Each team seeking sixth win of season
124th matchup provides winner coveted momentum
Saturday’s showdown is nearing.
That’s the reality for everyone involved with the 124th Army-Navy Game.
Last week was about installing the game plan and preliminary preparation. Game week is about dialing down on specific elements and getting players into the right mental mindset.
So, what is the right mindset, and how does one get his team to peak on the biggest stage?
“We just have to be the best version of ourselves. It doesn’t take a miracle to win this game. It doesn’t take playing outside of yourself,” first-year Navy coach Brian Newberry said. “In fact, it’s the opposite of that. It’s about doing your job as best you possibly can and not letting the moment get to you.
“We don’t have to get our guys up for this game. You just have to make sure they’re level-headed and are in a good place mentally going into the game.”
This will be the fifth Army-Navy Game for Newberry but his first as leader of the program after he spent the previous four worrying only about preparing the defense as the coordinator.
Speaking to the media Monday, Newberry acknowledged his gameday assignment has changed dramatically. He must now worry about making decisions such as whether to go for it on fourth down, calling timeouts and clock management.
“There was a certain amount of pressure I felt as a coordinator calling the plays and making sure I put our guys in the best possible position to be successful. It’s a different kind of pressure now. I have to make sure we’re on point in all three phases,” he said. “It’s no more important to me now than it was. I wanted to win this game just as badly as a coordinator as I do as a head coach. My approach and desire to win this game does not change at all.”
This is a historic edition of the Army-Navy Game as it marks the first time “America’s Game” has been played in New England.
Organizers with Kraft Sports and Entertainment, which attracts and manages events at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, said demand for tickets has been overwhelming.
Scott Strasemeier, Navy’s senior associate athletic director for sports information, said the number of press box credentials requested is also far higher than normal.
Gillette Stadium is home to the New England Patriots, whose legendary coach will not be an unbiased observer Saturday. Bill Belichick grew up around Navy football as his father was the longest-tenured assistant coach in program history.
Belichick has remained close to the Navy football program over the years and took time to meet privately with Newberry before last week’s news conference. Newberry said this week that Belichick has agreed to address the Midshipmen after the team dinner Friday night.
“Coach Belichick has always been very supportive of the program,” Newberry said. “It’s great to have a guy like that to reach out to for advice and he’s glad to give it.”
Army and Navy come into the contest with identical 5-6 records and very similar offensive statistics. The Black Knights rank ninth nationally in rushing offense (208 yards per game) while Navy is 13th (200).
The two option practitioners rank 128 and 129 out of 130 Football Bowl Subdivision schools in passing offense — to no surprise.
Both teams have struggled to score points with Navy standing 119th nationally (18.3 points) and Army not much better at 108th (20.8). The Black Knights and Midshipmen are also at the bottom of FBS in total offense.
Senior Xavier Arline is expected to make his fifth straight start at quarterback for Navy, which is 2-2 with him under center. The Midshipmen are coming off a 59-14 shellacking at the hands of SMU, the American Athletic Conference champion.
Navy coaches spent less time than usual reviewing the SMU loss as Newberry’s message to the squad was to “flush that game and move on.”
“We can’t have a hangover from that game. We can’t let SMU beat us twice. I think our kids will bounce back,” he said.
Army will have three weeks between games as it last played on Nov. 18 against
Coastal Carolina. The Black Knights are riding a three-game winning streak that began with an uplifting 23-3 upset of Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Army is led offensively by junior quarterback Bryson Daily, who has amassed 817 rushing yards and 859 passing yards. Coach Jeff Monken made a major decision during the offseason by scrapping the traditional triple-option offense he learned from former Georgia Southern, Navy and Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson.
Monken hired Drew Thatcher away from Nebraska-Kearney to install a different style of option offense that features shotgun formation and zone blocking schemes. However, Army dusted off the “flexbone” option against Coastal Carolina and rolled up 365 rushing yards.
Newberry expects to see a combination of Army’s old and new offenses and noted that Daily functions equally well operating under center or out of the shotgun. He described the revamped offense the Black Knights employed this season as a “different way to run the triple [option]” with a focus on getting the ball to the perimeter more often.
“There are still triple-option elements within their offense. I think they’re similar to us in that they’re looking to evolve their offense and are trying to figure out the best way to do that with their personnel,” Newberry said. “You see a lot of similarities in what they’re doing out of the gun to what they’ve done in the past under center.”
Navy has already exceeded its win total from each of the past three seasons. Beating Army would substantiate Newberry’s belief the program made progress this season, and it would also mean the Midshipmen played spoiler as the Black Knights can capture the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy outright with a win.
“There’s no better momentum going into the offseason than beating Army. This is a season that hasn’t gone the way we wanted it to or hoped it would, but a win in this game certainly makes you feel better about your season even if you didn’t hit certain goals,” Newberry said.
Navy leads the all-time series 62-54-7, an advantage created by a historic 14-game winning streak from 2002 through 2015. Army has won five of the seven meetings since 2016. Seven of the last nine games have been decided by seven points or less.