In many ways, it has never been harder to play as a service academy in major college football. Players can transfer out, but you can’t replace them. Rule changes have made playing the option more difficult. Height and weight limitations still apply. Ultimately, that’s what makes this moment so special.
After the release of this week’s AP Top 25, Army and Navy are ranked simultaneously for the first time since 1960. The Black Knights come in at No. 23, while the Midshipmen are close behind at No. 25. The programs are each 6-0 for the first time since 1945, which was a year that Army won the national championship.
For Navy, quarterback Blake Horvath has developed into a sensational dual-threat player. Horvath is on track to be the most productive quarterback at Navy since Malcolm Perry, and has already cleared the leading passers for the Midshipmen in three of the past four seasons in only six games.
At Army, quarterback Bryson Daily is helped to create havoc on the ground. The Black Knights are the most efficient offense in college football, ranking No. 7 nationally in yards per play. Their 369.8 yards rushing per game is on track to be the most by any team in more than a decade. In a 44-10 win over UAB, Army exploded for 413 yards.
In some ways, it’s about time that the two programs are both peaking at the same time as both find a new level of success in the modern era behind great coaches. Navy was ranked four times in a five-year period between 2015 and 2019 under coach Ken Niumatalolo. Now, coach Brian Newberry has them back in the rankings. Ironically, Army was ranked the one year Navy missed out, reaching the polls in 2018 and 2020. Prior to Monken, the Black Knights had only been ranked in two seasons since 1962.
While both teams were ranked in 1960, you have to go back to 1957 to find the last time that both were ranked during the annual Army-Navy game. On Nov. 30, 1957 in Philadelphia, No. 8 Navy beat No. 10 Army 14-0 to capture the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy.
Perhaps the most interesting dynamic facing these two teams as they compete for national attention will be the AAC title race. Amazingly, if both teams finish undefeated, they will play for a conference title on Dec. 6 before then playing a rematch on Dec. 14 in the official Army-Navy game. The former would be taken under consideration for the College Football Playoff. The latter will not.
