“We’ve still got a football team in Annapolis.”
That’s what Navy head coach Brian Newberry said in his postgame interview after his team defeated No. 22 Army 31-13 on Saturday, reclaiming the Commander in Chief’s Trophy for the first time in five years.
The comment was a reference to Army head coach Jeff Monken’s jab at the team’s arch-rival earlier in the season on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
Saturday marked the first time since 1950 that an unranked Navy team upset a ranked Army team, per the CBS broadcast.
Midshipmen quarterback Blake Horvath dominated at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland with 107 yards through the air, 204 on the ground and four total touchdowns.
“To play against a great Army team like this and come out with the [Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy] for our seniors… it’s awesome,” Horvath said after the game.
Both Army and Navy opened the season on significant undefeated runs, with the Black Knights clinging to a spot in the College Football Playoff conversation until a 49-14 loss to Notre Dame.
Army (11-2) won the American Athletic Conference in its first year as a member, but despite a few bad losses, the Midshipmen (9-3) took the annual battle in impressive fashion.
Both will participate in bowl games this season. Navy will face Oklahoma in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 27, while Army will now take on Louisiana Tech in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl on Dec. 28.
The Black Knights were originally supposed to play Marshall, but the Sun Belt Conference champion Thundering Herd withdrew after more than 30 players entered the transfer portal.
