Jeff Monken Compares Army-Navy Game to a ‘Sledgehammer Fight’

Army West Point Black Knights coach Jeff Monken provided the media with a great explanation for what the Army-Navy game represents.

Nov 30, 2024; West Point, New York, USA; Army Black Knights head coach Jeff Monken congratulates Army Black Knights cornerback Justin Weaver (5) on a defensive stop during the second half against the UTSA Roadrunners at Michie Stadium. / Danny Wild-Imagn Images

The Army-Navy game is the final regular season game each season. For the Black Knights and the Midshipmen, it is “the” game.

Even if they have to wait for it until mid-December, it is the talk on campus at both West Point and Annapolis the entire fall.

The game always has gravity. But, this year Army (11-1) enters the contest as the American Athletic Conference champion and with just its fourth season of 10 or more wins. The Black Knights are also ranked in the AP Top 25 and the College Football Playoff Top 25.

Navy (8-3) is improved this season, too. But the matchup could be like last year’s — with both teams hovering around .500 — and it would still matter. A lot.

During his weekly press conference, Army coach Jeff Monken was asked to explain to someone who had never seen a college football game before what Army-Navy meant.

“Wow, people have written books about this game,” Monken said. “I mean, thousands of pages about this game.”

He struggled for a bit. But he came up with an analogy that may be apt.

“I think if you took two groups of people that had great disdain for each other, wanted to beat the other guys across from them, and you handed everybody a sledgehammer” he said. “And your side gets to hit their side as hard as you want with a sledgehammer. Then the other side gets a swing and gets to hit you as hard as they can hit you. And we just keep doing that until there’s only one guy standing his team gets a win.

“That’s about what this game is. It is just an absolute brawl. It’s a sledgehammer fight for the entire duration. And that’s what makes it awesome. It’s a great game.”

Navy leads the series, 66-55-7, but Army won the last meeting, 17-11.

In fact, the Black Knights have been the more dominant team in the series recently. Army was won the last two meetings and six of the last eight meetings.

Before that, Navy had the upper hand. From 1997-2015, the Midshipmen won 17 of 19 meetings, including 14 straight from 2002-15.

Monken was part of that winning streak as a Navy assistant under Paul Johnson from 2002-07. So he’s been on both sides of this.

As Army head coach, Monken is 6-4 in the rivalry. After the Navy game, the Black Knights will face Marshall in the Independence Bowl later this month.