2019 Army-Navy: Everything you need to know about the 120th meeting between the Black Knights and Midshipmen

Army. Navy. Football. Philadelphia.

I’m not going to bore you with some long lede-in about the importance of this game, its pageantry, its meaning, or why the triple-option is the greatest offense on the planet.

This rivalry is one of the oldest in college football and it’s the best.
(No might-be’s or maybes here. It’s the best, full stop. Sit down, Auburn-Alabama and Michigan-Ohio State. The troops are here.)

There’s going to be a plethora of runs, dives, traps, misdirections and pitches. Perhaps there will be several turnovers. There’s going to be less than a few passes, some bone-crushing tackles, maybe some rain or snow, lots of tradition, and two Alma maters sang at the end.

Who sings second is what matters.

Here’s everything you need to know about the 2019 Army-Navy game.

The basics

Tickets: CLICK HERE!

When: Saturday, Dec. 14 — 3 p.m. ET | LIVE STATS

Where: Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

TV: Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson and Jamie Erdahl will have the call for CBS.

Radio: John Sadak, Ross Tucker and Amber Theoharris will have the national call for Westwood One. (TEAM RADIO CALLS: ARMY | NAVY)

Also on TV: ESPN’s College GameDay will broadcast from Xfinity Live (just across the street from the stadium) from 9 a.m. to noon. Also, CBS Sports Network will air the Army-Navy March-On noon to 1:30 p.m. That will be followed by the network’s “Inside College Football” show from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. with Brent Stover, Randy Cross, Houston Nutt and Kevin Carter live from Lincoln Financial Field.

Weather: As of Thursday, Saturday’s forecast is calling for a high of 56, a low of 39 and a 60 percent chance of rain. Football weather, y’all.

Odds: Most books had Navy favored by 10.5 points on Thursday, with the over-under point total set at 40.5.

Recent history

Navy won 14 straight meetings from 2002 through 2015, but Army has won three straight since 2016. Last year in Philly, Army won 17-10 and was led by Kelvin Hopkins Jr.’s 125 yards of total offense and two touchdowns. The Black Knights’ defense stepped up too, totaling six tackles behind the line of scrimmage and six pass breakups.

Malcolm Perry played, but not a quarterback. Navy used three different QB’s in the game and passed more than usual, going a collective 5-of-17 for 81 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions. Navy also lost two fumbles, and Army winning the turnover battle 4-0 wound up being the difference in the tight game.

Numbers to know

• Navy leads the all-time series, 60-52-7.
• Navy is 44-40-4 in Philadelphia vs. Army and 10-2 at Lincoln Financial Field.
• A Navy win would make Ken Niumatalolo the winningest coach of the Army-Navy games. Currently with eight victories, he is tied with former Army head coach Earl Blaik (1941-58).
• Navy senior quarterback Malcolm Perry is just 88 yards away from passing Napoleon McCallum for first on Navy’s all-time single-season rushing list. Perry is also just 68 yards behind 2016 graduate Will Worth for the Mids’ single-season record for total offense.
• Navy has the nation’s No. 1 rushing offense, averaging 360.8 yards on the ground per-game.
• Army has the nation’s No. 2 rushing offense, averaging 311.7 yards on the ground per-game.
• Navy has the nation’s No. 1 red-zone offense, scoring on 97.6 percent of its trips.
• Army is second in the nation in rushing touchdowns with 44 scores.
• Navy is fourth in the nation on fourth down conversions, moving the sticks 75 percent of the time.
• Army has had 19 rushes go for 30 or more yards this season, which is tied for fifth in the nation.
• Navy is fifth in the nation in fewest penalties per-game, with 4.2.
• Army has the nation’s 20th best passing defense, allowing 193.8 yards through the air per-game.
• Seven of the past eight Army-Navy games have been decided by seven points or less.

C.I.C. scenario

If Navy beats Army, the Mids would win the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy for the 16th time in school history.

If Army beats Navy, then that would mean Navy, Air Force and Army will share in the C.I.C. Trophy in a three-way tie since the three teams would all be 1-1 against each other this season (Navy beat Air Force, Air Force beat Army) and the trophy would remain at West Point since the Black Knights won it outright in 2018.

There has only been a tie for the C.I.C. four times in the last 47 years: 1974 (retained by Navy), 1976 (retained by Navy), 1980 (retained by Navy), and 1993 (retained by Air Force).

The threads

Gavin Jernigan has more on Navy’s uniforms here.

Kaylah Jackson has more on Army’s uniforms here.

Read this

• Katherine Fominykh of The Capital on Navy’s Nizaire Cromartie
• Justin Fedich of the Times Herald Record on the mark Kelvin Hopkins’ Jr. has left at Army
• The Washington Post’s Ava Wallace on the stories behind the patches worn by Navy players
• Banner Society’s Alex Kirshner on Army-Navy’s disjointed history
• NCAA.com’s Army-Navy preview
• CNN on Malik Hancock and the Army’s new “cyber” division

And from this here blog...

• Mitchell Smith previews the game from the triple-option whiteboard
• Justin Mears breaks down every position battle
• Joe Kramer tells us what the game means from the perspective of a life-long Army fan

Lol

Cool stuff

See you there!

Against All Enemies and Banner Society will be at the Army-Navy game. Come say hi!