122nd meeting for the coveted Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy. ZT and Padre love it and although we have not attended, have been advised it is a true “bucket list” game for any true college football fan!
This version is being played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford NJ and the only negative ZT sees is Gary Danielson but if he gets out of line, pretty easy to dial up a missile strike!!
Army Black Knights – must be noted they attempted to capture the Navy Mascot and actually grabbed a 1 horned retired goat mascot. Most blamed it on Biden.
Navy Midshipmen– always uses this game as an opportunity to recruit. As noted below, it is a well-orchestrated operation…
Army comes into this game at 8-3, a 7 point favorite, and headed to the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl to play Mizzou ( note the connection with the missile strike capability on Gary D ). Offense loves the running game with 4 ( including QB Anderson ) players at 400+ yards on the ground this season. Also note the #2 receiver is a RB so you get the picture.
Navy has had tough season this year and while 3-8, they can “make their season” by defeating the Black Knights. May look like an easy prediction but in the words of this guy:
Navy will be playing its 11th team going to a bowl game when they face Army on Saturday!! Loved the quote from Navy HC Ken Niumatalolo, ” We’ve been improving”….But like if you’re a boxer fighting Floyd Mayweather, you’re like ‘I think I got better’, but then you got 6 black eyes.” Navy has played #4 Cincinnati, #5 Notre Dame, #21 Houston and a host of other solid bowl-bound teams as noted. Army had a rough October when they lost 3 in a row to Ball State, Wisconsin and then a wild shootout ( yes, even with a running offense ) with #20 Wake Forest 70-56 before bouncing back with 4 straight wins over lessor opponents. Army HC Jeff Monken notes the Navy record means nothing and says “It’ll be the toughest game we’ve played all year. We know that.”
These games have typically been low scoring as both have ground-based offenses. Army averages 7.7 pass attempts per game while Navy is close behind at 8.3 papg! Other than Air Force ( 8.6 papg ), no other FBS team averages below 20. Some ask why this is true with the service academies but height/weight restrictions are such that William “The Refrigerator” Perry types can’t be recruited.
What else that makes these low scoring affairs? The clock does not stop as often and the number of plays are less, hence less scoring.
Editor’s Note: ZT gets the writing equivalent of a Targeting Foul for that attempt to tie the song by The Crystals ( definitely not the Shaun Cassidy version ) to the Service Academies’ offensive ground game!!
ZT notes that both teams are similar in style with Army just a bit more effective in the air. This rivalry is as good as any and noting Navy had one of the toughest schedules in the nation while Army’s was ranked 93rd, ZT sees a close, low scoring game. Black Knights 20 Midshipmen 14
Padre and ZT back next week with a big bowl extravaganza of prognostications to get us up to the CFP games and New Years Day Bowls……
Pigskin Prognostications by the Piedmont Padre and Zimmern's Twin 