Why Army vs. Navy Is a Must-Watch College Football Rivalry

The final regular-season college football game of 2014 has no bearing on the playoffs, doesn't have a bowl berth hanging in the balance and isn't going to get the losing team's coach fired. Yet when Army and Navy meet in Baltimore on Saturday, it will be the most noteworthy game of the year.

And not just because it's the only one on the schedule. Army-Navy has everything we want in a rivalry game, but with so much more.

"By game's end, no matter what the score, America wins," wrote Braden Gall of Athlon Sports, one of many publications to list Army-Navy as college football's best rivalry.

Football is an American sport, and nothing brings out love of country like pitting members of the United States Military Academy and the Naval Academy on the gridiron.

As it has been for more than a decade, this year's game figures to end up in a Navy victory. The Midshipmen (6-5) have won 12 straight meetings, 10 by double digits, as Army (4-7) is headed for a fourth straight losing season and 17th in the past 18 years.

Saying the records don't matter is a sports rivalry cliche, but here's where it fits more than feels forced.

From the opening kickoff to the final whistle, the two sides are consumed with the desire to dominate the other, much like any other rivalry game. But once the clock hits zero, and a winner is declared, that rivalry is immediately replaced by camaraderie.

The postgame hugs and handshakes following other such games seem part of an expected routine, an opportunity for opposing sides to show their respect for each other on the outside while still teeming with hatred on the inside. With Army and Navy, it's a way of embracing their shared role as servicemen.

The players aren't in this game hoping to draw the attention of pro scouts, not when their future is already pledged to military service. It's not that there aren't quality athletes on the field—Navy junior Keenan Reynolds set an FBS record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback last season and would start for other option-run teams—but how big, fast and strong they are ranks far behind the off-field sacrifices they're prepared to make.

Played since 1890 (and continuously since 1930), Army-Navy is a tradition that has no end in sight. It's even proving to be realignment-proof, as Navy's move to the American Athletic Conference next season won't affect the long-running series. The next three games are scheduled to be played on the second Saturday of December, as has been the case the past five years, which would be one week after an AAC title game.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.