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4 things to know about Army and Navy's potential collision in back-to-back games

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For The Win (usatoday.com) 

The troops are playing some awesome football. For the first time since 1945, Army and Navy are a combined 10-0.

On Saturday, Army thumped Tulsa 49-7, while Navy snapped a four-game losing streak to rival Air Force to win 34-7 in Colorado Springs. For the Midshipmen, it was their largest margin of victory at Air Force since 1978.

It’s worth noting that Navy and Army aren’t winning the way they used to. Yes, both are still running the triple-option – or variations of it, like Drew Cronic’s Wing T hybrid in Annapolis — but the Mids and Black Knights have both incorporated passing into their schemes and are challenging opponents to keep up with them on the scoreboard. Both Army and Navy rank in the top 30 in FBS in scoring offense. Instead of grinding opponents into dust with ball control, both are trying to reach the end zone quickly and often.

Since both Army and Navy are both 5-0 — and since there is an expanded College Football Playoff this season that will have at least one Group of Five participant — it’s time to start thinking about the Mids and the Black Knights playing for a potential conference championship and playing in back-to-back weekends in December.

Let’s unpack it.

1. What’s the path for Army and Navy meeting in the AAC title game?

In case you missed it, Army finally relinquished its independence in football this year and joined the American Athletic Conference, which Navy has been a member of since 2015.

And if you look at the American standings right now, you’ll see Army and Navy at the top.

Now, there’s a lot of football still to be played, but the American doesn’t seem like all that tough of a league this year. Six of its last nine league championships were won by teams that aren’t even in the league anymore, including last season’s AAC champ, SMU.

There’s a game remaining on each of Army and Navy’s conference schedules that could trip them up in their pursuit of making the American title game: Army travels to North Texas on Nov. 9, and Navy hosts Tulane on Nov. 16.

Otherwise, the Mids and Black Knights should be able to best the likes of Charlotte, East Carolina, UAB and Rice with relative ease. South Florida and UTSA aren’t pushovers, but most folks would argue that the service academy teams are marginally better than both.

Additionally, for the College Football Playoff, both Army and Navy will have the opportunity for a resume-boosting win down the stretch, as both the Black Knights and Mids have Notre Dame on the schedule this season.

2. So, when and where is the American Athletic Conference championship?

The American title game is played at the campus venue of the higher seeded team, which would make this extra special for Army and Navy. The Mids and the Black Knights played their annual regular season game at West Point in 2020, but only because of impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. Otherwise, Army and Navy almost always meet on neutral fields. Before 2020, Army and Navy hadn’t played at an on-campus venue since 1943.

The AAC title game will kick off Dec. 6 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

If Army and Navy face each other then, they would meet up again eight days later for their regular-season clash, on Dec. 14 at 3 p.m. ET on CBS in Landover, Maryland — where the Washington Commanders play.

3. Have Army and Navy ever played twice in the same season?

Not in football. Ever.

In addition to playing at mostly neutral sites, Army and Navy have never met in a bowl game and haven’t been in the same conference in football until this season.

4. How would Army and Navy playing twice impact the College Football Playoff?

Well, in this hypothetical — where Army and Navy play in the AAC title game and then meet the next week for their regular-season matchup for points in the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy race — the second game would have no impact on the playoff. Because the playoff field will have already been set and unveiled on Dec. 8.

When Army joined the conference, the deal that all three sides made — the athletic directors at the service academies and the folks running the AAC — was that the annual Army-Navy game would be a non-conference game and it would still be played on the date that it long has been: the second Saturday in December when it’s the only thing of real significance happening in FBS football before the Heisman Trophy ceremony at night. Army and Navy place a high value on having one day in the college football calendar all to themselves.

And so, the College Football Playoff committee will not take that game into consideration, this year or any other.

But they absolutely will take into account whoever is playing in the American title game. If Army or Navy wind up being the highest ranked conference champion, they would then play the annual Army-Navy game the next week, and then a week later play in the first round of the playoff.

That is, if one of them is the highest ranked Group of Five champion. That team might wind up being Boise State or James Madison and this could all be a moot conversation.

Still, an inaugural 12-team playoff with Army or Navy in it – two programs that don’t engage in NIL and don’t really accept transfers – isn’t out of the question.