Coming into the 2024 college football season, not much was expected out of the Navy Midshipmen.
Heading into Year 2 under head coach Brian Newberry, the team was mired in a tough stretch. They had finished under the .500 mark in four consecutive campaigns and five out of the previous six.
Replacing someone who was as successful as Ken Niumatalolo is certainly not an easy task, but the school was confident Newberry was the right man for the job.
It turns out, they were right.
The former defensive coordinator saw an impressive turnaround in his second year on the job, as the Midshipmen increased their win total for the second straight season, turning into one of the best stories in college football.
Navy won the first five games, resulting in them landing at No. 25 in the AP Poll. After defeating the Charlotte 49ers to move to 6-0, the team moved up to No. 24 heading into a matchup against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
The Midshipmen were overmatched in that contest, and it started a rough patch where they lost three out of four games.
However, Newberry was able to keep the team on track, as they turned things around down the stretch and ended the campaign on a high note, winning three in a row.
That includes a victory over the Army West Point Black Knights, which meant the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy was won by Navy in 2024.
The year was then capped off with a victory in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl over the Oklahoma Sooners. It was a thrilling matchup, with the Midshipmen coming away with a 21-20 victory in one of the best games of the entire college football season.
With a 10-3 record, Navy ended up sneaking into the top 25 of the final ranking of all 134 teams done by Chris Vannini of The Athletic.
They overachieved massively, as the college football writer had the team ranked No. 114 coming into the year. That 89-spot difference was the largest amongst any team in the rankings, as Newberry got the most out of his squad this fall.
This likely isn’t a one-off for the program, either.
Early 2025 rankings feature the Midshipmen as a top 25 team, as they are going to factor into the mix for not only an American Athletic Conference Championship, but potentially crash the College Football Playoff party if they can live up to those lofty expectations with star quarterback Blake Horvath returning to run the offense.
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