Why the Army vs. Navy Rivalry Remains College Football’s Last Tradition

For all the tumult and chaos in college football, there still is one tradition which is undisturbed.

And appropriately, it still has a stage to itself.

When Army and Navy play for the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy, Saturday afternoon in Baltimore, it will be the only FBS game in its time slot.

The 126th meeting of the teams is a chance to focus on the last remaining amateurs in Division I.

NIL money? Not for the Black Knights (6-5) or the Midshipmen (9-2). Because they are federal employees, service academy athletes can’t cash in on their name, image and likeness.

Transfer portal? For players at Army and Navy, it goes one way. You can leave through the portal but you can’t enter through it.

Revenue sharing? There is no such thing for the Black Knights or the Midshipmen as the schools have opted out of the model.

The more college football changes, the more Army-Navy stays the same.

“This game will always be important to America and to college football,” Army coach Jeff Monken said. “It’s so unique. It always has been, even before rev share, NIL, transfer portal, playoff.”

Unlike the rest of Division I, playing for Army or Navy is generally a four-year, one-school proposition. In addition to the lack of transfers, there are no redshirts or fifth-year eligibles.

Once players are inculcated, they tend to stick around. Former Navy safety Rayuan Lane III passed up offers from bluebloods to remain in Annapolis for four years. Today he is on the roster of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Same for former Army linebacker Andre Carter II, who remained true to West Point and now plays for the Miami Dolphins.

Navy coach Brian Newberry said this week that college football’s brave new world actually gives him a recruiting advantage.

“Along with the other academies, we’re really a unicorn,” Newberry said. “The NIL comes here on the back end.”

Newberry explained that he can offer a recruit a guaranteed job after graduation and an “extremely bright future with a degree from this place.”

He also said that the transfer portal, by extending the careers of college players, has provided fewer opportunities for incoming freshmen, which provides him a larger pool from which to recruit.

With a 24-12 record in his three seasons, Newberry’s results back up his premise.

On Saturday, Newberry goes after his second straight win over Army. Quarterback Blake Horvath, who ran for 204 yards and accounted for four touchdowns rushing and passing, propelled the Midshipmen to a 31-13 victory in Landover, Md.

If Horvath’s sophomore season had not been cut short by a broken thumb, he might be going for his third straight win over Army.

In that 2023 game in Foxborough, Mass., with Horvath watching from the sidelines, the Midshipmen failed to score from the 1-yard line on their final possession of a 17-11 loss.

After leading Navy to a 7-0 start this season, injuries caught up to Horvath again. He was hurt at the end of a 31-17 loss at North Texas, then sat out the following week in a 49-10 defeat at Notre Dame.

With Horvath back, the Midshipmen rebounded with quality wins over then-No. 24 South Florida, 41-38, and at Memphis, 28-17.

“Everybody that has played them has tried to develop a plan for that guy, for No. 11,” said Monken, who has a 6-5 record in the series. “And he gets the best of most of them.”