LANDOVER, Md. — Bryson Daily lives West Point and Army football. The west Texan — who plays quarterback more like a defensive end hunting quarterbacks — has found time amid the unrelenting routine of a cadet to absorb history of the Army-Navy rivalry as well.

He does have help with that, counting Rollie Stichweh as a friend and adviser. Stichweh has stressed that leading a team is “about keeping everyone level through all the highs and lows more than anything,” Daily said, and Stichweh knows as much about this game as anyone. If you don’t know that name, here’s essential Army-Navy lore: Roger Staubach and Navy beat Army in 1963 in one of the most memorable editions of game, one that was pushed back a week because of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy Jr., one that came down to the final possession. Navy’s 21-15 triumph was its fifth in a row in the series, capping a season that saw the Midshipmen finish No. 2 in the rankings and Staubach win the Heisman Trophy.

The other quarterback was Stichweh. A lot more people knew it a year later when both were seniors and Stichweh beat Staubach to end the streak, before heading off to serve in Vietnam and win the Bronze Star Medal and Air Medal. On Saturday at Northwest Stadium, in the 125th edition of this game, Army’s Daily was the senior star who had to endure the bitterness of “singing first” in his last opportunity.

Blake Horvath was much more than just the other quarterback.

The Navy junior entered his name in the annals of this game and in a few more households at large with 196 yards and two touchdowns rushing, 107 yards and two touchdowns passing, a 31-13 stunner of a win and significant contributions toward the celebration to match.

“You’re talking about a guy who didn’t even get honorable mention all-conference, you know?” said Navy coach Brian Newberry, which of course contrasts with Daily winning AAC offensive player of the year and finishing sixth in Heisman Trophy voting. “And he outplayed the guy on the other side today, truth be told.”

And he felt it, as they all did, as they always do. This capped the season of the most combined national relevance for these programs in decades, and that’s something to watch as both continue to develop players and chemistry over years while the rest of the sport plays annual roster Etch A Sketch. Horvath and Navy (9-3) served notice that college football in 2025 should watch out for Horvath and Navy.

But who cares? These are the moments they’ll talk about for the rest of their lives. It’s that important to all who play and all who serve, the rest of college football be darned. The reason an Army-Navy game is on more bucket lists than parasailing in Hawaii is because each one serves up an intersection of intensity, pageantry, history and humanity that you can’t find elsewhere.

The cadets from West Point and the midshipmen from Annapolis march onto the field before the game in breathtaking displays of precision and order, from young people who have signed up to protect our country. This felt like a typical football afternoon coming in, walking past an Army Rangers tailgate with George Thorogood’s “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” blaring from speakers and folks singing and drinking along. Inside the stadium, nothing is typical. College football does pageantry at a high level, but not this.

Then you’re reminded that these are 18- to 22-year-olds when they take their seats and belt out “Sweet Caroline,” or chant at someone to take off a shirt, or groan collectively when something goes wrong on the field. That happened often for the cadets Saturday, their 11-1, AAC champion, No. 22 Black Knights outfoxed early, fooled late and pushed around often in a game that lived up to its reputation as the most physical you’ll find in the sport.

“It, frankly, makes the season a bit of a disappointment, that’s just the truth of this game,” Army coach Jeff Monken said after his team was outgained 378-178, a week after beating Tulane to win the AAC for the first conference championship in school history.

The sad, or wonderful, reality of Army-Navy is that Army would trade all those wins right now for Saturday’s. When Horvath took the final snap for the final knee in victory formation, the order, precision and intensity turned to kids losing their minds. Horvath hopped around and asked for more noise from the midshipmen. Junior fullback Alex Tecza of Mt. Lebanon, Pa., who had the first big play of the game, 32 yards on a throwback screen off a play that looked like a speed option going the other way, did a backflip.

He found his backfield partner and high school buddy, Eli Heidenreich, who had an even bigger play: 52 yards and a touchdown on a catch and run, putting Navy up 21-10 and giving Horvath a share of the school single-season record for passing touchdowns (13) and himself a share of the record for touchdown catches (six). Heidenreich spiked the ball after that touchdown — “kind of an out-of-body experience,” he would say later of that — but now he was just looking for people to hug.

HEIDENREICH HOUSE CALL!
Navy increases the lead! pic.twitter.com/23muqMib0l

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) December 14, 2024

He couldn’t get to Brandon Chatman yet, because Chatman was up in the stands along with several other Navy players, making the most of the moment. Chatman is a junior too, “Snipe Z” in the Navy offense to Heidenreich’s “Snipe A,” and he caught an 18-yard touchdown pass from Horvath in the game. Chatman grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in tough circumstances, agreeing to live in the garage so his mother could rent out his room, sleeping with a fan inches from his face to keep from waking up in pools of sweat.

He was going to play slot receiver for Warner University, an NAIA program in Lake Wales, Fla., when Navy found him and saw a place for him in this kind of offense. His resolve was tested when a close friend was shot back home and he couldn’t attend the funeral while in “plebe summer” — basic training for incoming freshmen — but he stayed in Annapolis.

“This place basically saved me,” Chatman said.

“The thing about Chat is, whatever’s going on in his life, there’s always a smile on his face,” Tecza said of Chatman. “The happiest kid I’ve ever met, a kid who never complains.”

A kid who has his first win over Army, after Army had won two straight and six of eight. The same was true of another junior, Horvath’s co-MVP in this game, nose guard Landon Robinson. All he did was pile up 13 tackles on defense and make the play on special teams that broke the game open — getting the look he wanted from Army on a Navy punt, calling for a direct snap and rumbling for 29 yards. Senior linebacker Colin Ramos made the play stand by pouncing on Robinson’s fumble at the end of it.

Robinson, whose father was a Kent State gymnast, made Bruce Feldman’s annual Freaks List for benching 450 pounds and squatting 650. He was the only nose guard in the nation in 2023 who played on the kickoff team. Maybe this Navy offense, which took big advances in versatility in 2024, can find more work for him.

“We’ll work on that ball security,” Horvath joked.

The initial Navy celebration had to pause for a few moments so the Midshipmen could line up behind the Black Knights in a show of respect while Army and the cadets sang their alma mater. Their faces were grim and stayed that way through the long walk from the field into the tunnel and their locker room.

Navy celebrated its third win against Army in the last nine meetings. (Patrick Smith / Getty Images)

Daily, who was held to 52 yards rushing and 65 yards and a touchdown passing — with three interceptions when forced to get out of character and wing it around as Army faced a deficit — led the team in that endeavor as well. Meanwhile, Navy was singing second for the first time in three years, and reigniting the party afterward.

“There’s a pain that comes with singing first in this game,” Horvath said. “We didn’t want to do it again.”

Midshipmen players were still making all kinds of noise as they finally got to the tunnel and their locker room. One yelled, “Do they have a football team?!” in an apparent reference to a joke Monken made at Navy’s expense earlier this season in an interview with Pat McAfee on ESPN. Newberry entered his postgame news conference with two loud words: “Hell yeah!”

But it was mostly respect, on and off the field, and that’s not fabricated because it can’t be. Newberry got on the topic of these programs and their record 20 combined wins this season moving forward with success in college football, saying: “It’s hard these days with the changes in college football to really build a culture that’s built on love and trust.”

Pure jubilation.
Navy earns the right to sing second. pic.twitter.com/NfIE3gmeiI

— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) December 14, 2024

Daily agrees. He has a strong sense of the history in this rivalry and strong feelings on the future, telling The Athletic recently: “This 100 percent works to our advantage. We know who we’re going to battle with every day for years. And the biggest key with that is being able to hold each other accountable. Guys don’t get up in arms or in their feelings if they get called out. That can only happen if you’ve got relationships that last for years.”

Now Daily is a graduate of this rivalry, 2-2 overall and 1-1 as a starting quarterback. They’ll be playing for him in 2025, just as he has played for those who preceded him. He left the place Saturday night as an advising alum like Stichweh, with some words for the Black Knights who get to have more of this wonderful game.

“Feeling this loss, feeling this pain,” he said to them, “and just never letting it happen again.”

(Top photo of Blake Horvath: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)