Naval Academy and West Point to Wear Special Uniforms for Army-Navy Game

Naval Academy and West Point to Wear Special Uniforms for Army-Navy Game

Earlier this year we reported on the United States Air Force Academy and the commemorative uniforms they wore for the annual Navy-Air Force football game, which occurred in October: Air Force Academy Football Team Celebrates Historic WWII Doolittle Raid on Japan; Leftists Predictably Go Crazy

“You have struck the hardest blow of the war directly at the enemy’s heart. You have made history.”

THE DOOLITTLE RAIDERS pic.twitter.com/Vd4aHhv0jw

— Air Force Football (@AF_Football) August 15, 2023

Unfortunately, Air Force won that game, 17-6. And, Air Force not only finished with an excellent (for a service academy) record, at 8-4, but they are going to a bowl game, the 2023 Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 23, so good on them.

As for the Naval Academy, they finished the regular season with a 5-6 record, so no bowl game. But, that is of little consequence since the biggest game of the year, and in fact the biggest event of the year, period, at Navy, the Army-Navy game, is this Saturday at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

Your Need to Know heading into Saturday's kickoff!#ArmyNavy pic.twitter.com/8CH8a6MI1x

— Army-Navy Game (@ArmyNavyGame) December 5, 2023

And, although the record in the 120-year-plus ultra-rivalry slightly favors Navy over West Point, the last ten years have seen the series exactly split, 5 wins for each team:

Army & Navy have split the last 10 matchups.

Navy leads the all-time series, 62-54-7.

Army is currently a -2.5 pt favorite, O/U 32.5. pic.twitter.com/qOdYIHOScA

— CFB Matchups (@MatchupTracker) December 5, 2023

And although Army is slightly favored in this contest by 2 & 1/2 points, for reasons that remain unknown, they too have a 5-6 record, identical to Navy, and it is not a cliche to say you should throw the record books out for this one.

It will be college football nirvana, as predicted in last week’s Patriots Gillette Stadium game:

The triple chinook after the anthem over Gillette (Army/Navy in 6 days) shook this place like it hadn’t been in a while pic.twitter.com/HwLJL5JSD8

— FitzyGFY 🍺 (brew checkmark) (@FitzyGFY) December 3, 2023

Of course, each side feels compelled to produce the usually goofy, sometimes cringe-worthy “spirit” videos. Take a look, first Army:

🇺🇸Here's a little #BeatNavy spirit! With a legacy dating back to 1775, @USACEHQ is dedicated to tackling the nation's most formidable engineering challenges! Go Army-Beat Navy! Building strong on and off the field!@USArmy | @SecArmy | @DeptofDefense | @USArmySMA | @ArmyCorpsNAD pic.twitter.com/iIyhYUdYPk

— U.S. Military Academy at West Point (@WestPoint_USMA) December 5, 2023

Now Navy (ugh):

Anyway, one aspect of the game I am particularly interested in is the special uniforms each team is wearing for the game, because this year Navy is honoring the U.S. Navy’s submarine force, you know, the greatest collection of mighty warships ever assembled by man (I may be biased). Check it out:

From Sports Illustrated:

“The entire uniform is flooded with Eclipse Navy (UA’s darkest shade of navy blue) to mimic the covert design of a submarine hull,” Navy and Under Armour said in a press release Monday. “The uniform was purposefully designed to embody the Force’s nickname: Silent Service. The overall design was intended to be simple and utilitarian to convey the stealth purposes of a submarine’s design.”

The submarine theme continues with both the helmets and cleats as well.

“Each helmet is hand painted with the right side depicting a Virginia Class Submarine underwater and the left side depicting Navy’s customary Navy anchor with the submariner pin integrated into it with color changing pragmatic paint. The front flex panel depicts a color changing sonar which is used on submarines to find their target. The front decal of the helmet says Navy, while the back decal says Silent Service.”

Army’s uniform honors the “Dogface Soldiers” of the Third Infantry Division, AKA The Rock of the Marne. From College Football Network:

Named after the official fight song of the 3rd Infantry Division, the “Dogface Soldiers” uniforms contain several nods to the division and their work in conflicts around the world.

The stunning all-tan with black trim uniform harks back to the work of the 3rd Infantry Division in the desert-strewn landscape of Operation Iraqi Freedom, honoring the 20th anniversary of the division’s participation in the initiation of offensive operations in Iraq. To date, it is the longest and most rapid armored advance since the Second World War.

The color scheme of the special edition Army Football uniforms also corresponds to the camouflage patterns and vehicle paint schemes of that operation in Iraq.

While the Army football special editions that will be used in the 124th edition of the Army-Navy Game honor the anniversary of operations in Iraq, there are also multiple nods to the historic importance of the 3rd Infantry Division in world events.

“Rock of the Marne” is the nickname given to the division during the First World War, when soldiers from the 3rd Infantry overcame a German attack on the banks of the Marne River. The ROTM acronym down the pant leg of the Army football uniform pays homage to a nickname that has lasted for over a century.

Check Army’s uniform out:

At least one commentator thinks Army has won the 2023 Army-Navy game uniform war. From military.com:

The annual Army-Navy football game will soon be upon us, and the service academy teams have released the details of their special uniforms, worn in honor of a unique aspect of the institutions’ respective histories. Despite anything that happens on the gridiron, the Army Black Knights will show up dressed to kill, while the Navy Midshipmen disappoint their fan base once more….

Navy…chose a font that would mimic the classification numbers on a submarine’s hull, sleeve patches with the submarine warfare insignia, and a back neck that “features a silhouette of a submarine on top of a sonar screen dotted with stars to indicate targets,” according to Navy Athletics. The uniform is topped off with a helmet that looks like a submarine airbrushed at a mall somewhere….

Army chose a simple black and tan color to represent both the deserts of Iraq and the Desert Camouflage Uniform in use by the Army at the time. The Black Knights’ helmet features Rocky the Bulldog, the 3rd Infantry Division mascot, originally created by Walt Disney in 1965. The uniform’s back collar also features the Iraq Campaign Streamer….

The 2023 Navy uniform was so close to keeping it simple, (the Navy press release even explicitly says “the overall design was intended to be simple”), but someone at Annapolis just loves those airbrushed helmets. You just know that someone in that chain of command has a van with a wizard holding a crystal ball airbrushed on it.

What does he know…I’m with this guy (even though his spelling is…questionable):

Black Knights Beat Midshipmen Yet Again in Annual Army-Navy Game Uniform Drip https://t.co/UYaph0vfXh

Blake Your a joke. Army’s been wearing the same color uni combo for 12+ years. It’s called Swag for a reason. It’s not “simplicity and good design”. It’s boring and uncreative. pic.twitter.com/sAlBM0HaCE

— Greg Foulger (@foulgerski) November 30, 2023

Anyway, enjoy the game, even if you don’t normally watch college football. It’ll be great, and the teams singing their alma maters after the game makes it all worth it. As an added bonus, even the left-wingers seem to be ready to enjoy this one — no snarky commentary as there was for Air Force’s Doolittle uniforms. So there’s that.

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Featured image is of President Trump tossing the coin at the beginning of the 120th Army-Navy game in Philadelphia in 2019.

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