The Army-Navy Game is one that temporarily divides our usually united U.S. military, if only for a few hours. The rivalry is more than 120 years old, is attended by sitting Presidents of the United States, and is older than the Air Force itself. But for the men who compete for the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy, it can be even more daunting to head west and face the Air Force Academy Falcons.
There’s no way the Air Force will ever get as legendary a rivalry as the Army-Navy Game. It’s one of the biggest games in sports. Even if it doesn’t change the rankings on any given year, it’s still got a huge fan base. The Air Force, despite being the better playing team for much of the past few decades, can’t compare to that kind of legacy.
What they can do, however, is spoil the parties at West Point and Annapolis.
The Trash Talk
The Army-Navy game, while known for its mascot thefts and funny spirit videos, is also known for being overly polite. Not so at Navy-Air Force. Midshipmen hold a Falcon Roast pep rally during the week before the Air Force game, burning a wooden falcon in effigy.
“One thing I know about that game was there’s a lot more trash talk in Air Force-Navy than Army-Navy,” said Wyatt Middleton, a safety in the Navy class of 2011. Air Force even allowed the Navy side of the Commander-In-Chief’s trophy to tarnish in the two years the trophy was in Colorado Springs.
Better Football on the Field
As for an interesting game, everyone knows the service academies aren’t playing for the National Championship (they aren’t even going to make the playoffs), so the winner doesn’t get more than bragging rights and the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy.
But for fans watching a game, scoring is important. No one wants to sit through three hours of a Navy 0-7 win over Army, and that includes Midshipmen. In terms of entertainment value, there’s no better ending to a game than a squeaker.
The average margin of victory in an Army-Navy Game over the last 15 years is almost 16 and a half points. For Air Force vs. Navy, that number drops to a two-score game. And despite Army’s relatively recent uptick in the quality of their game, Air Force and Navy always field much more impressive and more explosive teams.
Despite all of these facts, the Air Force Academy Falcons playing the Navy Midshipmen will never quite measure up to the ancient rivalry that is the Army-Navy Game. The Air Force-Navy game happens on the first Saturday in October, followed by the Army-Air Force game on the first Saturday in November.
The Army-Navy Game takes place on the second Saturday in December and is the only game scheduled at the time. The Falcons play the Midshipmen while the AP Top 25 are playing, and it’s hard to garner ratings while teams like Ohio State, Georgia, and Oregon are also on the field—so few will ever see what is clearly the more vicious rivalry.
