It’s been talked about all year. On the yard, at the Point. Army football just won their first-ever conference championship Friday, yet the excitement seems geared toward Saturday’s date with Navy.
For instance, last Thursday, the day (Dec. 5) before Army rolled over Tulane for the American Athletic Conference championship, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (a West Point graduate) chimed on X, “Had a great conversation with @CoachJeffMonken before the Army Navy Game. As Secretary of Defense, I am all about the Joint Force—for 364 days a year. #BeatNavy”
On Dec. 6, Army coach Jeff Monken “corrected” the secretary, posting, “Every day is the 365th day! @ArmyWP_Football”
The battle is real and on the collective minds of both academies throughout the year. The 125th version of the matchup will be no different.
“It’s getting surreal. I’m very confident our team is going to pull through. I need to have a win in my last year playing Army-Navy,” said Navy senior offensive lineman Connor McMahon on WBAL NewsRadio.
The Black Knights enter the contest 11-1 and Navy 8-3. Army won the last two meetings, 17-11 and 20-17, and the Middies claimed a 17-13 victory in 2021. Close games are to be expected in this rivalry.
America’s game will be held at Northwest Stadium, home to the NFL’s Washington Commanders, in Landover, Maryland. Of course, themes of camaraderie, celebration and merit will dominate the event as President-Elect Donald Trump is scheduled to attend, and Army will honor the iconic 101st Airborne Division, which will be reflected in their uniforms.
Army ranked No. 22 in the final College Football Playoff Rankings, faces a Navy squad that had found a home in the top 25 until consecutive losses toward the end of the season forced them to move out. Both teams were simultaneously ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll this season, the first time since 1960.
Incidentally, both teams will play one more game after Saturday. Army will meet Sun Belt champion Marshall (10-3) Dec. 28 in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana, and Navy will face Oklahoma (6-6) in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl Dec. 27 at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas.
The 2024 matchup — the Commander-In-Chief trophy on the line — could make for a memorable showdown, considering the season each program has put together.
Navy head coach Brian Newberry said in a Dec. 2 presser that both teams will get after it, and whichever team consistently mitigates mistakes and executes on both sides of the ball should prevail.
“I think this year we put together a plan that our guys can go out and execute,” he said. “We talk about a game like this, breathe, focus is flow, one play at a time. That’s what these games always come down to.”
An edge the Midshipmen may have is the luxury of a bye week. Army played last Saturday for the AAC Conference Championship — the Black Knights AAC inaugural season — leaving them less time to recover and prepare.
“It’s definitely an advantage,” Newberry said. “This time of year you’re a little banged up like everybody is. So to have the ability to rest and recover a little bit and also get ahead with the game plan, it’s the only positive thing about not playing in the American Athletic Conference Championship game is having two weeks to get ready.”
And sure, the Mids would love to be playing for a conference championship, but if they had to choose between sinking the Black Knights or a conference title … I’m sure you know the answer.
The key players in this face-off are the quarterbacks. Navy seems to be in good hands with junior Blake Horvath and sophomore Braxton Woodson. Army has senior super-runner Bryson Daily, arguably one of the best quarterbacks in the nation.
Horvath has thrown for 1,154 yards and 11 touchdowns this season while rushing close to 1,000 yards. He has been battling an injury and didn’t play in the Midshipmen’s last game against East Carolina. Sophomore quarterback Braxton Woodson stepped in against the Pirates, leading Navy to a 34-20 win, going 12-19 for 165 yards in the air and notching 165 rush yards on 15 carries. However, Newberry expects Horvath to be full go for Saturday.
Daily’s strength is using his legs, collecting 1,480 yards on the ground this year with a whopping 29 TDs. But he is capable in the air too, throwing for eight scores in his 45 completed passes.
“Everything goes through him, obviously,” Newberry said. “They’ve got some good players around him as well. I think the O-line is probably as good as we’ve seen all year … tough, physical offense. We’ve got a great challenge ahead of us.”
The 6-foot, 220-pound Daily possesses size and force, rushing for 126 yards on 225 carries and four touchdowns against Tulane in the championship contest. Monken, AAC Coach of the Year, is adamant his quarterback deserves consideration for the Heisman Trophy.
“I don’t know that there’s anybody in the country that would balk at the idea of the starting quarterback of the Army Black Knights, who’s rushed for 100 yards in a game, 10 games in a row, on an 11-1 team that just won the conference championship, why doesn’t that guy belong down there,” Monken said in last Friday’s postgame interview. “I’d argue there’s not a guy in America more valuable to their team than Bryson Daily.”
A common dominator to the teams’ seasons this year was losses to Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish blew out the Middies, 51-14, and routed the Knights 49-14. The Notre Dame offensive output was nearly identical for both games. They racked up 466 yards and seven TDs against Navy, and 462 yards and seven touchdowns against Army. Is that an accurate barometer of an Army-Navy outcome? Probably not.
“The team that plays the toughest and the team that makes the fewest mistakes is the team that usually wins this game, and that’s what it’s come to down every year since I’ve been here,” Newberry said.
CBS Sports will televise Saturday’s showdown at 3 p.m. ET. CBS and Paramount+ will include on-site pregame, halftime and postgame coverage.
