PHILADELPHIA-- When the American Athletic Conference persuaded Navy to become a football-playing member of the conference this season, the league pulled off a major coup.
Navy brought a storied tradition to the conference, not to mention a perennial bowl contender. The league also obtained affiliation with one of the most cherished traditions in college football -- the annual Army-Navy game – the 116th edition of which was played at Lincoln Financial Field Saturday in the final game of the regular season.
No matter what the records of the two teams are in any given year, this is America's game, a game of honor between student-athletes from two highly respected military institutions who have made commitments to serve their country after graduation and put their lives on the line to protect our freedom.
It was also another chance to watch Navy’s senior quarterback Keenan Reynolds in action. Reynolds, The American’s Offensive Player of the Year, added another exclamation point to a brilliant career by rushing for 136 yards and scoring two touchdowns, extending his own NCAA FBS record for career rushing TDs to 85 as the 21st-ranked Midshipmen defeated Army, 21-17. The Mids held off the persistent Black Knights for the 14th consecutive season before an enthusiastic sellout crowd of 69,722.
Reynolds also passed for 113 yards and made the game-deciding offensive play when he threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Jamir Tillman -- a school record 30th of his career- to give the Midshipmen a 21-17 lead with 5:51 left in the third quarter.
Reynolds, who set a record with seven career touchdowns in the Army-Navy game, has been a great player for Navy and it was nice to see him showcased in a standalone game that was nationally televised on CBS. He won the ESPN fan vote for the Heisman Trophy and would have looked good in his dress blues during ESPN's award telecast in Manhattan.
Navy even worked out a game plan to get him up to the Big Apple, should the situation warrant it, chartering a helicopter to fly him to the Downtown Athletic Club immediately after the game in Philadelphia. It would have been a memorable moment. But the dream never came true as the committee opted to limit the list of invitees to three.
“The Heisman thing is what it is,” Reynolds said. “Good luck to those three guys. At least I don't have to rush to a chopper. I can stay here and celebrate with my teammates.”
“We're all hurt,” Navy coach Ken Niumatololo said. “He's a good kid. It's not like he would have be a token invite. He's worked hard for everything he got. It would have been great to have someone from a service academy in the mix. It would have been a great opportunity for the Heisman committee. It's a dangerous world out there. This would have been a chance for them to do something.”
Reynolds will always have the satisfaction of knowing his senior class had the character and resiliency to beat Army four consecutive times.
“That was the No. 1 goal,” Reynolds said. “To be able to be here four years and never lose against Army, that's huge.”
The Midshipmen re-captured the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy after a one-year hiatus.
“We get to go to the White House this year and get our trophy back,” he said.
It wasn't easy. After Navy took the lead, Army coach Jeff Monken injected some unexpected drama into the final quarter. The Black Knights had their chances to pull off an upset but fell short. Daniel Grochowski missed a 29-yard field goal early in the quarter. Quarterback Chris Carter lost a fumble at the Navy 34-yard that was recovered by linebacker Ted Colburn. Navy had two fourth-quarter interceptions -- one off a trick play -- to preserve the lead. Army's Hail Mary on the final play of the game fell just short.
Niumatalolo improved to 8-0 against the Black Knights. He is the all-time winningest coach at Navy, with a 67-37 record in eight seasons after taking over for now-Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson in December 2007.
“We have resilient kids, good kids,” Niumatololo said. “They knew how to hang in there when things looked bleak and that is only going to help them in the real world. There are bad things happening in the world, a lot of bad guys out there. This is a football game. There are a lot bigger battles out there.”
Nothing in college sports beats the color and pageantry of Army-Navy. There is something that tugs at the Patriotic heart strings of Americans watching the march on of Cadets and Midshipmen and standing at attention during the national anthem and listening to the two stirring fight songs -- “On Brave Ole Army Team” and “Anchors Aweigh.”
This year, the Navy football team wore Under Armour-designed “Navy Fleet” uniforms and one of seven different hand-painted helmet designs.
Army wore detailed helmets too. They featured 11 different divisions of the U.S. Army, broken down by position.
Reynolds final game for the Naval Academy will be Dec. 28 when the Midshipmen play Pitt in the Military Bowl at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis.