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Home / Sports News / Navy is still blue, but Army gray is glowing after winning this college football classic for the third straight time in Saturday’s 119th edition played in the City of Brotherly Love

Navy is still blue, but Army gray is glowing after winning this college football classic for the third straight time in Saturday’s 119th edition played in the City of Brotherly Love

By Arnie Leshin 
Arnie Leshin

On Brave Old Army Team has not replaced Anchors Away, nor has the Cadets Black, Gold and Gray anthem replaced the Midshipmen’s Blue & Gold.

But on the football field, the tide has turned. It has splashed over from the military academy on Annapolis Bay to the military academy on the Hudson.

And the last three times the schools met on the gridiron, it was Navy lined up first to recite its anthem and Army went last. That was a reversal from a decade where it was mainly the other way around, the loser went first, the winner went last 

Times do change, and surely this will, but who could have predicated that when new Army head coach Jeff Monrid signed up at West Point in 2014, the Black Knights would learn how to hang withthe Middies, sink their pride and drown their advantage over them.

But it was wishful thinking back than. Now Monrid has his team changing gears and showing rival head coach Ken Niumstaolo that things don’t last forever. The two were together as assistant college coaches at one time, and so they hugged before heading to the sidelines as rivals.

But while Niumstaolo’s team won only three of 10 starts that included Saturday afternoon’s 17-10 setback at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, in addition to not playing in a bowl game for the first time in a decade, Monrid did the opposite.

His team went 10-2, was ranked in the top 25 for the first time in 22 years, and will play against Houston in the Armed Forces Bowl at Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Tex., on Dec. 22. And the nine-straight tilts it had lost versus Niumstaolo is now history, now Army has its own streak in winning the last three times against Navy.

Before Monrid arrived, the Midshipmen just had to show up whether the event played in Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, New Jersey, New York or California. The commentators on the air, the print media, and the fans would just chuckle and wonder how much Navy would win by.

But just to be reminded, things don’t last forever, and obviously Monrid and his staff knew this. Now they have bragging rights for the classic that is played the last weekend of the college regular season. This time it was Dec. 8, the same date in 2007 that then-assistant Niumstaolo signed up to replace Paul Johnson, who was going to take over as Georgia Tech head coach.

It was 2013 when Niumstaolo was about to sign up to be head coach at Brigham Young, but he changed his mind at the last minute, favoring the Middies over the Cougars.

He stayed to remain part of this high level college football classic played on the last weekend of college football’s regular season. To remain with the greatest football event of its kind and which is a national spectacle, and to respect those men and women who are committed to duty, honor and this country.

Saturday, the crowd was in upwards of 100 thousand, unlike last year’s snowy day, this one had good weather. And for this event, there are no free passes except for media credentials, and even military officers and other dignitaries are chargedand it doesn’t matter how they pay or who foots the bill.

At one time both schools were ranked among the best in the land, Mr. Inside, Doc Blanchard and Mr. Outside, Glenn Davis, carried the ball when Army ranked high in 1943, 1944 and 1945. Roger Staubach quarterbacked Navy to the national championship game in 1963.

But the level of college football has developed and grown. There’s the high academic entrance requirements, height and weight limits, and military commitment requirements, just to name some.

And among some of the great things of this game is that it is never blacked out, is always on CBS, and to most fans, these military gridiron warriors are playing for the love of the games.

There might be some pushing, shoving, words and other things that go with the game, but both teams have players who have two patriotic things in mind, and that’s stand and salute when the national anthem is played and to always God Bless America.

Tomorrow, the Cadets and Middies will be back in touch with the game that’s a year away – Go Army, beat Navy or Go Navy, beat Army will be heard each day at the academies.

And after they have now clashed 120 times, Navy has won 61, Army 52, and there have been seven ties.

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