It’s America’s game — the one day of the year Army and Navy are pitted against each other instead of brothers and sisters in arms. For the players on the field, the mids and cadets in the stands, and the millions of veterans watching across the world, this game means something. And for the rest of America, it’s a time to come together, united in our love of football and freedom.
“It’s such a special game,” USAA’s CEO, Wayne Peacock, told We Are The Mighty at USAA’s Army-Navy Media Row held at the Women’s Memorial in Arlington. “Expectations for Army are really high. But it’s Army-Navy, so you never know. Both teams have winning records. I think it’s going to be a great game. Nonetheless, the game is considered a college football institution.”
In addition to the legendary Mr. Peacock, WATM caught up with a few football greats at USAA’s Media Row at the Army-Navy Game to talk about their predictions for the game and what watching Army-Navy means to them.
Joe Theismann
Joe Theismann is a Super Bowl Champion and award-winning QB.
“Army-Navy means everything to me. First of all, it is America’s game and I think the most important thing for people to understand is there is not another game on this weekend. It’s America’s game for a reason. Our military represents our young men and young women from the academies that are really the tip of the spear right now. My dad was in the Army. My cousin’s two children, Keira, is a lieutenant commander in the Navy Medical Corps, and then Noah graduated from the Naval Academy, so I’m in the middle on this one as far as cheering goes. People have asked me, ‘Well who do you like for the game?’ And I said, ‘Well, if you break these two teams down, Army runs the football more than anybody. They just run it. Navy used to do the same thing. Now they throw the ball a bit more and so whoever does what they do the best is gonna wind up winning.
I’m so excited to go tomorrow. I’ve seen the pageantry on TV, but it doesn’t do it justice. Everybody tells me it’s like something you’ve never seen. I’ve played in two Super bowls I’ve seen all the hype and all the fanfare that goes around it. but I have a strange feeling that this is gonna surpass that many, many times over. It represents the young men and young women that will lead this country someday. And I tell people this: They call us heroes as athletes. We’re not. God just gave us a gift to be able to do certain talents, run, jump, throw, whatever might be. Our men and women that put on their uniform, they make a conscientious effort to go out every day, not knowing whether they’re gonna come home or not, but they’re gonna defend the country, they’re gonna defend the flag. They’re gonna defend the freedoms that have been established before. They’re the ones that people ought to be saying thank you to. I’m a big supporter of our military. This game means the world to me because it represents those young men and women men that I respect so much.
Nate Boyer
Nate Boyer served as a Green Beret and played for the Univeristy of Texas and the Seattle Seahawks as a long snapper.
On his favorite part about Army-Navy: “Just the unity that you feel in the stadium and everybody kind of rallying around our young men and women that are gonna go fight for their country. You love the competition, of course, and they talk about fierce rivalries, but there’s not really hatred. There’s so much passion and probably love in a weird way for the person across the other side of the ball, but who do you wanna beat more than anybody, your siblings, right? Your brothers. You feel an energy in that stadium, and part of it’s the pageantry, you know, and all the cadets and midshipmen that are out there. and when the game ends, everybody cries. All the seniors are crying from both teams, whether they win or lose, because this is it and it’s like they know what it’s coming to. It’s not tears of fear for what’s next; it’s just this means so much to them. It’s a game, yes, but more than a game. I really believe that. I know it helped me get through some of deployments, because it was this escape. I mean, you love when you watch players out there that that play with passion, with their hairs on fire. I mean, they do it every other game anyway in the season, because of who they are and how they’re trained and discipline they have, but in this game, especially, it’s just it’s 1% more. From the tailgate to the singing second, if you watch all of it from start to finish, there is no sporting event like it. I’ve been to three Super Bowls. It’s awesome, yes, but this is different. It just feels different. If I had a choice, an option to go to the Super Bowl, again, or go to Army-Navy, I’d pick Army-Navy every time.”
Urban Meyer
Urban Meyer is one of only four coaches to win a major college football national championship at two universities (Florida and Ohio State).
“I coached against Army and Navy many times and it’s a nightmare and then also you have great teams and it’s a triple nightmare. I’ve never missed an Army-Navy game. When I was a child, my father was Army, and I tell people it was like Thanksgiving, Christmas Easter, Fourth of July and Army-Navy. We sat and watched the game, so I’ve never missed one. Even when I was coaching, I was watching it somehow. I’m a big Army fan. I I love our country and for some, it’s almost like that went away for a minute. I think it’s back. If you go back and look at my career, it was all military based. It was always something I treated like special ops, special forces. You know, if you wanted to have a selfless team what’s the greatest example of selfessness? Men and women who serve our country. If you wanted the greatest form of discipline you could have on your team, what’s the greatest example? The United States military. And commitment, you know, when what are men and women are asked to do, I use that as the greatest example possible for a team, so my former players would always say that, ‘man, we’re training like we’re going to war.’ And you’re damn right we are. I don’t want to equate what we did, but you’re talking to a guy that has beyond respect; it’s a dream to come here and visit with you guys. I went on USO trips, I’ve been through Navy SEAL training, I was in an F16 last year with the Ohio National Guard, I’m on the Veterans Golf Association Board and then, Folds of Honor. I love you guys.”
Tune in for America’s Game presented by USAA tomorrow at 3 pm ET, live on CBS or stream on Paramount+.
