Army-Navy's in the snow, so of course the 1st half had only 2 passes

We went 22 minutes without anyone even trying one.

Army and Navy are facing of in Philadelphia on Saturday, and on a related note, here’s an interesting fact about the forward pass in college football.

Enthusiasts of grunt-heavy football were thus understandably disappointed to see Navy quarterback Zach Abey’s pass arrive complete to Malcolm Perry for two yards on second-and-8 midway through the second quarter.

This happened with about eight minutes remaining in the second quarter, which means that Army and Navy played 22 minutes of American college football with nary a forward pass even attempted.

Perhaps spurred by some newfound confidence, Abey returned to the air on the very next play for a rather optimistic attempt down the seam.

So. At halftime is 1-of-2 passing for two yards; he’s also racked up three yards on two carries.

The midshipmen led at halftime, 10-7.

This is all very on-brand for service academy football, and it can be devastatingly effective.

Army beat Air Force without attempting a pass not four weeks ago, in fact. It also makes for compelling football, because with so much rushing moving the ball forward and the clock more consistently running, the games tend to wrap up faster.

All that rushing also allows for possession origami such as this:

Each team had five possessions in the first half, so it would appear that POSSESSION WATCH is off the table. For shame.

The Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy is also very on-brand.

It weighs 170 damn pounds.