Navy Midshipmen Star Blake Hovarth Named Player to Watch in Armed Forces Bowl

To little surprise, one college football expert believes Navy quarterback Blake Horvath has the keys to the Midshipmen winning on Friday.

Dec 14, 2024; Landover, Maryland, USA; Navy Midshipmen quarterback Blake Horvath (11) carries the ball against the Army Black Knights during the second half of the the 125th Army-Navy game at Northwest Stadium. / Danny Wild-Imagn Images

Navy Midshipmen quarterback Blake Horvath has set the tone for the team’s success all season. So it’s no surprise that one college football experts believes he is the Midshipmen’s player to watch in Friday’s Armed Forces Bowl.

Kickoff is set for noon eastern and the game will be broadcast on ESPN as the Midshipmen (9-3) face the Oklahoma Sooners (6-6).

The logic for Horvath is pretty simple, according to ESPN’s Chris Low.

The junior quarterback has already tied the school record for touchdown passes in a season with 13, tying Ricky Dobbs, who set the record in 2010.

He’s the first Navy player to rush for 1,000 yards in a season since Malcolm Perry in 2019, and the first Navy quarterback to throw for more than 1,000 yards since Perry that same season. Horvath's 1,261 passing yards are the most by a Navy player since Will Worth threw for 1,397 yards in 2016.

Horvath is also the No. 3 graded runner at all positions with a minimum of 150 carries by Pro Football Focus.

He missed most of last season with a finger injury and returned to win the starting quarterback job from Braxton Woodside.

Among his other accomplishments this season, he is No. 16 in FBS in points responsible for (15.6 ppg) and is the first Navy quarterback since Keenan Reynolds to throw a touchdown pass in four consecutive games. He also ranked No. 6 in FBS in ESPN’s QBR Rating (83.5).

As a key part of the offense, the Midshipmen are ranked No. 3 in FBS in passing yards per completion (16.5), No. 7 in rushing offense (249.3) and No. 16 in team passing efficiency (154.8). He is also a candidate for Academic All-America honors as he carries a 3.53 grade-point average in operations research.

Plus, earlier this year against Air Force he helped Navy do something it hadn’t done in 21 years. That game was the first with two 100-yard rushers (Horvath, 115, Eli Heidenreich 100) and a 100-yard receiver (Heidenreich, 100) since Nov. 22, 2003, when Kyle Eckel (167) and Craig Candeto (150) topped 100 yards rushing and Eric Roberts had 105 yards receiving in a 63-34 win over Central Michigan.

If the Midshipmen (9-3) are able to beat the Sooners (6-6), it would mark the sixth time in school history that they won at least 10 games in a season, joining the teams from 1905 (10-1-1), 2004 (10-2), 2009 (10-4), 2015 (11-2) and 2019 (11-2).