LOCKHEED MARTIN ARMED FORCES BOWL
NAVY vs. OKLAHOMA
Amon G. Carter Stadium
(45,000/Natural Grass)
Fort Worth, Texas
Television
ESPN
Courtney Lyle, Rene Ingoglia and Morgan Uber
Live Statistics
StatBroadcast
THE GAME
The Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl was inaugurated in 2003 as the Fort Worth Bowl and became the Armed Forces Bowl in 2006 … This year’s game is the 22nd edition of the Armed Forces Bowl … The Armed Forces Bowl is the only bowl game that has had all three service academies participate … The current version of the bowl trophy, which was introduced in 2010, has actual battle-used metal forged into it … Current members of the American Athletic Conference have made a combined 11 appearances in the Armed Forces Bowl … The last win in the game by an American Athletic Conference team was Tulane’s 30-13 victory against Southern Miss in the 2019 season … Navy and Oklahoma have only met once previously, in 1965, when the Midshipmen took a 10-0 victory in Norman … Navy had a 376-83 advantage in total yards and limited the Sooners to 1-for-10 passing for six yards.
NAVY
9-3, 6-2 American
Head Coach
Brian Newberry (Baylor ’98)
14-10, second season
On the heels of a 31-13 win against Army, which brought the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy back to Annapolis, Navy makes its 25th bowl appearance with the matchup against Oklahoma in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl … Navy will face an SEC opponent in a bowl game for the first time since the 1954 season, when the Midshipmen defeated Ole Miss 21-0 in the 1955 Sugar Bowl … Navy won its two Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy games (against Air Force and Army) by a combined 45 points, which was the team’s largest margin of victory in the annual series since 2007 (46 points) … Navy has two wins against top-25 opponents (Memphis, Army) in the same season for the first time since 1958 … Navy is the only FBS team that has not played a one-score game this season (decided by eight points or fewer) … A win against Oklahoma would give Navy a sixth season with at least 10 wins in program history and its first season with double-figure wins since 2019 … Navy was picked to finish 11th in the American Athletic Conference preseason media poll, but the Midshipmen went 6-2 in conference play to finish tied for third in the final standings … QB Blake Horvath is the catalyst behind the Midshipmen’s modified Wing-T offense … Horvath rushed for 196 yards and two touchdowns and added two touchdown passes in the win against Army … Horvath has rushed for 1,091 yards and 15 touchdowns this season and has completed 73 of 127 passes for 1,261 yards and a school-record-tying 13 TDs … SB Eli Heidenreich is the leading receiver with 37 catches for 649 yards and six touchdowns … FB Alex Tecza has 533 rushing yards with seven touchdowns … The defense is led by LB Colin Ramos, who leads The American with 117 tackles and 9.8 tackles per game … DE Landon Robinson has 4.0 sacks and 5.5 tackles for loss and was a standout in the Army-Navy game with 13 tackles on defense and a key 29-yard run on a fake punt … S Rayuan Lane is tied for the league lead with three forced fumbles … CB Dashaun Peele is second in The American with five interceptions … Ramos, Robinson and Lane were all first team all-conference selections, while Peele earned second-team accolades.
OKLAHOMA
6-6, 2-6 SEC
Brent Venables (Kansas State ’92)
22-16, third season
Oklahoma, which will make its 58th appearance in a bowl game, plays in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl for the first time with this year’s matchup against Navy … The Sooners are making their 26th consecutive appearance in Bowl Season, a streak that began in 1999 and stands as the nation’s second-longest active streak behind Georgia’s 28-year run … The Sooners are 31-35-1 all-time in bowl games and are tied for fourth nationally in bowl victories … A win against Navy would clinch Oklahoma’s 25th winning season in 26 years … The Sooners, in their first year in the Southeastern Conference, have faced one of the most challenging schedules nationally … Oklahoma has played six opponents that finished in the top 25 of the College Football Playoff rankings — the most of any FBS team in 2024 … Including Navy, the Sooners’ FBS opponents have a combined record of 95-51 this season … Oklahoma is looking to go 3-0 against American Athletic Conference teams this season after the Sooners scored victories against Temple (51-3) and Tulane (34-19) in Norman … The top player for Oklahoma this season has been LB Danny Stutsman, an NCAA Consensus All-America selection and a finalist for the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker … Stutsman has 109 tackles (9.1 per game) with 8.0 tackles for loss and turned in his third consecutive 100-tackle season … Stutsman leads a defense that has limited opponents to 318.3 yards per game (21st nationally) and 105.5 rushing yards per game (15th nationally) … Stutsman was not listed on Oklahoma’s depth chart entering the Armed Forces Bowl, however … QB Michael Hawkins Jr., a true freshman, is listed as the Sooners’ starter for the bowl game … Hawkins saw action in six games and passed for 536 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions … Former Florida Atlantic QB Casey Thompson is the listed backup … RB Jovantae Barnes has a team-high 577 rushing yards with five touchdowns … WR Deion Burks, a transfer from Purdue, has 31 receptions and three touchdowns in an injury-shortened season … DE R Mason Thomas will be the player to watch on defense after he earned second team All-SEC honors … Thomas has 9.0 sacks with 11.5 tackles for loss.