Navy eyes Commander-In-Chief's Trophy vs. Army: 'It means everything'

After 135 years of playing football as an independent, Navy didn’t merely join the American Athletic Conference in 2015 -- it commandeered it.

The No. 21 Midshipmen (9-2, 7-1) came within a game of winning the AAC West Division title thanks to the play of record-setting senior quarterback Keenan Reynolds, who was named the AAC Offensive Player of the Year under the guidance of Ken Niumatalolo. Niumatalolo shared the AAC Coach of the Year award with Houston’s Tom Herman.

While there’s been a boatload of accolades for Navy, make no mistake about it: Those honors rank a distant second to the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy, which the Mids will attempt to win Saturday when they take on Army (2-9) at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

“It means everything,” senior Will Anthony, an all-AAC first-team defensive end, told FOX Sports this week. “One thing that we always talk about in the beginning of the year is trying to go to the White House, and for us to go to the White House it means that we won the CIC. Just beating those guys lets us know that we’re the better service academy, and it kind of shows the nation that, too.”

Though Air Force, which Navy beat 33-11 earlier this year, is currently the caretaker of the CIC Trophy, it might not be for much longer. Navy has won the trophy nine of the past 12 years and heads into the matchup with a 13-game winning streak against the Black Nights.

Niumatalolo, the Mid’s eighth-year coach, has a 7-0 record against Army, and with a win can tie former Army coach and College Football Hall of Famer Col. Earl “Red” Blaik for the most wins in the Army-Navy series.

“It’s a great American pastime. It’s a great sporting event. People say it’s America’s game, and I definitely feel it's worthy of that title,” Niumatalo said. “… I think it’s a great time when our country can sit back and see two very important institutions that make up our country play for a couple of hours the game of football.”

Being in the AAC has added some goals to Navy’s preseason list, but there’s nothing that supersedes winning the CIC Trophy, not even a conference title.

“If we had to choose one or the other, it would be the CIC,” Niumatalo said. “Obviously, we want them both, but if it came down to one or the other, it would be the CIC.

“It’s just what our school represents. It’s just who you are. It’s a tough question because obviously we want them both. I don’t want to make it sound like winning a conference championship isn’t an important deal. To me they’re both goal ones for us.”

Anthony, who leads the team with 6.5 sacks and 10.5 tackles for a loss, said there’s nothing that beats service academy bragging rights and a trip to the White House.

“The CIC is definitely No. 1. It’s beating Army and Air Force, I think that’s our top goal,” said Anthony, who upon graduation will attend an additional year of schooling before embarking on submarine duty. “Those are just some losses that you just don’t want to have, especially to Army. I mean, to be the team in the last 14 years to lose to them, that would just be awful and you would feel the burden of the world on you.”