The regular season in college football is all but over. The Conference Championship Games are over, the awards have been voted on and we’ve even said our piece about the Heisman. This weekend will be the last football game of the regular season as Army and Navy play at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland in one of the most historic series in all of college football.
The series was first played in 1890 and Navy leads the series 55-49-7. Though the overall series is close, Navy has dominated the recent games. The Midshipmen have won the last nine meetings and have taken 12 of the last 14. The last two games have both been won by 14 points.
This season has been disappointing for both Army and Navy. Both teams are coming off seasons where they went to bowl games but this year neither will be bowl eligible. Navy comes into the game at 4-7 which is their worst record since they went 2-10 in 2002 (Paul Johnson’s first year). Army comes in 3-8 with wins over Northwestern, Tulane and Fordham.
The only common opponents they’ve played this year are Air Force and Rutgers. Army lost 24-14 to Air Force and 27-12 to Rutgers. Navy lost 35-34 to Air Force in OT and lost 21-20 to Rutgers.
If you are just looking at who is the better team coming in then you have to lean towards Navy. Navy has lost some really close games this year. By 3 points to South Carolina, by 1 to Air Force, by 1 to Rutgers, by 3 to East Carolina and by 3 to San Jose State. If they get some breaks and win just one of those games then they come into this one at 5-6 and playing for bowl eligibility. Another thing to look at is the trend. Army has lost their last three games and five of their last six with their only win coming over Fordham. Navy has won two of their last three with one of those wins coming at SMU, who will be facing Pitt in the BBVA Compass Bowl.
Army’s QB Trent Steelman is coming off of an injury and as far as I know his status is still in question. When you couple that with the fact that Army is 0-7 this year combined on the road and at neutral sites I think you have to lean heavily on Navy to win this game. Look for Navy to take this game and increase their streak in the series.
Sit back and enjoy this one on Saturday. They won’t be playing for a bowl game but they will be playing for pride and for their country.
Prediction: Navy 31 Army 21
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