Army takes on Navy in the 117th meeting between the two teams on Saturday in Baltimore.
The most important game of the Black Knights season will take place this weekend as the traditional Army-Navy clash is played. Army is well rested and ready to break the Mids 14 game win streak, before moving on to the Heart of Texas Bowl in Dallas in late December.
Season so far
The Midshipmen enter this game with Army with a 9-3 (7-1) record after falling in the American Athletic Conference Championship Game last weekend.
The 2015 season was one of the greatest in the history of the academy so no one was quite sure what 2016 would hold as Navy graduated its record-setting quarterback and its entire offensive line. The Mids though got off to a hot start and were 3-0 with a couple of conference wins by the end of September after tight wins over UConn (28-24) and Tulane (21-14) in AAC play.
Navy suffered a setback with a 28-14 loss to Air Force that pretty much guaranteed that the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy would be headed to Colorado Springs but then bounced back with their biggest win of the year in a 46-40 upset of No. 6 Houston. It was about this point that quarterback Will Worth became one of the biggest touchdown threats in the country.
After the loss against Air Force, Navy won six of its last seven regular season games with the only loss coming on the road against a very good USF team 52-45. Included in that run of games was a narrow victory over Notre Dame (28-27) and a pair of huge offensive days against East Carolina (66-31) and SMU (75-31). Nacy was unable to win the conference crown, however, losing 34-10 to Temple last Saturday afternoon.
Injuries and Suspensions
Baltimore will be the Mids eighth game in a row and that run has certainly taken its toll on Navy. The Midshipmen will be starting their third string quarterback against Army as sophomore Zac Abey will be under center. Starting quarterback Tago Smith was lost for the season after tearing his ACL in the opener, while Will Worth has suffered the same fate with a right foot injury suffered against Temple last time out.
The Temple game was an unfortunate one for Navy as they also lost senior slotback (and team captain) Toneo Gulley to a left foot injury on the same play that took Worth out for the year. Other major contributors on the 14 name injury report include star linebacker Daniel Gonzales who was lost weeks ago with a foot injury, while LB Josiah Powell (leg), DB Elijah Merchant (concussion), and SB Darryl Bonner (undisclosed) are all serious doubts.
Challenges
Army simply has to believe it can beat Navy this weekend. The Black Knights have come close to knocking off the Mids a couple of times recently, arguably when the gulf in class between the two teams was greater than it is today. The injuries have seriously piled up for Navy over the last couple of weeks, and while Army has had 21 days off to prepare, Navy has been playing week in and week out for more than two months. Army has to use this to its advantage and work on wearing Navy down with their punishing running game, controlling the clock and keeping those tired and beaten up Navy defenders on the field as much as possible.