Army-Navy Game 2012

FacebookTwitterPinterestEmailEmailEmailShare

The Army-Navy game is the final regular season college football game of the 2012 season and CBS will broadcast the matchup this Saturday (12/8) at 3pm ET live from Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. This is the fourth time the game has been played on the second Saturday in December, a date that keeps the game away from all the BCS hoopla that went down last week. If America wants some Division 1 (OK, FBS) football this Saturday, it's all about the service academies.

Here's a rundown for the uninitiated: this is the 113th meeting between the teams and Navy leads the series 56–49–7. Army, Navy and Air Force compete for the Commander in Chief's Trophy every year, which goes to the team with the best record against the other two academies. While it's possible that a different team can win each of the three games (Air Force-Army, Air Force-Navy and Army-Navy) and produce a tie for the trophy, that's only happened four times out of the forty years they've played for the trophy.  No one connected to Saturday's game likes to talk about it, but Air Force won the series last year and has won the trophy outright as many times as Army and Navy put together. Navy last won the trophy in 2009 and Army's suffered a long drought, last winning the series in 1996.

This year is different: Army and Navy play for the trophy this Saturday. Even though the Army Black Nights have stumbled through a brutal 2-9 season, one of those two wins came against the Air Force Falcons (41-21) on November 3rd. The Navy Midshipmen have a respectable 7-4 record and beat Air Force 28-21 in OT on October 6th. Navy will later travel to San Francisco on 12/29 to play in the Arizona State Sun Devils in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, but this game is a huge chance for Army to rescue their season. (Air Force finished with a bowl-eligible 6-6 record and is bound for the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl against the Rice Owls on 12/29 in Fort Worth, TX).

Of course, a trophy doesn't really have to be on the line for fans to get worked up about a rivalry that's up there with Alabama-Auburn, Michigan-Ohio State, UCLA-USC and Harvard-Yale in the most storied series in college football.

We scoured YouTube for some spirit videos and came up with these four (two for Army, two for Navy). No matter which team you support, the other side's videos are sure to get you riled up. Have at in in the comments. Who's going to win the big game?

%embed4%

Soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division send best wishes to the U.S. Army Black Knights.

%embed3%

USNA Ray-Ban Vision

%embed5%

Soldiers from Fort Drum send a message to the U.S. Army Black Knights

%embed6%

Ali & Fly Hit the Cray Button

Story Continues