Navy Midshipmen football

The Navy Midshipmen football team represents the United States Naval Academy in NCAA Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) college football. The Naval Academy completed its final season as an FBS independent school (not in a conference) in 2014, and became a single-sport member of the American Athletic Conference beginning in the 2015 season. The team has been coached by Ken Niumatalolo since December 2007. Navy has 19 players and three coaches in the College Football Hall of Fame and won the National Championship in 1926 according to the Boand and Houlgate poll systems. The 1910 team also was undefeated and unscored upon (the lone tie was a 0–0 game). The mascot is Bill the Goat.

Army
The Army–Navy Game, played annually on the last weekend of the college football regular season in early December, pits the football teams of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York (Army) against the Navy Midshipmen. It is one of the most traditional and enduring rivalries in college football, and is televised every year by CBS. It was in the 1963 Army–Navy game that instant replay made its television debut.

This game has always had inter-service "bragging rights" at stake; in past decades, when both Army and Navy were often national powers, the game occasionally had national championship implications. However, as top-level college football has developed and grown, the high academic entrance requirements, height and weight limits, and the military commitment required of West Point and Annapolis graduates has reduced the overall competitiveness of both academies in comparison with other football programs.

While Navy has had a resurgence in recent years, Army has struggled to post winning seasons. However, the tradition of the game has ensured that it remains nationally televised to this day. One of the great appeals of this game to many fans is that its players are largely playing for the love of the game, since almost none will ever play in the NFL. The game is especially emotional for the seniors, called "first classmen" by both academies, since it is typically the last competitive football game they will ever play.

During wartime, the game is even more emotional because some seniors will not return once they are deployed. For instance, in the 2004 game, at least one senior from the class of 2003 who was killed in Iraq, Navy's J. P. Blecksmith, was remembered. The players placed their comrade's pads and jerseys on chairs on the sidelines. Much of the sentiment of the game goes out to those who share the uniform and who are overseas.

Army-Navy is played in early December, typically in Philadelphia. The game, however, has also been played in other locations such as New York, Baltimore, Chicago, and Pasadena.

Commander-in-Chief's Trophy


The Commander-in-Chief's Trophy is awarded to each season's winner of the triangular college football series among the United States Military Academy (Army), the United States Naval Academy (Navy), and the United States Air Force Academy (Air Force). In the event of a tie, the award is shared, but the previous winner retains the trophy. Navy controlled the trophy from 2003 to 2009, marking one of the longest times any academy has had possession of the prestigious trophy.

Typically, the Navy–Air Force game is played in early October and the Army–Air Force game is played in mid-November, followed by Army-Navy in early December.

When Navy has possession of the trophy, it is displayed in a glass case in Bancroft Hall, the Midshipmen's dormitory. Navy has won 14 Commander-in-Chief's Trophies (1973, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1981, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013).

Notre Dame
Navy has played Notre Dame, also an independent, in 87 annual games without interruption since 1927 with a record of 12–74–1. Notre Dame plays this game to repay Navy for helping to keep Notre Dame financially afloat during World War II. This series is scheduled to continue indefinitely.

From 1963, when Navy beat Notre Dame 35–14, to 2006, Notre Dame won 43 consecutive games against Navy, the longest such streak in Division 1-A football. This streak ended on November 3, 2007, when Navy beat Notre Dame 46–44 in triple overtime. Navy also bested Notre Dame in 2009 and 2010, making the class of 2011 only the third class in Navy history to have beaten Notre Dame three times.

When Navy is the home team for this game in even-numbered years, the Midshipmen host the game off-campus at large stadiums used by NFL teams, usually FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland or M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. The Midshipmen have also hosted the Irish at John F. Kennedy Stadium and Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

Maryland


The intrastate rivalry between Maryland and Navy is referred to as the "Crab Bowl Classic." Starting in 1905, the two teams have played sporadically over the years. Many of the early games were lopsided and Navy leads the series 14–7. In 2005, the teams renewed their rivalry and Maryland won, 23–20. The teams met again on Labor Day 2010 and Maryland won again, 17–14, after the Terps' goal-line stand with under a minute remaining. As of 2010, the winner of the Crab Bowl Classic is awarded the Crab Bowl Trophy, created by the Touchdown Club of Annapolis with underwriting from the D'Camera Group.

Rutgers
This rivalry stems from Navy and Rutgers being two of the only three programs (the third is Army) to come out of the original, informal "Ivy League" that are still members of the top tier of NCAA college football (currently Division I-FBS). (See Before There Was An Ivy League and Ivy League.) Although the two teams only began a regular series relatively recently in 1995, the games between the two schools are often close and sometimes have controversy as in the 2004 and 2007 editions of the series. The rivalry dates to 1891, making the two schools each other's oldest active football rivals. The schools have met 25 times, with Rutgers leading the series at 13–11–1 all-time after the 2014 Navy loss. Army is Rutgers' second oldest active rivalry. Navy and Rutgers have played most years since 1995, but do not have additional games scheduled at this time with Rutgers' move to the Big Ten and Navy's move from Independence to the American.

SMU
The Gansz Trophy was created in 2009 through a collaboration between the athletic departments of the Naval Academy and Southern Methodist University. The trophy is named for Frank Gansz who played linebacker at the Naval Academy from 1957 through 1959. Gansz later served on the coaching staffs at numerous colleges, including all three service academies and Southern Methodist, as well as several professional teams. The two teams have met 16 times with Navy leading the all-time series 9-7, and the trophy series 2-0.

1926 national championship
Three undefeated teams with nearly identical records would cause a stir among fans and pollsters today, but this was the case when Navy earned its lone national championship in 1926, as the Midshipmen shared the honor with Stanford and Alabama. A 7-7 tie between Alabama and Stanford in the 1926 Rose Bowl gave Stanford a 10-0-1 mark, while the Crimson Tide and the Mids each had identical 9-0-1 records.

The Midshipmen opened the '26 season with a new coach, Bill Ingram. A former Navy standout from 1916–1918, Ingram took over a Navy team that had only won seven games in the previous two seasons combined. One of the keys to Navy’s 1926 squad was a potent offense led by All-America tackle and team captain Frank Wickhorst, who proved to be a punishing blocker for the Navy offense. One member of the Navy offense that appreciated the blocking of Wickhorst was Tom Hamilton. The quarterback and kicker had a pair of 100-yard rushing games en route to All-America honors.

Navy's biggest win that year was against Michigan in front of 80,000 fans in Baltimore. The Mids scored 10 second half points to upset the Wolverines, 10-0. Navy’s offense tallied 165 yards behind the powering attack of Hamilton and Henry Caldwell who scored Navy’s lone touchdown on a one-yard plunge. Jubilation from the victory continued after the game, as the Midshipmen tore down the goal post at each end of the field and carried away all the markers that lined both sides of the field.

Navy headed into its season finale against Army with a 9-0 record. The game was to be played in Chicago at Soldier Field, which had been built as a memorial to the men killed in World War I. It was only natural Army and Navy would be invited to play the inaugural contest there. James R. Harrison of the New York Times described the game as "the greatest of its time and as a national spectacle." Over 110,000 people witnessed the Midshipmen open up a 14-0 lead on the Cadets, only to see Army fight back to take a 21-14 lead early in the third quarter. The Navy offense responded behind its strong ground game led by running back Alan Shapley. On fourth down and three yards to go, Shapley ran eight yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 21. As the final quarter concluded, Army mounted a brief threat only to miss a 25-yard field goal.

The tie gave the Midshipmen a share of the national championship based on retroactive rankings by both the William Boand and Deke Houlgate mathematical poll systems.

Coaches
The current coach is Ken Niumatalolo.

Heisman Trophy

 * Joe Bellino – 1960
 * Roger Staubach – 1963

Maxwell Award

 * Ronald Beagle – 1954
 * Bob Reifsnyder – 1957
 * Joe Bellino – 1960
 * Roger Staubach – 1963

Other awards

 * Percy Northcroft – All-American (1906, 1908)
 * Zerbin Singleton – Disney's Wide World of Sports Spirit Award (2007)

College Football Hall of Fame
Navy has 19 players and 3 coaches in the College Football Hall of Fame:
 * Players (Position, Years Players, Year Inducted, Other School Played at (if any))
 * Ron Beagle (End, 1953–55, 1986) College HOF Bio
 * Joe Bellino (Halfback, 1958–60, 1977) College HOF Bio
 * Buzz Borries (Halfback, 1932–34, 1960) College HOF Bio
 * George Brown (Guard, 1942–43, 1947, 1985, San Diego State) College HOF Bio
 * John Brown (Guard / Tackle, 1910–13, 1951) College HOF Bio
 * Slade Cutter (Tackle, 1932–34, 1967) College HOF Bio
 * John Dalton (Halfback, 1908–11, 1970) College HOF Bio
 * Dick Duden (End,	1943–45, 2001) College HOF Bio
 * Steve Eisenhauer (Tackle / Guard, 1951–53, 1994) College HOF Bio
 * Tom Hamilton (Halfback, 1924–26, 1965) College HOF Bio
 * Jonas Ingram (Fullback, 1904, 1906, 1968) College HOF Bio
 * Napoleon McCallum (Running Back, 1981–85, 2002) College HOF Bio
 * Skip Minisi (Halfback, 1944–47, 1985, Pennsylvania) College HOF Bio
 * Bob Reifsnyder (Tackle, 1956–58, 1997) College HOF Bio
 * Clyde Scott (Halfback, 1944–48, 1971, Arkansas) College HOF Bio
 * Dick Scott (Center, 1945–47, 1987) College HOF Bio
 * Roger Staubach (Quarterback, 1962–64, 1981) College HOF Bio
 * Don Whitmire (Tackle, 1941–44, 1956, Alabama) College HOF Bio
 * Frank Wickhorst (Tackle, 1924–26, 1970) College HOF Bio
 * Chet Moeller (Safety, 1973–75, 2010) College HOF Bio


 * Coaches (Year Inducted)
 * George Welsh (2004) College HOF Bio
 * Bill Ingram (1973) College HOF Bio
 * Gil Dobie	(1951) College HOF Bio

National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame National Scholar-Athlete Awards
"The Most Prestigious Scholarships In College Football Since 1959"
 * Joe Ince – 1963
 * Alan Roodhouse – 1965
 * Daniel Pike – 1969
 * Timothy Harden – 1974
 * Theodore Dumbauld – 1980
 * Carl C. Voss – 1991
 * Terrence Anderson – 1999

Athletic Hall of Fame

 * For football players in the USNA Athletic Hall of Fame, see footnote.

The Athletic Hall of Fame is housed in Lejeune Hall. Among the exhibits are two Heisman Trophies, won by Joe Bellino in 1960 and Roger Staubach in 1963.

Alumni

 * See: Football alumni

Facilities

 * Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium
 * Ricketts Hall – This building contains the locker room for the varsity football team and offices for football, basketball, and lacrosse. It also contains the Jack Lengyel Sports Conditioning Facility, which is one of three "strength and conditioning facilities" at the academy. The weight-room facility serves football, men's lacrosse, baseball and wrestling.
 * Rip Miller Field – Named for Edgar Miller, who was the Navy head football coach for three seasons (1931–1933). The field is used by both lacrosse and sprint football.
 * Wesley Brown Field House – The field house has a full-length, 76000 sqft, retractable Magic Carpet AstroTurf football field.