-- In his weekly press conference, Charlotte head coach Biff Poggi didn’t commit to a starting quarterback, calling it a game-time decision. That was a bit of gamesmanship. Max Brown got the start over freshman Deshawn Purdie. When Brown was pulled, he was replaced by Trexler Ivey instead of Purdie. It turns out that Purdie was injured and unavailable.

"Well, Deshawn actually broke his thumb against East Carolina, so he had surgery on the Monday of the bye week," said Poggi. "We weren't going to play him and risk any further damage because he'll be ready to go with another week."

-- Navy is off to their first 6-0 start since 1979. Their last 7-0 start came a year earlier, in 1978. The Mids defeated #15 Pitt for that seventh win and were ranked as high as #11 before losing games to Notre Dame, Syracuse, and Florida State. They rebounded with a 28-0 shutout of Army, then defeated WAC champion BYU in the inaugural Holiday Bowl to finish 9-3.

The 6-0 start is only the seventh in program history. Navy started 6-0 in 1906, 1926 (the national championship season), 1934, 1960, 1978, and 1979.

"Proud of these guys," said Brian Newberry. "We hadn't won six games around here since 2019, and that makes us bowl eligible, which is huge. It’s a great reward for our players. We're not satisfied with that, obviously, but it's good to get to that sixth win, and it's the first time we're 6-0 since 1979. That’s not easy to do, regardless of who you're playing."

-- Alex Tecza punctuated his first touchdown with a pretty impressive back flip celebration in the end zone.

"It's just something I've seen around the game of football," he said after the game. "I kind of was just messing around with some of my buddies, 'I'm going to hit a back flip this week.' I had to make sure it was a touchdown where no one was around me."

Tecza joked that he hoped Coach Newberry didn't see the flip. When told that he'll probably have to do up-downs at practice as punishment, he was resigned to his fate.

"Yeah, probably."

-- Despite the blowout win, Charlotte actually outgained Navy, 363-288. Some of that can be explained by the turnovers; the Mids had six drives that started in Charlotte territory, including one that began at the 17-yard line. And with two interceptions returned for a touchdown, Navy had two fewer possessions than the 49ers.

However, Charlotte's defense also played well. After the first quarter, Navy's offense only scored once while punting the ball six times.

"I thought our defense struggled on the first three series, but after that, they settled in and played very well," said Poggi.

Brian Newberry acknowledged the offense's struggles but liked how the team could lean on the defense. He knows that with the challenges remaining on the schedule, the offense will have to get back in gear.

"The first quarter was wild," he said. "I thought we played well on both sides of ball. I think for me, you score 51 points and you look up and you really, for three quarters, didn't play very well offensively. We’re going to have to play much better. I thought we were real sloppy and had some things to clean up, but that's a sign of a good football team. When one side struggles, the other side picks up the slack and I thought we did that defensively today."

-- Horvath's three passing touchdowns were the most by a Navy quarterback since Keenan Reynolds threw three touchdown passes against Central Michigan in 2012. That was Reynolds' first career start. Horvath now has 10 passing TDs on the season, which is the sixth most in program history. Ricky Dobbs set the school record with 13 in 2010.

"Nobody's been able to stop him," said Poggi. "I think he's a Heisman candidate because of his value to the team. He does it all. He runs, he throws, he makes great decisions and I think he played great. He's a really great player."

-- Dashaun Peele is the first player in Navy history to return two interceptions for a touchdown. It only happened once before in AAC history: SMU's Horace Richardson did it in 2016 against ECU. Peele's 145 INT return yards is also a school record, breaking the previous mark set in 1952. He now has 8 career INTs and three this season.

"The first pick that Deshaun had we were in zero blitz," said Newberry. "He had eyes on the quarterback where they should be; he read the play and jumped the route, and it was awesome to see that. The second one was a great play and just a fantastic return. When we pick the ball off, Coach Volker and those guys aren't satisfied just picking it off. We want to set up a return and get to the near sideline, block the intended receiver, block the quarterback and, in Dashaun’s case, run over the quarterback into the end zone. It was awesome."

-- Shortly after the end of the game, ABC announced that it would be broadcasting the Navy-Notre Dame game next week. Navy's win virtually guaranteed that the game would be a top-25 matchup. The last time both teams were ranked when they faced each other was 2019, when #21 Navy traveled to South Bend to face the #16 Fighting Irish.