FBS Week 16 Preview: The 125th Army-Navy Game, and Salute To Veterans Bowl

December 11, 2024 by CollegeFootballPoll.com Staff

Officially, it's the "2024 Army-Navy Football Game presented by USAA" and it will be broadcast live this Saturday at 3 p.m. on CBS. This year, the game moves to Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, home of the NFL's Washington Commanders.

Army is favored by 6.5 while the weekly picks, based on the Congrove Computer Rankings at CollegeFootballPoll.com, have the margin at 4.58.

Saturday night, the bowl season kicks off with the Salute To Veterans Bowl at 9 p.m. on ESPN. Formerly the Camellia Bowl, this week's game in Montgomery, Alabama pits the Sun Belt's South Alabama Jaguars against the MAC's Western Michigan Broncos.

Army-Navy

The winner will take home the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy because each has defeated Air Force this year. The trophy is currently in possession of Army after last season's 17-11 win in Foxborough at Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots. Navy is looking to get its hands on the coveted prize for the first time since 2019.

Navy comes into the rivalry with a 62-55-7 advantage, but the trophy has only been a highlight of the competition since 1972. The hardware goes to the round-robin winner of games played between Army, Navy and Air Force. The Falcons have won the trophy 21 times and retained it once, compared to 16 wins with 3 retentions for Navy, and 10 wins with 1 retention for Army. A "retention" occurs when all three teams go 1-1 vs each other in a year following the previous outright win (2-0 record).

The game will be played in Baltimore in 2025 and East Rutherford in 2026 before returning to Philadelphia in 2027. Locations have not been set beyond 2027.

This year, both teams are members of the American Athletic Conference. It marked the first year in the conference for Army, which won the league championship by going 8-0 in their regular season before whipping Tulane 35-14 at home in the title game. The Black Knights are 11-1 over-all while the Midshipmen come in at 8-3 with a 6-2 league mark that was good enough for 3rd place in the 14-member conference.

QB Bryson Daily has been the driving force for Army, who, with his 29 rushing touchdowns is tied for the FBS lead with Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty. Daily and his Joe Moore finalist offensive line have led Army to only its second 11-win season in school history (2018), both coming under Head Coach Jeff Monken.

Army is 15-1 in its last 16 games dating back to last season.

Army and Navy enter the contest with a combined record of 19-4, the most wins ever combined coming into the Army-Navy Game.

Navy (8-3, 6-2) began the season 6-0 before suffering back-to-back losses at the hands of Notre Dame and Rice. Navy QB Blake Horvath has accounted for 24 touchdowns (13 rushing, 11 passing). Horvath’s 1,154 passing yards are the most by a Navy player since Will Worth threw for 1,397 yards in 2016.

These are two of the top four teams in the country in Red Zone touchdown percentage with Navy ranked second at 80%, behind Indiana at 81.82%. Army is actually tied for 4th with Ohio State at 77.75%, behind Alabama at 77.78%.

Army is first in rushing offense at 3,773 yards for an average of 314.42 per game. That's 298 yards ahead of 2nd-place Jax State place which has played 1 more game than the Black Knights. Daily has 1,480 yards and an average of 134.55 per game, while Kanye Udoh has also topped the 1,000-yard mark at 1,064 and an average of 88.67 per game. Noah Short has 533 yards.

Navy is no slouch on the ground, either, as the Midshipmen rank 8th with 2,721 yards. Despite missing most of the Tulane game with back spasms, and being held out of the East Carolina game to rest other injuries, Horvath amassed 895 yards rushing (including 211 vs Memphis) while scoring 13 TD's (4 vs. Memphis).

Braxton Woodson filled in nicely for Navy, which started the game slowly at East Carolina before running off with a 34-20 win. Woodson finished with 125 yards and 2 scores, and threw for 165 and a touchdown.

Navy's Horvath threw for 1,154 yards with 11 TD's against just 4 INT's, while Army's Daily has thrown for 877 with 8 TD's and just 1 pick.

However, this game might be won on defense where Army ranks 10th in the nation. The Black Knights have allowed an average of just 297.9 yards per game, compared to 79th-ranked Navy's defense that has surrendered 380.5 per game.

Army-Navy Uniforms

The uniforms have become something to see, nearly as much as the game. This year's game will be the Screaming Eagles vs. the Jolly Rogers.

The Black Knights will sport black uniforms with white markings that honor the 101st Airborne Division, specifically its World War II actions during the 1944 Battle of the Bulge.

The Midshipmen will also look back on World War II, honoring VF-61, the fighter squadron known as the Jolly Rogers, the most lethal squadron in the history of naval aviation.

Salute to Veterans Bowl

South Alabama of the Sun Belt and Western Michigan of the MAC were both 6-6 over-all and 5-3 in their respective conferences.

This is the 11th edition of what has been called the Camellia Bowl.

Sun Belt teams have a 5-5 record in this postseason event, while MAC teams are 4-4, including wins in each of the last two games.

Camellia Bowl Game Results
Date	Won	Pts.	Lost	Pts.
12/20/14	Bowling Green	33	South Alabama	28
12/19/15	Appalachian State	31	Ohio	29
12/17/16	Appalachian State	31	Toledo	28
12/16/17	Middle Tennessee	35	Arkansas State	30
12/15/18	Georgia Southern	23	Eastern Michigan	21
12/21/19	Arkansas State	34	FIU	26
12/25/20	Buffalo	17	Marshall	10
12/25/21	Georgia State	51	Ball State	20
12/27/22	Buffalo	23	Georgia Southern	21
12/23/23	Northern Illinois	21	Arkansas State	19

South Alabama Bowl Results (1-3)
Season	Bowl	Opponent	Score	W/L
2014	Camellia	Bowling Green	28-33	L
2016	Arizona	Air Force	21-45	L
2022	New Orleans	Western Kentucky	23-44	L
2023	68 Ventures	Eastern Michigan	59-10	W
Western Michigan Bowl Results (2-9)
Season	Bowl	Opponent	Score	W/L
1961	Aviation	New Mexico	12-28	L
1988	California	Fresno State	30-35	L
2006	International	Cincinnati	24-27	L
2008	Texas	Rice	14-38	L
2011	Little Caesar's Pizza	Purdue	32-37	L
2014	Famous Idaho Potato	Air Force	24-38	L
2015	Bahamas	Middle Tennessee	45-31	W
2016	Cotton	Wisconsin	16-24	L
2018	Famous Idaho Potato	BYU	18-49	L
2019	SERVPRO First Responder	Western Kentucky	20-23	L
2021	Quick Lane	Nevada	52-24	W