Navy football coach Paul Johnson has spent the better part of the year focusing on changing attitudes and getting his players emotionally invested in the outcome of games. That's the last thing he'll worry about today.
"If you aren't ready to play in this one, you probably don't have a heartbeat," Johnson said.
In fact, when Army and Navy meet at noon today for the 103rd time, this year at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., the challenge for Johnson and Army coach Todd Berry will be keeping their players from getting too emotional, too soon.
"I don't want our players to get so excited they start having an out-of-body experience," Berry said. "The first year I coached in this game [a 30-28 Navy win in 2000 in Baltimore], I had the team too emotionally charged early on. I think we were spent by the start of the game."
Either way, it will be hard to keep things at a low boil, if only because so much is at stake. Though Army (1-10) and Navy (1-10) have both suffered through dismal seasons, the winner of their annual rivalry game gets a year of bragging rights and a small slice of redemption. Few seniors, if any, will play another game after today, but players from both teams understand that someday, perhaps in the not-so-distant future, they may be fighting alongside each other in a struggle of much greater importance.
"We know that one day we're going to be called on to do that very thing," said Navy quarterback Craig Candeto. "I think it puts a special emphasis on the game. We're not just playing for ourselves. We're playing for the people who have gone before us and played in the games, and the people who have gone before us and fought in those battles."
The unique magic of the Army-Navy game was something Berry said his late father, Reuben, a junior college coach in Oklahoma, made him aware of at an early age.
"Every Saturday, we'd get a bucket of chicken and we'd sit down in front of the television and watch college football," Berry said. "My father coached a lot of kids that ended up playing for Oklahoma, and so one Saturday I remember asking him, 'Dad, aren't we going to watch the Oklahoma-Nebraska game?' He looked right at me and said, 'No, we're not.' I said, 'Don't you want to see the guys that played for you?' and he said, 'Sure I do, but I want you to watch this game [Army-Navy] more.
"This is what the game's all about," Berry said his father told him. "It's not about whether you're going to have an NFL career. It's not about the egos. It's about just going out and playing the game, the way the game is supposed to be played, with a lot of passion, and a lot of discipline. And I want you to watch this football game because this is the way I want you to play.' I always remembered that. He passed away a few years ago, and he never had a chance to go to the Army-Navy game. It was something he always wanted to do."
On paper, it's difficult to judge which team might have the advantage. Both defenses have been bad this season, and while injuries have weakened Army's offense, turnovers have derailed Navy's.
Both quarterbacks could be the key factor.
Candeto made a lot of good decisions in Navy's triple option offense in a 30-27 loss to Wake Forest, and he also threw for two touchdowns.
Army quarterback Reggie Nevels (38-for-47 for 446 yards and three touchdowns) began the year as the starter but missed several games with a torn hamstring. Berry said Nevels should be ready to play today, but that freshman Zac Dahman (87-for-181, 1,025 yards, 5 TDs) and sophomore Matt Silva (32-for-80, 402 yards, 1 TD) could also play by the end of the day.
"We prepared for the offense; you don't prepare for the quarterback," Johnson said. "If I had to guess, I would have guessed Nevels because he's their most experienced guy."
Army may have more speed, but Navy has probably played a tougher schedule with losses to Boston College, Notre Dame, North Carolina State and Connecticut. Although the Black Knights did defeat Tulane, 14-10, (the same team that routed Navy, 51-30), Army also suffered embarrassing losses to Rutgers (1-10) and Holy Cross, a Division I-AA team that finished 4-8. Both teams got blown out by Air Force, though Army did score 30 points while Navy managed only 7.
"I guess if you look at the two common opponents, you'd say they have the advantage," Johnson said. "But it's been my experience that that doesn't have a whole lot to do with anything. It will be a tough test for both teams."
NOTES: Six hundred people showed up in East Rutherford to help clear snow from the aisles and seats of the 78,000-capacity stadium to have it ready for the Army-Navy game.
The lure: $16.75 an hour.
The reason: hoping to avoid a repeat of the NFL's infamous "Snowball Game" between the San Diego Chargers and New York Giants in 1995, when fans pelted players, cameramen, officials and each other. Fans protested the home team's poor play by launching snowballs from the stands. The episode nearly caused the first forfeit in NFL history. Fifteen fans were arrested and 175 people were ejected. ...
There has been no word yet whether President Bush will attend the game. Bush and Arizona Sen. John McCain, a Naval Academy graduate, attended last year's game and spoke to both teams in the locker room. Army went on to win, 26-17. ... Johnson said senior offensive guard Grant Moody, who missed two days of practice this week while interviewing for a Rhodes scholarship, will still play and start. ... Strong safety Lenter Thomas, who missed Navy's game against Wake Forest, will return from a knee injury. ... Neither of Navy's captains, seniors Josh Brindel nor Donnie Fricks, will play because of injuries. Brindel, a defensive tackle, has played in only three games this season with a neck injury; Fricks, a slotback, has missed the whole year with a broken collarbone.