Army-Navy Game 2011: Should Army and Navy Join a Conference?

As a big college football fan, it would be pretty awesome to see the Army Black Knights and Navy Midshipmen join a conference.

For starters, they're both obviously prestigious military academies and well respected throughout the country. However, being independent at the FBS level in college football limits their exposure and recruiting.

They are two schools with great tradition on and off the field. 

Army Black Knights

Army has three Heisman Trophy winners, but the most recent was Pete Dawkins back in 1958. In addition, the Black Knights have had 37 All-Americans, numerous members in the college football Hall of Fame, as well as three national championships.

That's a lot more than pretty much every single non-BCS school, and more than quite a few BCS schools. As for joining a conference, Army was a part of the Conference USA from 1998-2004 so unless they want to rejoin, the Big East would be a great fit.

The Big East is revamping itself, and what better way than to bring in an academy like Army? The Big East needs a new identity, and although 2011 wasn't a great year, 2010 was.

So, the potential is there and it would be a win-win situation.

Navy Midshipmen

Along the same lines as Army, much of Navy's national prominent success came early on. They have one claimed national title (1926) and two Heisman winners with Roger Staubach being the most recent (1963).

They have, however, had 23 All-Americans, been to numerous bowl games (including eight consecutive from 2003-2010) and finished ranked No. 24 after the 2004 season.

As for joining a conference, the Conference USA—much like it was with Army—would be a great fit. It's a non-BCS conference needing to get some more notoriety throughout the country, and the addition of the Midshipmen would be grand to say the least.

The Big East would not be a bad fit, either. Navy is used to playing BCS schools like they did in 2011 against Notre Dame, South Carolina and Rutgers.

With Pittsburgh, Syracuse and West Virginia all bouncing elsewhere, the Midshipmen should be appealing.

Final Solution/Answer

Whether it's just one or both academies, it would be a win-win situation for either party (Conference and Academy). Both schools have excellent traditions, and can you imagine how much vindication there would be if Army and/or Navy got back in the national scene?

It would be so awesome to see the Black Knight and Midshipmen duking it out for big-time bowl games every year like the old days.

Although what Army and Navy do on the field is vehemently minor to the classroom or serving America, it's a great feeling when these players win. What they stand for and honor is truly one of the greatest things in the history of college football.

That honor only increases if one or both join a conference that will definitely make their football programs much more competitive every year.

So, here's to hoping Army and Navy join a conference sooner rather than later. But if not, it's still fun to watch the Academies crack some skulls on the gridiron.

Follow John Rozum on Twitter @ Sportswriter27