We are back for America’s College Football game as Army faces Navy for the 119th time. Army comes in at 9-2 and is looking for their third consecutive victory over Navy, while the Midshipmen are having a down 3-9 season, but lead the all time series 60-51-7.
Both teams once again have special uniforms that they will be wearing for the first time Saturday. The Army’s uniforms, nicknamed “Big Red One” honors the units First Infantry Division, one that helped end World War One, one hundred years ago.
The Navy took an easier route, designing their uniforms around their mascot, Bill the Goat.
Helmets
The Army kicks off their all black look with a bang. The helmet features the Big Red One on the forehead plate, the same as the First Infantry Division in World War One. The back of the helmet also features a faint American flag, which is a nice touch to a simple helmet. Finally the black face mask gives this helmet an all around stealthy look.
Bill the Goat makes his presence known right away on these Navy helmets. The logo fits perfectly on the side of the helmet and sits well on the blue shell. The gold chrome face mask makes the helmet pop even more and gives Navy one of their best helmets they have ever worn.
Advantage: Navy
Jerseys
Army steps it up when in a big way below the noggin’. The inclusion of the traditional Black Knights logo and gold numbers is where this jersey really starts to hit its’ stride. The three colors mesh great together, allowing the red to become a great accent color with the “Big Red One” script and Nike “Swoosh” logo. The front of the jersey also includes small circular patches of similar ones worn by the First Infantry Division.
Nike and Army then go to show off the amount of detail put into designing this uniform with the Black Lions of Cantigny logo on the sleeves, which was a nickname for the 1st Division’s 28th infantry.
Meanwhile, Under Armour and Navy went for a very traditional look when it comes to the jerseys. This could partially be due to the fact that Navy is the designated away team in 2018 and had to stick to a lighter color combination after Army went with the darker black. That being said, there are ways to spice up a white jersey, which Navy didn’t do at all. The sleeves inclusion of the gold color is a nice touch, one that could have also been added to the numbers. The Army/Navy game is where these teams usually take a chance on jersey designs, but Navy sat out on that idea this year.
Advantage: Army
Shoes
Both of these pairs are great, but once again it comes down to detail. The black Army cleats feature the red swoosh, 1st Division and Army logos, as well as “Army” and “Big Red One” script on the back heel of the shoe.
The Navy went with a clean white pair of shoes and again included Bill the Goat on the outside. The logo fits pretty well on the shoe, but is usually hard to see in action and is likely to blend into an all white shoe.
Advantage: Army
Overall Nike and Army teamed up for a special uniform that had clear and unique dedication. From colors to logos to designs, this uniform is a winner top to bottom. The all black look is a great one top to bottom and the addition of red and gold gives the uniform a ton of life.
Under Armour and Navy started off on the right note with the helmet, but then seemed to have a hard cutoff the creative process on the way down. It became more of an everyday uniform, one that isn’t a terrible look for Navy, but in comparison to Army’s attention to detail, this one simply doesn’t hold up.
Winner: Army
sources: twitter.com/usaa, twitter.com/collegegameday, sbnation.com
The Expansion Team 