Navy

The constraints are not a footnote to the Navy football story — they are the story. Every Midshipman on the field qualified for the Naval Academy, passed the physical, and committed to five years of active service after graduation. There is no transfer portal exit, no NIL bidding war, no escape hatch when the season goes sideways. The program wins with the triple option, a run-first, assignment-perfect attack the rest of the sport abandoned decades ago, executed by undersized future officers who simply outlast the defense in front of them. Roger Staubach won the 1963 Heisman here. Joe Bellino won it in 1960. Two Heismans in four years at a service academy — the constraints have never been the ceiling.

Third-year coach Brian Newberry took the Midshipmen to 11-2 in 2025 (7-1 American), the Liberty Bowl, and a 17-16 comeback over a ranked Army team in December — a second straight win in the series, retaining the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy. Quarterback Blake Horvath powered the offense through that run and is now gone, the most consequential offseason question in Annapolis. The American Conference title has eluded Navy since joining the league in 2015; that is the one prize the program has chased through Newberry's first two years without claiming it.

The 2026 season will be defined by the post-Horvath transition. Can a new quarterback absorb the triple option fast enough to keep the Midshipmen in the American title race? The question is not unfamiliar in Annapolis — Navy has replaced quarterbacks before and kept winning — but the timing matters. A program entering its best sustained modern stretch cannot afford a regression year. The schedule will tell whether Newberry has built depth or a one-quarterback run.

The regression question above is no longer hypothetical. Navy is 1-2 through four weeks, having dropped back-to-back road games at Florida Atlantic (38-30) and at UAB (24-20 on September 25, as 6.5-point favorites). The post-Horvath offense hasn't found its footing, and a program that entered the season with no margin for a down year is now chasing its first winning record with Air Force up next.