Bowl bids for No. 16 Army and Navy are a given factor this season, but both have the opportunity to meet in the AAC Championship Game on Dec. 7 followed by the actual Army-Navy game on Dec. 14. This scheduling feature is atypical as the two offensive schemes that both teams feature in their respective modes of attack.
Navy joined the American Athletic Conference for football in 2015 and Army joined the AAC this season. This marks the first time in history that the two military schools have been in the same football conference.
This year, they will square off on Dec. 14 in Washington D.C. at FedEx Field, home of the Washington Commanders. This will be a featured matchup as both teams were nationally ranked for the first time since the 1960s.
Both traditionally run a similar offensive scheme as Army head coach Jeff Monken implements the Flexbone, where the option and the counter play are primary modes of attack.
Meanwhile, Midshipmen head coach Brian Newberry took the job two years ago after working as defensive coordinator under Ken Niumatalolo from 2019-2022. The basis of the Navy offense is the creation of the Wing-T which features the run in all areas of the field.
In Navy’s 28-7 win at South Florida on Saturday, quarterback Nick Horvath once again proved he could get outside on both the left and right sides as the Middies rushed for 321 yards on 59 carries. Horvath would use running back Eli Heidenreich or Alex Tecza on the dive or off-tackle.
The junior quarterback gave the Midshipmen a 28-0 lead with 11:45 to play by notching his 13th touchdown on a dive into the end zone on the keeper.
“In the opportunity to compete for jobs, we are always going to find a way to get our best 11 players on the field,” said Navy head coach Brian Newberry.
Flip the page to Army and you find the same basis of option offense as quarterback Bryson Daly has rushed for 1,062 yards on 174 carries with 21 touchdowns. His partner in the attack is fast and athletic Kanye Udoh, who has rushed for 856 yards and nine scores.
Both of these teams have been a tough out on defense with Army leading the AAC, allowing only 273.9 yards per game. The Black Knights have held Air Force and North Texas to only six combined points in their last two games.
Army is still undefeated at 9-0 overall, while Navy sits at 7-2. The Black Knights nurse a 5-0 American Athletic Conference record, while being tied with Tulane (6-0) in the loss column. The Midshipmen are still grimacing from a 24-10 loss at Rice two weeks ago, which left them at 5-1.
Navy can push themselves back into the title hunt when the Midshipmen host Tulane on Saturday. The Green Wave averages 438 yards per game behind quarterback Darian Mensah and running back Makai Hughes. Mensah has completed 65.6 percent of his passes with 16 TD tosses and only four interceptions and Hughes has gained 421 yards and 13 touchdowns.
“Makai Hughes is a really good back and when they do throw it, they are very, very effective because everything is set up off the running game,” said Newberry.
Navy is allowing 395.1 yards (81st/CFB) on defense, but opponents are not turning such a paltry average into points, so this could be key against Tulane’s up-tempo offense.
Meanwhile, Navy is similar to Army in featuring a productive scoring defense as the Midshipmen only give up 22.4 points per contest.
These two teams have impressive seasons as a duo. Army won, 14-3, at North Texas last week which was complemented by Navy’s win over South Florida.
“It was difficult to drive against them, so to have a drive that was 21 plays and took up 14 minutes, that said a lot for those guys and their determination,” said Monken. “The offensive line, the backs and Bryson (Daly) running the ball, so it was a really, really gutty effort there.”
Notre Dame is the common opponent outside of AAC play. The Fighting Irish handed Navy its first loss, 51-14, two weeks ago and Army plays in South Bend after their bye this week.
With the Irish as the top team on both schedules, the difficulty of opponents has been low as Navy has the 79th toughest schedule in college football, while Army is only 120th out of the 134 teams.
