Could the Army-Navy game be on the move?
Army coach Jeff Monken isn’t against moving the game up two weeks or so to the weekend after Thanksgiving. Right now, the two service academies meet on the Saturday after conference championship game weekend between the rest of the college football regular season and bowl season.
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In 2025, the first bowl game kicked off just a couple hours after Army-Navy ended, thanks to the way Saturdays fell throughout the year on the calendar.
“I think Army-Navy is a huge part of the history of college football, and what it is today, even,” Monken told the Athletic. “Give us a four-hour block on Thanksgiving, or on Friday of Thanksgiving, or on Saturday of Thanksgiving, and give us a four-hour block, and just say nobody else plays doing this four-hour block. That’s still protecting the game.”
Army and Navy have occupied their exclusive window in December since the two teams were independent. Now, both teams are members of the American Conference. However, since the game is played so late in the season and after the American’s title game, it doesn’t have any bearing on the conference race. And it has no playoff impact, either. The playoff field is set nearly a week before the game happens.
Moving the game up to the traditional end of the regular season would mean the game could not only count toward the American title race, but even playoff inclusion. Army won 12 games in 2024 and Navy won 11 games a season ago.
A move would also mean the playoff would have room to shift around in December, too. Even if it stays at 12 teams.
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With Army-Navy played on the second weekend of December, the 12-team playoff has begun on the third weekend of the month over the past two seasons. That leaves the quarterfinals on New Year’s and then the semifinals and national championship game in January.
And in 2026, the length of the playoff is especially extreme. With New Year’s Day on a Friday, the semifinals are not Jan. 7 and Jan. 8 because at least one team would have to play on a short week. Instead, they’re on Jan. 14 and Jan. 15. The nearly two-week break between the quarterfinals and semifinals means the national championship game isn’t until Jan. 25.
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Having another weekend in December available for the CFP will be a huge benefit to shortening the season. Especially if the transfer window stays where it is. The sole transfer window opened while the CFP was still going on in January and teams like Oregon, Indiana, Miami and Ole Miss were both signing recruits while preparing to play postseason games. The earlier the college football season ends, the better chance players will have of being able to transfer after every team’s season is over.
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