Navy Midshipmen to Accomplish Rare Road Feat With Army-Navy Game

The Navy Midshipmen will be away from Annapolis on Saturday for the Army-Navy Game, but they’ve gotten used to that in 2024.
Nov 16, 2024; Annapolis, Maryland, USA; Navy Midshipmen mascot carries the school flag before the game against the Tulane Green Wave   at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
Nov 16, 2024; Annapolis, Maryland, USA; Navy Midshipmen mascot carries the school flag before the game against the Tulane Green Wave at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. / Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

The Navy Midshipmen will face the Army West Point Black Knights in the annual Army-Navy game on Saturday at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md.

The game is normally a neutral-site affair, and being away from Annapolis is something the Midshipmen have had to get used to this season.

Amid the game notes for this contest, Navy (8-3) pointed out that the Midshipmen will be the only team in FBS to play just two home games in their final nine regular-season contests.

That seems absurd, but it’s the truth.

Navy opened with three straight home games and then hit the road for two straight weeks — first an American Athletic Conference game at UAB, followed by its annual showdown with Air Force.

After a bye week, Navy hosted Charlotte for homecoming.

Then, Navy drew three straight road games — at Notre Dame, at Rice and at USF. After a home game with Tulane — which eliminated the Midshipmen from AAC title game contention — they wrapped up AAC play at East Carolina.

So, Saturday’s game with Army (11-1) will mark the seventh road game in nine contests for Navy and the end of its regular season.

But it isn’t the end of the road for the Midshipmen. No, Navy has one more road game ahead and that’s the Armed Forces Bowl against Oklahoma later this month in Fort Worth, Texas.

Navy hasn’t played in a bowl game since 2019 when it played in the Liberty Bowl.

So, with the bowl game, the Midshipmen will have played just two home games since Sept. 21.

There’s a good opportunity for second-year coach Brian Newberry and his Midshipmen to etch their names into program history, too.

If Navy can win its final 2 games, it would become just the sixth team in school history to win at least 10 games in a season, joining the teams from 1905 (10-1-1), 2004 (10-2), 2009 (10-4), 2015 (11-2) and 2019 (11-2).

A win over Army would also give Navy wins over two ranked opponents for the 1st time since 1958 when Navy defeated Rice, 20-7, and Michigan, 20-14. Navy defeated Memphis, 56-44, earlier this year when the Tigers were ranked No. 24 in the coaches’ poll.

Navy was predicted to finish 11th in the AAC and ended the year tied for third with Memphis. The Midshipmen won the tiebreaker due to their win over the Tigers.


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