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Army vs. Navy Game 2021: TV Schedule, Live Stream and Odds for Epic Rivalry
December 11, 2021
There are rivalries, and then there's Army vs. Navy, perhaps the most storied and intense rivalry in all of college football.
For the 122nd time, the Cadets and Midshipmen will battle it out for the right to "sing second."
Army (8-3) comes into the patriotic matchup on Saturday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, as the favorite, having won four of the last five matchups over Navy (3-8).
Not only are fierce bragging rights on the line, but for the Black Knights, it's a chance to reach nine wins for the second straight season and the right to hang on to the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy.
It's been a disappointing season for the Midshipmen, but if they pull off the upset over the Black Knights, it would likely go a long way to putting that behind them.
To date, Navy leads the all-time series 61-53-7, but Army has been dominant of late in the traditionally low-scoring matchup.
Here's a quick look at how to watch "America's Game" and a brief preview of what to expect.
Army-Navy Game Information
Date: Saturday, December 11
Location: MetLife Stadium - East Rutherford, NJ
Start Time: 3 p.m. ET
TV: CBS
Live Stream: CBSSports.com or CBS Sports app
Odds (via Oddschecker): Army (-7.5), Navy (+7.5); over/under: 36.5
Preview
Last year, Army beat Navy 15-0, and this season, it feels like the game might be just as lopsided as the previous one.
The Black Knights are playing in the Armed Forces Bowl against Missouri on Dec. 22, while this is the end of the line for the Midshipmen.
"Our guys could care less about the bowl game," Army head coach Jeff Monken told Mitchell Northam of SB Nation. "They knew. They all read it online. They all got a phone. They knew before they got to the team meeting yesterday. Really, it was just kind of matter of fact. They didn't want to hear anything about it. They were ready to get on and get ready to prepare for Navy. There wasn't any big celebration or jumping up and down or anything like that.
"There's one game in the whole world right now, and that's the one this Saturday. That's all our guys really care about. It's all I really care about."
While the history between these two teams runs deep and definitely embodies everything great about sports, the game itself will not be the kind of high-powered scoring game that is prevalent in college football.
Both teams feature run-heavy offenses, the kind of smashmouth football that isn't played as much these days with all of the gunslinging quarterbacks that rule the sport.
Army only averages 7.7 pass attempts per game, the lowest in the nation. Navy is right there with them with only 8.3 pass attempts per contest.
The most points scored in any Army-Navy Game since 2014 is 38 (2015, 2016 and 2019). In all of the recent high-scoring games, the Midshipmen emerged victorious.
Football fans might recall how the New England Patriots beat the Buffalo Bills 14-10 recently on Dec. 6. They followed Navy-supporter Bill Belichick's game plan of running the ball. The Patriots ran the ball 46 times for 222 yards and only three passes for 19 yards.
Both service academies will likely mirror New England's ground-based attack and are very familiar with each other's game plans.
"We know each other very well," Monken told Scott Allen of the Washington Post. "Their team knows ours, and we know them. We recruit the same guys, and we compete over the same things all the time. It'll be the toughest game we've played all year. We know that."
The odds favor the Black Knights to beat the Midshipmen this time around, and considering how Air Force beat Navy 23-3 back in September and how Army beat Air Force 21-14 in November, the signs are the oddsmakers might be right.