Service academy sports are in a league of their own. Not literally, of course: Army, Navy and Air Force are all NCAA Division I teams, while the Coast Guard and Merchant Marine Academies are Division III.
Despite their affiliations, none of these teams make much of a difference in the college football season. Before the modern Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) — when college football became a path to the NFL, stardom and millions of dollars in salary and commercial deals — academy football teams were heavy hitters.
Not so anymore. Playing at a service academy means their academics actually matter, and then they have to spend five years serving in the military. Missing peak NFL playing years (and not majoring in scuba diving) makes it difficult to attract the nation’s most talented players. As a result, academy football play has to be simple to execute, so watching one of their games means watching them run a series of option plays for three hours, which isn’t very exciting. It also means their programs aren’t likely to make it into the College Football Playoff.
Most importantly, most of the U.S. military is enlisted or didn’t attend an academy and thus don’t care about the Army-Navy Game or the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy or anything else related to academy sports. They’re too busy betting on SEC teams to win the championship on FanDuel, like the rest of the country. But just because they don’t really matter doesn’t mean the service academies’ football teams aren’t some of the most storied teams in college football. But don’t take this ranking of teams too hard — they’re all owned by Notre Dame.
1. Army Black Knights
Sorry, Navy fans. The Midshipmen might lead the all-time Army-Navy Game series, but football teams are more than just their rivalry games (don’t tell the Buckeyes). The Black Knights can claim five national championships, three of which came while they were also fighting a world war. Some might say World War II depleted the talent from other teams, but the Black Knights were also dominant after the war when rival teams got their talent back.
Army can also boast an all-time win percentage that far outpaces the other service academies, are the only academy team with undefeated seasons and they historically perform better in bowl games. On top of having the most Top 25 finishes, the team also produced three Heisman Trophy winners along with two of the greatest coaches in football: Vince Lombardi and Bill Parcells. Navy supporters can console themselves with the fact that they have better spirit spots.
Where Army lacks is its bowl game appearances and strength of schedule. The team has seven bowl game wins but only appeared in 10 bowl games since 1984, even though the Black Knights have been around since before football teams began playing in bowl games. Army has been denied bowl game bids in the past because beating up on Football Championship Subdivision teams (formerly Division I-AA) doesn’t count toward bowl eligibility.
While Army is now ranked 18th in the Associated Press poll after beating Tulane 35-14 for the American Athletic Conference championship on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, no one is impressed with a 42-7 win over Lehigh. Most of us don’t even know where Lehigh is.
2. Air Force Falcons
If this list only counted the modern era of football, Air Force would easily be at the top of it. The Falcons are the only academy team in the modern era to come within one win of playing for a true national championship, when their 1985 team lost just one game (they finished No. 8 and No. 5 in the AP and coaches polls, respectively).
They have the second-best, all-time win percentage among service academies and may never have had a perfect season (its 2024 season is an unmitigated disaster), but the Falcons tend to play more difficult teams in a more competitive conference, which means they usually play at a higher standard. This is probably why Air Force has a better win record against both Army and Navy (and all its other rivals, except for Notre Dame) and thus more Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy wins since the award was started in 1972.
When it comes to bowl games, Air Force also has the second-best win percentage, but tends to get invited to a lot more than the other academies because the Falcons tend to play against more FBS teams (and win). In fact, the Falcons have lost more bowl games than the Black Knights ever played.
3. Navy Midshipmen
It would be difficult to overemphasize how important the Army-Navy Game isn’t, especially now that one of the most storied rivalries in college football happens after bowl bids are announced and the American Athletic Conference champion (of which both teams are members) is crowned. This schedule makes the Army-Navy Game nearly irrelevant to anyone except those two teams and their alumni.
Navy does have the most Army-Navy Game wins, but the Midshipmen are (historically) mid when it comes to the rest of college football. Their all-time winning percentage is .550, and their record for bowl games is even worse. Making it to 24 bowl games and losing half of them just means you’ll be part of Louisiana Tech’s highlight reel. To be fair, Navy has also gone to more bowl games than Army and, despite playing the occasional FCS team, tends to have a more difficult schedule. But getting flushed in bowls isn’t what you want your team to be known for.
Where Navy football really shines is producing individual talent. The program can boast 19 College Football Hall of Fame players and four coaches. One of Navy’s Hall of Famers, the legendary Roger Staubach, became one of the greatest NFL players of all time after finishing his service obligation. Staubach, a six-time Pro Bowler and former NFL Man of the Year, led the Dallas Cowboys to four Super Bowl appearances, winning two of them.
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