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Navy racked up 566 yards and 56 points to defeat the No. 23 Memphis.
The Tigers, who gave up just 12 points last week on the road at Florida State, had no answers for the Navy's millennial Wing-T as junior quarterback Blake Horvath rushed for 211 yards and 4 touchdowns on 12 carries, while completing 9 of his 12 pass attempts for 192 yards and 2 touchdowns. Horvath had touchdown runs of 5, 3, 7 and 90 yards and touchdown passes of 39 yards to Eli Heidenreich and 46 yards to Brandon Chatman. He is the first Navy player to produce 6 touchdowns in a game since Malcolm Perry did it against East Carolina in 2019.
"I hope we have some believers now," said Horvath. "I am sure with Temple and Bucknell, people were not 100-percent sure what our offense could do. We knew what we could do the whole time. Coming into this game, we didn't want to be overzealous, but we had a lot of confidence in ourselves. We have playmakers with Alex (Tecza), Daba (Fofana), these two guys (Eli Heidenreich and Brandon Chatman), and our offensive line worked their butts off. To put up 56 points to a team that just let up 12 points against Florida State, I don't have much more to say other than kudos to every single guy that got into the game today on offense."
Horvath's had 6 combined touchdowns which are the most by a Navy player since Malcolm Perry in 2019 against East Carolina. Memphis led just twice in the game as they took first quarter leads of 7-0 and 14-7 on a 7-yard touchdown run by Mario Anderson Jr. and a 57-yard run by Brandon Thomas. Thomas finished the day with 125 yards on 12 carries, while Anderson rushed for 117 yards on 17 carries.
The two teams combined for 100 points and 1,225 yards of total offense. Navy's 143 points in the first 3 games of the year are the most by a Navy team since 1918 when the Mids ran up 150 points in the first 3 games.
"We throw around the word Brotherhood a lot, but I think it really means something here," said Heidenreich. "It is something we talk about a lot. Our coaches bring it up a lot. Our players bring it up a lot. It is looking to the left and to the right and knowing that those guys are going to do anything that in their power to make sure you are successful and the team is successful. Having that trust promotes that confidence in one another."
