinching a berth in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, she recorded a pair of double-doubles and just narrowly missing a third against Troy. For the season she has 12 double-doubles with 11 of them coming against Conference teams.
The Chelmsford, England native currently ranks third in the conference in kills (3.83) and points (4.36), and is tied for sixth in service aces (0.25).
USA Women’s Volleyball will conclude their regular season on the road this weekend with matches at Western kentucky on Friday and Georgia State on Sunday. They will then prepare for the Sun Belt Conference Championships the following weekend at Troy University.
USA Soccer Travels To Tallahassee To Face #1 Seed FSU
The University of South Alabama Women’s Soccer team pose after wining their first-ever Sun Belt Conference Championship by defeating Western Kentucky 1-0 on Sunday in San Marcos, Texas. | sunbeltsports.org
The South Alabama women’s soccer team found out that they will travel to face #1 seed Florida State in Tallahassee on Friday in the opening round of the 2013 NCAA Championship.
The Jags (14-5-3) won their first-ever Sun Belt Conference Tournament title and earned an automatic bid to the field of 64. Florida State is the #1 seed overall, the Atlantic Coast Conference champion with an overall record of 18-1-3. Their only loss of the season came to then #1 ranked Virginia.
Actually, all of the #1 seeds in this year’s tournament hail from the ACC. FSU, Virginia, Virginia Tech and North Carolina are all top seeds. Meanwhile, the ACC has eight teams competing in the tournament, which leads all conferences.
“We’re buzzing with excitement,” said USA first-year head coach Graham Winkworth. “Ten months ago, when I came here, I told the girls we would be playing for a championship, and here we are, playing the top team in the country in the NCAA Tournament.”
“I want the girls to enjoy this occasion,” Winkworth continued. “They enjoyed last night and watching the selection show today, but tomorrow we’re back to business, and it will be like any other week. Florida State are the best team, but we’ve prepared for good teams all year long.”
“We’re going to treat them with respect, but we’re not going to go to any game scared,” Winkworth concluded. “It’s 11 players versus 11 players, and we’re going to give them a game. We’re looking forward to the opportunity.”
Thirty-one conference were granted automatic berths in the 2013 Championship tournament with the remaining 33 teams selected at-large. The top 16 teams are seeded and conference teams cannot play each other in the first or second rounds. When pairing teams, the committee follows geographic proximity and sites are selected for the first round to create the least number of flights.
First round matches are played at campus sites on November 15 and 16. Second and third round matches will be played on Friday, November 22 and Sunday, November 24 at the same campus sites.
Quarterfinal matches will be played on November 29 and 30 also on campus sites.
The 32nd Annual NCAA Women’s COllege Cup will be held on December 6 and 8 in Cary, North Carolina at the WakeMed Soccer Park with Campbell University serving as the host. The national semifinals will be played on December 6 and both will air on ESPNU, the first at 5:00pm Eastern Time and the second airing at 7:30pm Eastern time.
The national championship match will air on ESPNU live on Sunday, December 8 at 3:00pm Eastern time.
The Jags and the Seminoles will play this Friday in Tallahassee with the match starting at 6:00pm Central time.
USA Football Returns After Three-Day Break
After a three day break, the Jaguar football team returned to the Jaguar Practice Facility on Sunday night to continue preparation for their trip to Navy on Saturday.
The Jags are preparing to defend the triple-option that the midshipmen run very well. They have won a number of close games and run their offense and defense with lots of discipline.
Head coach Joey Jones told AL.com that they had a good practice. “They came back refreshed and we had a good practice,” Jones said. “We went over special teams and also had a good 45-minute period with offense and defense. It was good to get back together and kind of finalize the gameplan after being off for three days last week. We narrowed it down and presented it to them.”
“I thought it was good,” he continued. “I think when you have a few days off, we still worked them pretty hard this week and we tried to hit the weight room pretty hard, but they came back and had a couple of days off and they came back ready to roll.”
Navy is 5-4 overall with wins over Indiana, Delaware, Air Force, Pittsburgh, and Hawaii. Their losses have come to Western Kentucky (19-7), Duke (35-7), Toledo (45-55 2OT) and Notre Dame (38-34).
South Alabama will have their normal off day on Monday before returning to the practice field again on Tuesday morning. They will continue to implement their game plan and working to defend the triple option. Texas State ran a version of the option, but nothing quite like what they will see Navy run.
The Jaguar defensive players will have to be in position, if they allow themselves to be out of position, Navy will make them pay. Navy has been successful in moving the ball on every team they faced this season, the Jags will have to find a way to keep the Midshipmen behind the down and distance and also find a way to get off the field on third down. Also, defensive substitutions will be key as Navy will look to control the ball for large chunks of time and grind out yards and scores.
The game is scheduled to kick off at 2:30pm (CT) in Annapolis, Maryland. The game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network as well as WNSP 105.5FM locally and WNSP.com streaming world wide.
USA Women’s Volleyball Team Clinched SBC Tournment Spot With Win Over ULM
The University of South Alabama women’s Volleyball team clinched a berth in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament with a 3-0 win over Louisiana-Monroe on Sunday afternoon at Jag Gym. This will be the program’s first berth since the 2010 season and their 17th overall.
The Jags (13-13 overall, 8-8 SBC) will finish out the regular season next weekend with matches against Sun Belt leader Western Kentucky on Friday and Georgia State on Sunday.
The win on Sunday marks the sixth win of it’s last seven matches to bring momentum into the final week of the regular season. USA is currently in a three-way tie with Lousiana-Lafayette and Texas-Arlington for fourth place in the conference.
Freshman Mechell Daniel earned her 12th double-double of the season with 10 kills and 13 digs, this is her 11th against Sun Belt Conference foes. Fellow Freshman Jessica Lewis finished with seven kills and 17 attacks. Mallory Moore, also a freshman, added six kills as well.
ULM fell to 6-26 overall and 2-14 in Sun Belt play.
“I think this is the first time during the conference season that we controlled the match pretty much the whole time,” Jaguar head coach Amy Hendrichovsky stated after the match. “Towards the end of the third set, we made a little change to the lineup and lost a few points, but for the most part, we controlled the match the whole time. Our team was able to be mature and come out with the same focus and same intensity after each break, so that was good to see.”
“Going into this season, it was a goal for us to make the conference tournament, but with the way we are playing right now, we’ve set higher goals,” Hendrichovsky continued. “It’s nice that we didn’t barely get in or back our way in. We actually won our way in and we’re hoping for a decent seed. It could be anybody’s game once you get in the tournament. We’ll now focus on these next two matches and look to gain some momentum.”
The Sun Belt tournament will be held at Troy University on November 21 through November 23.