AUGUST 11, 2023 – College football is a sport defined by fierce rivalries between certain teams: Michigan and Ohio State, Auburn and Alabama, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia. All these rivalries stand out for their different quirks and history, but none of them come close to the tradition of the annual Army/Navy football game.
A Look at the History
Right now, the Midshipmen lead the all-time series 62-54, with seven ties thrown in from the early days of the sport. The series had been neck and neck for decades, but the Navy reeled off a 14-game winning streak from 2002 to 2015 that put them firmly in the driver’s seat.
They’ve played the game in Philadelphia at the Eagles’ Lincoln Financial Field (and stadiums before that) for much of the rivalry, but they’ll be hitting the road for the next few seasons with games in Foxboro, Massachusetts (Gillette Stadium, 2023), Landover, Maryland (FedEx Field, 2024), Baltimore, Maryland (M&T Bank Stadium, 2025) and East Rutherford, New Jersey (Metlife Field, 2026) on the schedule before a 2027 return to Philly.
A Look at the Matchup
The scales have tipped back toward the Black Knights’ favor, with Army possessing a 5-2 margin in games since they broke the winless streak, but it’ll still take several classes of America’s future leaders before Army can make up the ground they lost, if ever.
These days the rivalry is ferocious as ever. Each team employs a grinding triple-option offensive attack that prioritizes disciplined, split-second decision-making (who better to do so than servicemen in training?) that chews through the game clock and makes the slightest defensive breakdown a costly one.
The service academies used to draw some of the best players in the country: Army has 24 players and four coaches in the College Football Hall of Fame, 37 consensus All-Americans, and three Heisman Trophy winners, along with a trio of National Championships from 1944-46 and two more unclaimed titles in 1914 and 1916. Navy, on the other hand, has 19 players and three coaches in the Hall of Fame to go with 23 Consensus All-Americans, two Heisman winners, and the 1926 national championship team.
Today, it’s a bit tougher of an ask for the service academies to draw the top football recruits. With the millions of dollars at play between Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals (which service academy students can’t accept because of their status as federal employees) and the potential for an NFL contract (service academy attendees were barred from declaring for the draft for decades, having to complete their time in the armed forces upon graduation, although that changed last year thanks to a congressional decree), programs like Army and Navy sit in an awkward middle ground.
They’re still two of the most popular brands in college athletics, though—almost everyone in the country has a connection to one team or the other because of family members who served—and the Army/Navy game is one of college football’s most watched events. You can find great sports betting promotions here if you want to get in on the action. This year’s game is taking place in Foxboro, Massachusetts. Home of the New England Patriots.
Entrenched Traditions
Some sports rivalries are defined by the hatred that opposing teams play with, an overwhelming desire not just to win… but to see the other team lose. While those furious games are fun to watch, they pale in comparison to rivalries like the one between Army and Navy, which is underpinned by mutual respect.
Anyone who’s been around service members for any period knows how the different branches love to trash-talk each other incessantly, but no matter who wins the Army-Navy game each year, the two teams are still on the same side, some of the best and brightest young minds in the nation preparing to serve America at a high level. As such, the respective teams and fanbases sing both alma maters at the conclusion of the game, no matter the winner, showing mutual respect for all who have served.
Other traditions include the prisoner exchange: seven West Point cadets and seven Navy Midshipmen in their sophomore years spend the fall semester at the opposing academy each year as part of the Service Academy Exchange Program. As the fall semester winds to a close with the Army-Navy game, these “prisoners” are returned home to their respective sidelines ahead of the kickoff, allowing them to root for their team alongside their original fanbase.
Other elements of the opposing academies tee off against one another, with the drumlines competing to show off their sleight of hand and skill and the entire student body taking the fuel ahead of the game to show off their drill routines.