Ranked and unbeaten, No. 25 Navy hopes to beat Charlotte and block out the extra attention

Navy is unbeaten, ranked and heavily favored. But coach Brian Newberry wants everyone to know his players and staff are not thinking about any of those things.

“Every week we’re fighting and clawing and scratching for our lives,” Newberry said.

The No. 25-ranked Midshipmen host Charlotte on Saturday looking for the program's first 6-0 start since 1979. Navy is playing a game as a ranked team for the first time since 2019 and is facing not only the 49ers in the quest for a spot in the American Athletic Conference title game but new national attention and a spotlight on Annapolis that hasn't been a college football regularity for several years.

"Ignoring and not letting good and bad noise affect us is something that we need to focus on," junior cornerback Andrew Duhart said on a video call with reporters this week. “Making sure that we’re playing still to that high level that we need to and not letting anything slip, not letting our details slip, then we’re going to continue that success.”

Navy (5-0, 3-0 AAC) has been successful so far thanks to a new-look offense with more balance than the traditional service academy running style — one that is a perfect 18 of 18 scoring touchdowns in the red zone and has already scored more points through five games than all of last season combined. Quarterback Blake Horvath has rushed for 10 touchdowns and thrown for seven more while amassing 1,336 total yards.

“He has this command over our offense that’s been really nice to have,” said junior Eli Heidenreich, the team's leading receiver with 20 catches for 449 yards and five TDs. “He’s really composed and just a really smart player. And then physically with him, obviously he’s shown this year how capable of a runner he is. He’s one of the fastest kids on our team, and when he gets going I don’t think there’s many players that are going to be catching him.”

The 49ers (3-3, 2-0 AAC) will try to contain Navy's offense while also piling up points, which they did plenty of in a 55-24 rout of East Carolina in their last game. Charlotte has won two in a row and three of four.

“The win definitely helped bring confidence to everybody on the team, I feel like,” redshirt senior defensive lineman Chantz Williams told reporters this week. “(But) ECU’s over with. We’re on to Navy.”

Trap game?

Navy is ranked alongside No. 23 Army for the first time since 1960, and the schools that used to be powerhouses in the sport got off to matching 5-0 starts for the first time since 1945.

The Midshipmen are favored by 17 points on BetMGM Sportsbook, and their next game is also a showdown against Notre Dame next weekend at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

"This is not a trap game for us by any stretch," Newberry said. “Our players know how important this game is, and they know what kind of football team we’re about to play. We’re going to be in for a dogfight. There’s no doubt about it. We’re going to have to play really, really well Saturday to have a chance to win this game.”

Musical QBs

Charlotte could get QB Max Brown back from a thumb injury and still play freshman Deshawn Purdie with a dose of Trexler Ivey mixed in. Coach Biff Poggi said it would be a true game-time decision who starts.

“Max is back. He looked in warmups against East Carolina to me like he could’ve played, but I didn’t go to medical school or sleep in a Holiday Inn Express, so it’s not my call,” Poggi said at his weekly news conference. “We will have both quarterbacks ready to go. Both quarterbacks will be — well, all three — completely ready to go.”

Bye bye bye

Navy and Charlotte have had extra time to prepare after each getting a bye week off. It's especially important for Navy coming off a physical game against Air Force and nursing some bumps and bruises.

“We were a little banged up,” Newberry said. “No serious injuries, but we needed the week to kind of recover and get treatment and take a little bit off of them.”