Navy Torpedoes Army 34-13In 125th Army – Navy Game
By John ChuhranCaMMVets Media
Landover, MD – The Army-Navy Game – considered by many to be the symbolic soul of college football – can shatter expectations, humble the favored, and create the unlikeliest of heroes. Saturday’s 125th renewal did all three.
Before a sellout crowd of 60,726 at Northwest Stadium that included Current Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, President-elect Donald Trump and many of his team including Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, cabinet nominees Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard, and key advisors Elon Musk and Senator Tim Scott, the underdog Navy Midshipmen (9-3) dominated throughout, scoring a convincing 34-13 win in what is called America’s Game.
Because the Army-Navy Game is considered the most important game of the year, many people in the Army will regard the loss of this one game as enough to reduce what had been a truly great season – one where Army (11-2) can still have the most wins it has ever had in a single year if it wins the Liberty Bowl on December 28 – to a season that was merely very good. By losing to Navy, the Black Knights also lost the possession of the Commander-In-Chiefs (CIC) Trophy which they had won last year; both Army and Navy had already defeated Air Force this year.
“As excited and proud as we were eight days ago (when Army beat Tulane to win the American Athletic Conference championship game),” Army Head Coach Jeff Monken said, “we're as disappointed as we've ever been. It's hard to lose that game. That one hurts a lot, especially when the (CIC) trophy is on the line and we've got a chance to keep that trophy at West Point, and we didn't do it.
“They just beat us in every phase. They out-coached us, and they blocked better and beat blocks better. They tackled better, broke tackles better than we did, took care of the ball a lot better than we did. That's where the game is won, in those fundamentals. They did it much better than we did. (I am) Sorely disappointed.”
Navy quarterback Blake Horvath played brilliantly, rushing for 204 yards (his second game in excess of 200 running yards this season) and two touchdowns and completing 4-of-9 passes for 107 yards and 2 TD. Horvath, who became the fourth college QB to top 1,000 rushing yards this year, seemed to be able to do anything he needed to do, but the game made a hero of one unexpected Midshipman – Junior Nose Guard Landon Robinson, who finished second In Navy rushing yards with 29.
All of Robinson’s gains came on a single play – a surprise that helped to seal the Navy triumph. Sixteen seconds into the final quarter, Army’s Trey Gronotte booted a 31-yard field goal to narrow the Navy lead to 21-13. With the advantage a single score and the result very much in doubt, Navy had to regain the momentum and Horvath methodically went to work on the ensuing drive that started on the Navy 25. The signal caller began with a run left for seven yards and followed with a run right that gained 10.
But the next three runs gained a total of five yards and, facing a fourth-and-5 situation on the Navy 47, Navy head coach Brian Newberry sent his punting unit onto the field. This appeared to be Army’s last best chance to regain possession with enough time to make a long, steady drive – the type of drive that carried the Black Knights to 11 wins so far this year – and Army, looking for a dynamic runback, sent only one player back to receive. Navy pulled Robinson and Senior Defensive End Justin Reed off the line and into the backfield to protect punter Riley Reithman from Army attackers who might break through the line.
When the ball was snapped, it went directly to Robinson, who was standing erect and had already turned left when he grabbed the pigskin. With Reed leading, it took Robinson just three strides to get his 6-foot, 278-pound frame up to full speed and he charged ahead, doing so more with the power of a William “Refrigerator” Perry than the sprinting burst of a Carl Lewis. As Army defenders were struggling to get the punter, Robinson chugged ahead for 29 yards before being grabbed and fumbling the ball on the Army 24, where Navy Linebacker Colin Ramos fell on the ball.
“They turned the tide on us,” said Monken, perhaps recalling that Army had turned the same trick on multiple occasions earlier in the season, “and made a play there and faked the punt. It was a good call on their part. I regret going after the punt, but we went after it and tried to block it. We had done that the first couple of times, and I just felt we needed to try to make a play there. We were down eight points, and I wish I'd have just taken the ball back, lined up with the defense or something like that, the safe look.”
Horvath dashed left for a 19-yard gain on the next play to get to the Army 5. For the next two plays, the Army defensive unit reminded all in attendance of how the Black Knights had mounted a goal-line stand to grab a 17-11 win over Navy at the end of last year’s game. But on third down with the ball inside the Army 1, Horvath took the snap and jumped over the scrum to break the plane of the goal line and all but seal the win. The PAT from Nathan Kirkwood was good and Navy led 28-13 with just 8:50 left in the game.
With time running out, Army QB Bryson Daily, who leads all QB with 1,533 rushing yards and 29 rushing TD, had to try to force the situation with a passing attack. On his fourth play, he was intercepted. Navy followed with a six-play, 57-yard drive that ended with Kirkwood drilling a 27-yard field goal to make it 31-13. On the very next play, Daily, who completed 7-of-16 passes for 63 yards, was intercepted for the third time of the day – a jaw dropping performance after throwing just a single interception in all of the preceding 12 games combined.
By John ChuhranCaMMVets Media
Landover, MD – The Army-Navy Game – considered by many to be the symbolic soul of college football – can shatter expectations, humble the favored, and create the unlikeliest of heroes. Saturday’s 125th renewal did all three.
Before a sellout crowd of 60,726 at Northwest Stadium that included Current Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, President-elect Donald Trump and many of his team including Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, cabinet nominees Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard, and key advisors Elon Musk and Senator Tim Scott, the underdog Navy Midshipmen (9-3) dominated throughout, scoring a convincing 34-13 win in what is called America’s Game.
Because the Army-Navy Game is considered the most important game of the year, many people in the Army will regard the loss of this one game as enough to reduce what had been a truly great season – one where Army (11-2) can still have the most wins it has ever had in a single year if it wins the Liberty Bowl on December 28 – to a season that was merely very good. By losing to Navy, the Black Knights also lost the possession of the Commander-In-Chiefs (CIC) Trophy which they had won last year; both Army and Navy had already defeated Air Force this year.
“As excited and proud as we were eight days ago (when Army beat Tulane to win the American Athletic Conference championship game),” Army Head Coach Jeff Monken said, “we're as disappointed as we've ever been. It's hard to lose that game. That one hurts a lot, especially when the (CIC) trophy is on the line and we've got a chance to keep that trophy at West Point, and we didn't do it.
“They just beat us in every phase. They out-coached us, and they blocked better and beat blocks better. They tackled better, broke tackles better than we did, took care of the ball a lot better than we did. That's where the game is won, in those fundamentals. They did it much better than we did. (I am) Sorely disappointed.”
Navy quarterback Blake Horvath played brilliantly, rushing for 204 yards (his second game in excess of 200 running yards this season) and two touchdowns and completing 4-of-9 passes for 107 yards and 2 TD. Horvath, who became the fourth college QB to top 1,000 rushing yards this year, seemed to be able to do anything he needed to do, but the game made a hero of one unexpected Midshipman – Junior Nose Guard Landon Robinson, who finished second In Navy rushing yards with 29.
All of Robinson’s gains came on a single play – a surprise that helped to seal the Navy triumph. Sixteen seconds into the final quarter, Army’s Trey Gronotte booted a 31-yard field goal to narrow the Navy lead to 21-13. With the advantage a single score and the result very much in doubt, Navy had to regain the momentum and Horvath methodically went to work on the ensuing drive that started on the Navy 25. The signal caller began with a run left for seven yards and followed with a run right that gained 10.
But the next three runs gained a total of five yards and, facing a fourth-and-5 situation on the Navy 47, Navy head coach Brian Newberry sent his punting unit onto the field. This appeared to be Army’s last best chance to regain possession with enough time to make a long, steady drive – the type of drive that carried the Black Knights to 11 wins so far this year – and Army, looking for a dynamic runback, sent only one player back to receive. Navy pulled Robinson and Senior Defensive End Justin Reed off the line and into the backfield to protect punter Riley Reithman from Army attackers who might break through the line.
When the ball was snapped, it went directly to Robinson, who was standing erect and had already turned left when he grabbed the pigskin. With Reed leading, it took Robinson just three strides to get his 6-foot, 278-pound frame up to full speed and he charged ahead, doing so more with the power of a William “Refrigerator” Perry than the sprinting burst of a Carl Lewis. As Army defenders were struggling to get the punter, Robinson chugged ahead for 29 yards before being grabbed and fumbling the ball on the Army 24, where Navy Linebacker Colin Ramos fell on the ball.
“They turned the tide on us,” said Monken, perhaps recalling that Army had turned the same trick on multiple occasions earlier in the season, “and made a play there and faked the punt. It was a good call on their part. I regret going after the punt, but we went after it and tried to block it. We had done that the first couple of times, and I just felt we needed to try to make a play there. We were down eight points, and I wish I'd have just taken the ball back, lined up with the defense or something like that, the safe look.”
Horvath dashed left for a 19-yard gain on the next play to get to the Army 5. For the next two plays, the Army defensive unit reminded all in attendance of how the Black Knights had mounted a goal-line stand to grab a 17-11 win over Navy at the end of last year’s game. But on third down with the ball inside the Army 1, Horvath took the snap and jumped over the scrum to break the plane of the goal line and all but seal the win. The PAT from Nathan Kirkwood was good and Navy led 28-13 with just 8:50 left in the game.
With time running out, Army QB Bryson Daily, who leads all QB with 1,533 rushing yards and 29 rushing TD, had to try to force the situation with a passing attack. On his fourth play, he was intercepted. Navy followed with a six-play, 57-yard drive that ended with Kirkwood drilling a 27-yard field goal to make it 31-13. On the very next play, Daily, who completed 7-of-16 passes for 63 yards, was intercepted for the third time of the day – a jaw dropping performance after throwing just a single interception in all of the preceding 12 games combined.
One of the few things that fell in Army's favor was the coin toss. But after deferring possession to the second half kickoff, The Black Knights started by booting the kickoff out of bounds, enabling the Midshipmen to start on their own 35. Horvath immediately started to advance towards the Army end zone, but on the sixth play he dropped back and found running back Alex Tecza short of the line of scrimmage and Tecza cut through a gap and gained 31 yards to the Army 22. Six plays later he bulled ahead from the Army 1 and Navy was ahead for good.In the second quarter, a three-play, 44-yard drive ended with Horvath throwing a 32-yard pass to Brandon Chatman, who ran the final seven yards into the endzone. Army got its only touchdown later in the stanza when Daily directed an eight-play, 65-yard drive that ended when Daily made an 18-yard pass to Hayden Reed, who pulled in the ball and sped the last five yards for his first TD of 2024.The third quarter saw Army start with a solid drive that sputtered and settled for a 39-yard Grenotte field goal to make it 14-10. Navy immediately responded with a three-play drive that quickly ended as Horvath hit Eli Heidenreich down the left sideline and he charged 52 yards for a TD, building the Navy lead to 21-10.
Army could not seem to get any attack in gear and finished with just 178 total yards. The Black Knights’ potent offensive line, which was the recipient late Thursday of the Joe Moore Award as college football’s best offensive front five, struggled to clear lanes for Army runners and often failed to keep the pocket open long enough for QB Daily to find a receiver and get a strong, accurate throw to his target. Most of the Black Knights’ points were scored in part because of Navy penalties. Two of Army’s three scores came after Navy was hit with defensive pass interference calls in fourth-and-long situations.
On defense, Army struggled to stop the Navy running attack (allowing 378 total yards and 299 on the ground; Navy averaged 5.9 yards per carry) and secondary defenders slipped or fell or missed assignments that contributed to drives or resulted in touchdowns.
“When things go wrong, you've got to make a play and answer,” Monken said. “That's what we didn't do. They made some plays and got themselves in good position and they capitalized, and we didn't do a good job of doing that ourselves.
“They did a better job of blocking us. We just couldn't sustain drives, blocking them and moving them. They were able to get off of blocks on us, which is a fundamental. We didn't do a great job of tonight. We had some turnovers. We forced some throws a couple times, and that's not Bryson [Daily]'s fault, he's just trying to make a play. We missed some opportunities.”
Army still has one more game to play – the Independence Bowl on December 28. But Army will be facing a different opponent than it expected. A few hours before the kickoff in the Navy game, Marshall University withdrew from the competition. Last Saturday, the Head Coach of the Thundering Herd Charles Huff resigned to take over the program at Southern Mississippi and more than two dozen players on the Marshall roster entered the transfer portal in the following 96 hours. Feeling that the remaining players would not play competitively against Army, Marshall leadership reluctantly declined the Bowl invitation.
Instead, Army will face the Bulldogs of Louisiana Tech (5-7). Kickoff is scheduled for 9:15 PM on ESPN TV.
(-CaMMVets-)
“When things go wrong, you've got to make a play and answer,” Monken said. “That's what we didn't do. They made some plays and got themselves in good position and they capitalized, and we didn't do a good job of doing that ourselves.
“They did a better job of blocking us. We just couldn't sustain drives, blocking them and moving them. They were able to get off of blocks on us, which is a fundamental. We didn't do a great job of tonight. We had some turnovers. We forced some throws a couple times, and that's not Bryson [Daily]'s fault, he's just trying to make a play. We missed some opportunities.”
Army still has one more game to play – the Independence Bowl on December 28. But Army will be facing a different opponent than it expected. A few hours before the kickoff in the Navy game, Marshall University withdrew from the competition. Last Saturday, the Head Coach of the Thundering Herd Charles Huff resigned to take over the program at Southern Mississippi and more than two dozen players on the Marshall roster entered the transfer portal in the following 96 hours. Feeling that the remaining players would not play competitively against Army, Marshall leadership reluctantly declined the Bowl invitation.
Instead, Army will face the Bulldogs of Louisiana Tech (5-7). Kickoff is scheduled for 9:15 PM on ESPN TV.
(-CaMMVets-)