Army-Navy Football 2018: Preview and Predictions for America’s Game
The Army-Navy football game will take place for the 119th time on December 8. Army is the favorite. Can Navy pull off the upset in America’s Game?
The Army-Navy Game is one of America’s greatest pastimes. Every year, this game is played on the second Saturday in December. It is the only FBS game played all day. ESPN’s College GameDay will be there. The President of the United States, Donald Trump, will be there. Over 100,000 fans will be there, freezing in the cold weather at Lincoln Financial Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The Army Black Knights of West Point enter the game with an impressive 9-2 record. Navy, on the other hand, is 3-8. Army is ranked 22nd in the AP Poll. Navy, is fifth in the American Athletic Conference’s West Division.
The Black Knights, led by head coach Jeff Monken, have also won the previous two meetings. Before that, the Midshipmen held a 14-year winning steak over Army. In the previous two years, Navy has lost their season-long starting quarterback just a week or two prior to the game. On Saturday, Navy will have Zach Abey under center, who has started all of last year for the Midshipmen and the second half of this year(once some quarterback drama eventually settled down).
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Although Army appears to be the obvious favorite, these two teams really aren’t that different in ability. The Black Knight’s schedule is significantly easier than Navy’s. Additionally, the Midshipmen lost two games on last second two-point conversions. So in the end, this game may be much closer than their records suggest.
Date: Saturday, Dec. 8
Time: 3:00 p.m. ET
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Venue: Lincoln Financial Stadium
TV: CBS
Live Stream: CBS Live | FuboTV
Keys to success
As true with any Army-Navy Game, there are three keys to success.
The first is to limit unforced errors, to include winning the turnover battle and eliminating penalties. Any turnover will be likely be capitalized. Maximizing the outcomes of the opponent’s errors takes us to the second key to success.
Scores need to be touchdowns to the maximum extent possible. This means going for the first down on fourth and short, especially in the redzone. Because this game will likely be very low scoring, any time a score can be seven points instead of three, it should be. With that said, all scoring opportunities need to be completed. So missed extra points or field goals could become a critical error.
And the last key is winning the time of possession in a game that is all about possession. What that means is, when a turnover happens, or the other team misses a field goal, do not give them the ball back anytime soon. Earlier this year, Army took No. 4 Oklahoma to overtime, and nearly won, because they dominated the time of possession.
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Prediction
Navy is tired of losing. Army has a misconception of their own ability based upon their 9-2 record. Therefore, Navy will head into the game fired up and ready to take it to the Black Knights. The Midshipmen will get off to an early lead this Army-Navy Game. Naturally, Army will be resilient and battle back.
The game will come down to the wire, and Navy’s kicker, Bennett Moehring will redeem himself from last year’s miss as time expired.