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Navy was about a touchdown underdog on Saturday against Army, and although the Midshipmen had a very successful regular season leading up to the annual rivalry game, it was the Black Knights’ success in 2024 that was getting most of the attention.
Navy entered Saturday’s game with a solid 8-3 record, but Army was 11-1 and coming off a rout of Tulane in the AAC Championship Game last week. The Midshipmen felt a little disrespected, and so they had an extra-large chip on their shoulder on Saturday and it showed as they took apart the Black Knights in a 31-13 beatdown in Landover, Maryland.
After the game — and after getting doused with the Gatorade by his adoring players — Navy head coach Brian Newberry saved a little jab for the rival school in the on-field postgame interview.
“We still got a football team in Annapolis,” said the Midshipmen’s second-year head coach. “So happy for these players. I don’t think a lot of people gave us a chance. Just shows the character of these players. They played lights out today. I couldn’t be more proud.”
The line was a subtle little dig at Army’s Jeff Monken, who jokingly questioned if Navy was still playing football when he was on The Pat McAfee Show in October.
It was quite a different feeling on this December day than it was a year ago for Newberry, whose Navy team lost to Army, 17-11, in last year’s game in Foxborough, Mass., to complete a forgettable 5-7 season. Nearly a year to the day later, Newberry was celebrating a win over Army and a 9-3 regular season with a trip to the Armed Forces Bowl against Oklahoma on Dec. 27 still to look forward to.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
