Josh Lingenfelter, expected to start his third straight Army-Navy game Saturday, has a short but simple description of what it’s like to play in college football’s most storied rivalry.
“It’s going to be a fist fight,” said Lingenfelter, Army’s senior tight end. “It’s going to be mano a mano. I’m looking for a fist fight.”
Lingenfelter is taking a cool, calm and collective approach to his final Army-Navy game. In his past rivalry games, Lingenfelter said he was “pretty emotional and very head strong.” Now, he’s making sure Army’s younger players keep their focus.
“I try to be that anchor and say, ‘We’re good. Don’t need to freak out. Be confident. This is who you are, just play ball, do your assignment, you’ll be fine.’ If I have to sit here and motivate them to play harder, they are playing the wrong sport.”
The end game is to bring the Commander in Chief’s trophy back to West Point with a win over Navy. If Navy was to defeat Army, Air Force would retain the trophy.
“The case is empty upstairs so we want to get that (CIC trophy) back here obviously,” Lingenfelter said. “All of the seniors, we are counting on it and we are all fighting for each other. I know the underclassmen are fighting for us.
“We’ve had a rough season. The first half wasn’t what we expected and then we were able to turn this thing around. All of the Underclassmen have rallied behind us. I think we have turned around the season. We want to finish it off right.
Army has inched up to a 2.5-point favorite in the 124th edition of the Army-Navy game.
The Black Knights were favored by two points when the line opened. The over-under is 28 points. The teams combined for 20 points in regulation in Army’s 20-17 double-overtime win last season.
Fun Fact: Army has scored the first touchdown in the last seven Army-Navy games. The Black Knights have won five of those games.
Prediction time
Sal Interdonato (Black Knight Nation): Army 20, Navy 13. Getting a feeling that freshman running back Kanye Udoh, who didn’t have a carry when Army went to under-center option in Coastal Carolina win last game, will play a big role. One of Udoh’s strengths is picking up yards after first contact and those extra yards tend to be at premium in this game. As always the team that wins the turnover battle and or defense that comes up with big play or stand , likely wins.
Seth Mendelson (Black Knight Nation): Army 21, Navy 16. Army’s new-old offense is enough to cause Navy fits and its defense holds the line. The Black Knights bring the Commander in Chief’s trophy back to West Point in a thrilling contest.
Brendan in Jersey: Army 24, Navy 10. The score prediction may believe just how successful I think Army will be but that’s predicated on the Cadets coming out like they did against Air Force and not giving their opponent an inch. Jeff Monken has clearly obsessed with scoring points in service-academy matchups and rightfully so as Army averaged a mere 13.4 points per game in CIC games under former offensive coordinator Brent Davis and even that figure is inflated by score from other units and three overtime periods. It took new OC Drew Thatcher just one half against Air Force to put up a new high water mark of 23 points and I expect he’ll improve that.
Predictions from across the college football universe
James Parks (College Football HQ): Army -3
Pete Fiutak (College Football News): Navy 17, Army 13
Joe Tansey (Bleacher Report): Army 20, Navy 13
