Friends, we’ve got the biggest game of the year tomorrow, and Army needs a WIN! Because of the way the Black Knights’ year has played out, tomorrow’s game will serve as something like a referendum on Army’s season as a whole. With a win, the team will move to 7-5, bring home the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy, and validate the many struggles and growing pains we’ve seen this year. A loss, though, drops the team to 6-6, all but ensuring that we’ll remember this as a rebuilding year despite a few obvious high points.
Army comes in as an underdog, and that’s good. They’ve played much, MUCH better football this season when they’ve felt disrespected coming into a contest. The 2025 Army Team hasn’t always played the most consistent football we’ve seen under Head Coach Jeff Monken, but they’ve fought like Hell at every turn. They now need just one more good, hard fight to make this a season to remember.
Your Need To Know heading into the 126th Army-Navy Game presented by @USAA 🏈#ArmyNavy pic.twitter.com/afOaPQivPB
— Army-Navy Game (@ArmyNavyGame) December 9, 2025
Keys to Victory
This might be the biggest game of the year, but it’s far from the most difficult to break down. Indeed, we have just three Keys to Victory this week. If the Black Knights can get these three things done, they will almost certainly walk out of Baltimore holding Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy, the greatest trophy in all of sports.
Make Good Tackles
Army’s offense features a lot of young players, but its defense has plenty of experienced firstie leadership. Both team captains are multi-year starting middle linebackers as are both starting safeties and Army’s nickel.
Friends, when you’re The Man, you have to play like you’re The Man.
That’s doubly true this week.
If we look back on the season, we see that in the games in which Army has played well, they’ve tackled well. They’ve shut down the run inside, made good tackles in space, and set up their defensive playmakers to get after the quarterback. We’ve seen this regardless of the quality of their competition. The Black Knights played outstanding defense against Kansas State, at Air Force, at Tulane, and in the Dome against UTSA. Those were the toughest games Army faced all season! The only one the Black Knights lost came against the eventual conference champion on a fluke circus catch in the end zone on fourth down. By comparison, the Black Knights tackled much less successfully at home against Tarleton State, North Texas, and even Tulsa. Army wound up giving up 200+ rushing yards in those games on 5 or even 7 yards/carry. That will not get it done this week.
As we said, that’s doubly true this week because Navy has gotten so good at getting the ball to their playmakers in space. They have a firstie quarterback who’s now been playing with his fellow firstie skill position players throughout the entirety of their Navy careers. These guys see the field the same way and can make the same reads at the same time. However, they’re not more athletic than K-State, Tulane, or UTSA even on offense. They’re about on par with Air Force in terms of offensive production when QB Liam Szarka is under center.
If Army’s defense can tackle well in space and force the Mids to drive methodically down the field, Navy’s offense will most likely reward them with a turnover or two. This Navy team has a real tendency to put the ball on the ground. With that, the Black Knights will give themselves a chance to set these Squids back on their heels and take this game away from them.
.@ArmyWP_Football's @CoachJeffMonken explains why he believes Army-Navy is "the best rivalry and biggest rivalry in college football." pic.twitter.com/hlaMh6XEt8
— Jim Rome (@jimrome) December 9, 2025
Hit Available Passes
We know that both teams want to run the ball. However, Army in particular has struggled to maintain momentum on the ground against this Navy defense throughout Head Coach Jeff Monken’s tenure. The Black Knights can run the ball effectively this week, and they’ll need to do that. However, they’re not going to win this game just by pounding the rock between the tackles.
Friends, QB Cale Hellums threw for 8000 yards (!) in high school back in Texas. He’s got a decent arm, and because he’s a good runner, he’s particularly good when they roll him out of the pocket on run-pass options (RPOs). However, his consistency has lagged down the stretch. He finally dialed it in two weeks ago at UTSA in the fourth quarter, but before that, he’d gone 1/6 through the air. This week, Hellums needs to hit the passes that become open, and his receivers need to catch those passes and keep the chains moving.
Army has some real weapons in the passing game. SBs Noah Short and Samari Howard have both proven to be excellent receivers, yearling WR Brady Anderson has become a revelation, and over the past couple of weeks, we’ve even seen Army’s tight ends emerge as passing threats. All of this can and should stretch a Navy defense that has honestly struggled against the pass all year long.
If the Black Knights can hit a few passes and force a change in Navy’s defensive alignment, they’ll have an excellent chance to win this game.
Stepping up with the game on the line.
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) December 1, 2025
Parker Poloskey 🫡👏 pic.twitter.com/V4Zeo83uym
Win the Turnover Battle
The most surprising stat we found when researching this game is Army’s commanding advantage in total turnover margin. Despite a disastrous first month of the season, the Black Knights now sit close to the top of FBS college football at +5 on turnovers. By comparison, Navy stands middle of the pack at +1. The Mids haven’t generated many turnovers, and they’ve fumbled a LOT more than you might expect given their record. Indeed, this Navy team fumbled four separate times against Memphis, though they lost just one of those, so that didn’t become the story of that game.
However, mistakes like that almost always decide the outcome at Army-Navy.
Army needs to hold onto the football, obviously, and they need to put themselves in position to make Navy’s mistakes matter. If the Black Knights can do that, they’ll have an excellent chance to win this game.
𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸🏈
— The American (@American_Conf) December 1, 2025
Jaydan Mayes x @ArmyWP_Football ⚔️#BuiltToRise x #AmericanFB pic.twitter.com/kdcQUsyAJJ
Finally Thoughts
Navy has a great team this year. If you listen to the hype, there’s just no way in Hell that Army should win. Nobody believes in the Black Knights, and quite honestly, I doubt that these players and coaches would have it any other way.
That’s fine. Let’s just play the game and see what happens.
This year’s Black Knights have played their best football on the road in do-or-die situations. That’s exactly what we have here again this week. Let’s see what they can do with it.
Go Army! Beat Navy!!!
