Army and Navy have been the talk of the college football world this season because both service academy programs are off to such tremendous starts.
The Black Knights (6-0, 5-0 American Athletic Conference) and Midshipmen (5-0, 3-0) both entered the Associated Press Top 25 poll on Sunday, marking the first time the archrivals have been ranked in the same week since 1960.
If the Black Knights and Midshipmen finish first and second in the AAC standings, they will meet at the home of the higher seed on Friday, Dec. 6. A rematch would come the following weekend when the 125th Army-Navy game is played on Saturday, Dec. 14 at Northwest Field in Landover.
Army coach Jeff Monken would have people believe he hasn’t noticed that Navy is also ranked and unbeaten. During an appearance on the “Pat McAfee Show,” Monken was asked if he has considered the prospect of meeting Navy on back-to-back weekends in December.
“Do they still have a football program at that school?” Monken said, clearly tongue-in-cheek, but with a straight face and condescending tone.
Army Head Coach Jeff Monken tells The @PatMcAfeeShow he's not worried about Navy on the field
"Do they still have a football program at that school?"
pic.twitter.com/jY7iIvBEmq
— ESPN (@espn) October 16, 2024
It marked the second time this month that Monken has made his dislike of the archrival from Annapolis abundantly clear. When The Athletic wrote an article about Army and Navy both starting 4-0 for the first time since the World War II era, Monken tersely stated: “Here’s hoping they lose every game.”
Contacted after practice on Wednesday night, Navy coach Brian Newberry had no comment when asked about what Monken said on the Pat McAfee Show.
Up until recently, there was a mutual respect between the Army and Navy football programs. Coaches and players from both sides unanimously agreed that Air Force was the service academy that did not show respect during Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy series games.
That has changed since Troy Calhoun replaced Fisher DeBerry as Air Force coach and has gradually toned down the cocky attitude the program exuded.
Of course, capturing the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy only five times from 2003 to 2023 helped deflate the Falcons’ bravado.
Navy, under Paul Johnson, put an end to Air Force’s era of dominance of the CIC Trophy series. The Midshipmen claimed the coveted trophy 10 times from 2003 through 2015. Army has recently had a strong run in the series — winning the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy five times since 2017.
Army and Navy have not both been unbeaten this late in the season since 1945. Not only are the Black Knights and Midshipmen winning, they are doing so in dominant fashion.
Army has returned to the under center triple-option offense after operating more of a zone running scheme out of shotgun last season. That change has paid dividends as the Black Knights are averaging 39.7 points and lead the nation in rushing offense with 369.9 yards per game.
Army has also been extremely strong defensively, ranking 10th nationally in total defense with an average of 267.3 total yards allowed. Add it all up and the Black Knights are outscoring opponents by nearly 30 points per game.
Navy has been even more explosive offensively operating the new Wing-T attack brought in by first-year coordinator Drew Cronic. The Mids rank fourth nationally in scoring offense (43.6 points per game), second in rushing offense (295.6 yards) and 17th in total offense (465.4 yards).
Perhaps the most surprising statistic is that Army and Navy rank one-two nationally in passing yards per completion with Bryson Daily and Blake Horvath first and second in passer rating.
Monken, in his 11th season at West Point, has become increasingly caustic in his attitude toward the Navy football program, making numerous negative remarks about the archrival in recent years. That is somewhat surprising considering Monken was an assistant at Navy for six years under Johnson before following his mentor to Georgia Tech.
At Monken’s direction, Army West Point had the Navy logo installed on every urinal in the football team locker room then bragged about it. Monken’s sudden dislike of the Midshipmen seems to have rubbed off on his players.
Interviewed by The Athletic about the chance of Army and Navy meeting in the AAC Championship game, Daily echoed his coach’s sentiments by saying “I’d rather they lose out. That’s my mentality towards that.”