The stories began circulating early in the football season and continued until the final week of October.
What would it be like if Army and Navy played consecutive games – the first for the AAC Championship and the second in their annual Army-Navy matchup?
For a long time, it seemed like a realistic possibility.
That’s because both teams began this season on a roll, something Army (9-0, 7-0 AAC) has continued. Navy opened the season 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the conference, including a 56-44 home win over Memphis on Sept. 21.
Memphis was the preseason choice in the media poll to win the AAC title.
The loss to Navy wasn’t as close as the final score indicated. Navy rushed for 363 yards and averaged almost a first down per carry at 9.3 yards per rush while scoring five touchdowns on the ground.
Navy and fellow service academies Army and Air Force are always known as strong running teams. Yet against Memphis, Navy also completed 10 of 14 passes for 205 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions.
With that type of balance, it’s no wonder Navy made its way into the Associated Press Top 25 rankings.
Then the success came to a crashing halt when Navy met Notre Dame at MetLife Stadium, home of the New York Giants and Jets. The unfortunate part for Navy is the Midshipmen played like the two NFL occupants of the stadium.
Final score: Notre Dame 51, Navy 14.
Entering that game, Navy had committed two turnovers all season. Against Notre Dame, the Midshipmen committed three times that total.
That’s right – six turnovers, one interception, and five fumbles. Actually, Navy fumbled seven times but did recover two of them.
Even though that game had no bearing on the AAC race, it signaled the end for Navy. Since that Notre Dame game, Navy has gone 1-2 and has officially been eliminated from AAC Championship contention.
The week after the Notre Dame game, Navy lost at Rice 24-10. That was a Rice team that fired coach Mike Bloomgren the week before facing Navy. The Owls are 3-7 overall.
Navy rebounded with a 28-7 win at South Florida but last week was eliminated from AAC title game consideration with a 35-0 home loss to Tulane.
It will be Army and Tulane in the AAC Championship on Dec. 6.
True, it didn’t help Navy’s cause when quarterback Blake Horvath suffered a rib injury late in the first quarter against Tulane and was officially ruled out in the third quarter.
Yet Horvath doesn’t play defense. After Tulane went three-and-out on its first two drives, the Green Wave scored on three of their next four possessions.
At that point, it was game over.
The Midshipmen are still vastly improved from last year’s 5-7 squad in head coach Brian Newberry’s first year guiding the Midshipmen. At 7-3 and 5-2, Navy is easily bowl-eligible for the first time since going 11-2 in 2019.
Horvath has enjoyed an incredible season, having rushed for 895 yards and 13 touchdowns while completing 69 of 118 passes for 1,158 yards, 11 touchdowns, and four interceptions.
Navy has a much-needed bye this week before resuming action Nov. 29 at East Carolina and then finishing the regular season with its meeting against Army on Dec. 14 in Landover, Maryland.
Army meets Notre Dame this week, and it will be interesting to see if the Black Knights can avoid the same missteps that Navy showed against the Fighting Irish.
By any means, this should be considered an overwhelmingly successful season for Navy, but simply put, Notre Dame administered more than just a loss for the Midshipmen. Navy never recovered from that.
Granted, Notre Dame has a good chance of earning a College Football Playoff berth, and this is an excellent team which did stub its toe in an upset loss to Northern Illinois but has played well since then.
Notre Dame was a two-touchdown favorite against Navy, but it was surprising to see the relative ease in which the Fighting Irish won the game.
Before the Notre Dame game, Navy was playing with a lot of confidence. The record suggests that since that game, the Midshipmen are lacking the same belief as when they were 6-0.
Now Navy’s true playoff will be the Army game, as it is virtually every year anyway. Yet the East Carolina game is also important. ECU (6-4, 4-2) is 3-0 since firing head coach Mike Houston and replacing him with interim head coach Blake Harrell.
This should be a true test for Navy and a way to see if the Midshipmen turn the corner in an attempt to revert to their early-season ways.
