The Army-Navy Game might also are called The Malcolm Perry game this year. The Navy quarterback dominated Saturday afternoon's affair as he led the No.
23 Midshipmen to a 31-7 convert Army, ending the three-game streak to their rival. The win gives Navy its first 10-win season since finishing 11-2 in 2015. That also happens to be the last year Navy picked up a win against Army before Saturday.
It's also Perry's first win against Army. The QB has had a few outstanding performances against the Cadets but had yet to taste victory. This year, he did it without attempting one pass, including completing one. Perry rushed for 304 rushing yards and two touchdowns, and people 304 rushing yards are the foremost by any player within the 120-game history of The Army-Navy Game. It also pushed his season total to 1,804 yards, a replacement single-season rushing record at Navy.
Things began well for Army because it put together a fantastic 18-play, 78-yard touchdown drive that melted 10:41 off the punch in the primary quarter ... but that was it. Army managed only 74 yards of offense within the final three quarters. Compare that to Navy, which ran only four plays for eight yards within the half-moon and finished the day with 396 total yards.
Navy will advance to face Kansas State within the Liberty Bowl following the win, while Army's season ends at 5-8. it is the first time Army has missed a bowl game since 2015.
Now let's get to my four biggest takeaways from this game.
1. Malcolm Perry could have played anywhere: If you are trying to seek out a recruiting profile for Malcolm Perry on 247Sports, you will not find one. many his Navy teammates have them, but Perry wasn't on anybody's radar out of highschool. the very fact he's currently listed at 5-foot-9 and 190 pounds in his Navy bio is why. But it's clear once you watch him that, while he's at Navy, he'd be effective almost anywhere. during this game, he just wasn't fair. If he weren't only 5-foot-9, you'd have thought he was a high schooler going against secondary school players. And while he won't are a quarterback at an influence Five school, he'd have found how to form plays anyway. He's already one among the simplest players within the American Athletic Conference, and therefore the AAC has many teams that would compete against Power Five competition.
During the sport, Brad Nessler and Gary Danielson talked about an NFL team giving him an opportunity. it isn't out of the question. a couple of years ago, Navy QB Keenan Reynolds was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens. If the NFL are some things Perry genuinely wants to think about, i do not doubt for a flash that a team would take an opportunity on him. He won't be big, and he might play football at a service academy, but make no mistake, Malcolm Perry may be a footballer.
2. Navy's offense may be a two-person game: Yes, the Midshipmen run an option offense, but actually, there are only two options. The Mids ran 56 plays against Army on Saturday. Malcolm Perry and fullback Jamale Carothers touched the ball on 51 of them. Carothers finished with 75 yards rushing and a touchdown on 22 carries, and also caught the lone touchdown pass within the game. Ironically enough, it wasn't Perry who threw the pass, rather Chance Warren who took a pitch from Perry on a trick play.
That's one among the advantages of getting a player like Perry. Even when the opposite team knows what's coming, the Navy offense remains difficult to prevent.
3. Not having Kelvin Hopkins was a significant handicap for Army: The Knights are handling QB injuries all season long, but it had been Hopkins who saw the bulk of snaps this season. He wasn't available to start out this game, and military was forced to show to Christian Anderson. Anderson had played in six games for Army this season, rushing for 373 yards and spending for 117, but this was his first start. Having your first start are available a game of this magnitude may be a lot to ask of any player, even a junior. It's even more so when he is not much of a passing threat. Anderson was terrific on Army's lone touchdown drive and finished with 56 yards rushing and a touchdown, but Navy knew it did not have to stress about the pass with him in there. That made slowing Army down tons easier within the final three quarters.
4. i really like this game: aren't getting me wrong, I didn't learn that today. I've always known it, but i would like to reiterate it. There's such a lot that's great about college football at the middle of this rivalry, and it hooks me per annum. albeit neither team is competing for national titles, this game is that the biggest game of the year, and that they treat it intrinsically. Plus, watching two option teams go at each other for hour is like rummaging through a time portal to the past. I hope they play forever, which they never throw quite 10 passes during a game.