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As Navy senior linebacker Ross Pospisil made his way to practices and team meetings this week, he got a reminder of what is at stake today when the Midshipmen host rival Air Force. Every time he passed through the locker room, he saw the Commander in Chief's Trophy, which Navy has possessed for the past six seasons as the winner of the annual football competition among the service academies.
"It's something that we treasure and that we definitely want to keep around here," Pospisil said of the three-sided trophy. "And we have to be very careful not to take it for granted."
Indeed, that's one of the challenges facing Navy (2-2), which has won 13 consecutive games over Air Force and Army, a record streak among service academies that dates to the 2002 season. When the Midshipmen line up against Air Force (3-1) at sold-out Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, they will be facing a program that once owned the competition and is now hungry and frustrated after several years of near misses.
"We don't have the conference play that other teams have, like Texas-Oklahoma or Pitt-West Virginia," Navy senior guard Osei Asante said. "Air Force and Army, those are our biggest rivalries. There's always that fire. But for some strange reason, I think Air Force has a little more fire than Army. ...
"They dominated the Commander in Chief's for pretty much all the '90s and early 2000s. Then we came around. Any team that has that kind of success and then begins to lose, they're going to want it that bad. It's just how it is."
The Falcons have won the trophy 16 times - more than any other program - and they retained the trophy 13 times in 14 seasons from 1989 to 2002. But since then, they've lost six straight games to Navy by a combined 33 points.
"It's a giant elephant in the room," Air Force sophomore quarterback Tim Jefferson said.
Said Falcons junior defensive back Reggie Rembert: "Most of the cadets haven't even seen the Commander in Chief's Trophy. I've seen it, but I haven't seen it up close."
The Army-Navy game, which is held in December, is the most celebrated service academy rivalry, but Air Force-Navy has been the better one lately. (Navy's past six wins over Army have been by an average of 26.2 points.) The winner of this game has gone on to claim the trophy 18 of the past 20 seasons. Because the game comes midseason, it can serve as a springboard for bigger things. "It's kind of a defining moment for your team," Pospisil said.
The teams compete for the same high school players - Jefferson, Rembert and three-year starting safety Chris Thomas are among the Falcons who were recruited by Navy - and now that the Midshipmen are winning on the field, they're winning more of the recruiting battles, according to coach Ken Niumatalolo.
The players have similar backgrounds, and they deal with some of the same academic and military requirements; the Falcons are "kind of like a brother from a different mother," according to Pospisil.
"It's something that we treasure and that we definitely want to keep around here," Pospisil said of the three-sided trophy. "And we have to be very careful not to take it for granted."
Indeed, that's one of the challenges facing Navy (2-2), which has won 13 consecutive games over Air Force and Army, a record streak among service academies that dates to the 2002 season. When the Midshipmen line up against Air Force (3-1) at sold-out Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, they will be facing a program that once owned the competition and is now hungry and frustrated after several years of near misses.
"We don't have the conference play that other teams have, like Texas-Oklahoma or Pitt-West Virginia," Navy senior guard Osei Asante said. "Air Force and Army, those are our biggest rivalries. There's always that fire. But for some strange reason, I think Air Force has a little more fire than Army. ...
"They dominated the Commander in Chief's for pretty much all the '90s and early 2000s. Then we came around. Any team that has that kind of success and then begins to lose, they're going to want it that bad. It's just how it is."
The Falcons have won the trophy 16 times - more than any other program - and they retained the trophy 13 times in 14 seasons from 1989 to 2002. But since then, they've lost six straight games to Navy by a combined 33 points.
"It's a giant elephant in the room," Air Force sophomore quarterback Tim Jefferson said.
Said Falcons junior defensive back Reggie Rembert: "Most of the cadets haven't even seen the Commander in Chief's Trophy. I've seen it, but I haven't seen it up close."
The Army-Navy game, which is held in December, is the most celebrated service academy rivalry, but Air Force-Navy has been the better one lately. (Navy's past six wins over Army have been by an average of 26.2 points.) The winner of this game has gone on to claim the trophy 18 of the past 20 seasons. Because the game comes midseason, it can serve as a springboard for bigger things. "It's kind of a defining moment for your team," Pospisil said.
The teams compete for the same high school players - Jefferson, Rembert and three-year starting safety Chris Thomas are among the Falcons who were recruited by Navy - and now that the Midshipmen are winning on the field, they're winning more of the recruiting battles, according to coach Ken Niumatalolo.
The players have similar backgrounds, and they deal with some of the same academic and military requirements; the Falcons are "kind of like a brother from a different mother," according to Pospisil.
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