UAB hosts Navy. Too early for a market line, but the model likes UAB (58%).
What’s at stake
UAB
- UAB is the AAC program whose 2014 football program shutdown + 2017 resurrection + Bill Clark 2018 Conference USA championship + Protective Stadium 2021 define what dropped-and-revived-football-program looks like.
Navy
- Navy is the Annapolis service academy whose triple-option offense + Army-Navy game + 2024 9-3 + Brian Newberry era keep the Midshipmen permanently in the December CFB calendar.
The series
Navy leads the series 3-0
3 meetings since 2023 · Navy has won the last 3
- 2025Navy 38–24
- 2024Navy 41–18
- 2023Navy 31–6
Face-off
What each fanbase carries into this one.
Navy
The chip · vs the national mediaFans hear the option offense called a relic every December — and then watch the Midshipmen, with players half the size of their opponents, go 11-2 and beat a ranked Army team, and wait for the analysts to admit the constraints are the point, not the excuse.
What this game touches
The recruiting math never changes. Navy can't outbid anyone in a transfer-portal, NIL era — every recruit must qualify for the Naval Academy and owe years of active service. The Midshipmen win in spite of constraints no other FBS program faces, and a down year is always one roster crunch away.
UAB
The chip · vs big brotherUAB fans never forget that their own university system — the one that answers to Tuscaloosa — tried to bury the program. Every season the Blazers exist at all, they say, is a win over the people who wanted them gone.
Best players
UAB
- Eli Ennis (LB) · 8 tackles
- Brandon Franklin (LB) · 3 tackles
- Jalen Kitna (QB) · 2025: 2,462 passing yards
Navy
- MarcAnthony Parker (LB) · 2025: 97 tackles
- Giuseppe Sessi (S) · 2025: 81 tackles
- Coleman Cauley (LB) · 2025: 78 tackles
The line, and the room
UAB fans are feeling it more than most fanbases this week (78th percentile) — the mood matches the numbers.
Conditions
UAB is 73% at home, 33% on the road since 2018 (32-12 home, 16-33 away).