Brian Newberry grew up simply down the highway from Norman, Okla., rooting for the Oklahoma Sooners.
Now, Newberry will wrap up his second season as Navy’s head coach when the Midshipmen tackle the Sooners within the Armed Forces Bowl on Friday in Fort Value, Texas.
“It is going to be surreal seeing them throughout that sideline,” Newberry mentioned. “I am enthusiastic about it. Cannot watch for it.”
Navy (9-3) is in search of simply the sixth 10-win season in program historical past. The Midshipmen are coming off a 31-13 win over rival Military in Landover, Md.
The bowl is Navy’s first towards an SEC opponent for the reason that 1955 Sugar Bowl when the Midshipmen beat Ole Miss 21-0.
“Whenever you come to Navy, you are not anticipating that you’ll be enjoying Oklahoma,” Midshipmen quarterback Blake Horvath mentioned. “If you happen to would have informed me that once I dedicated right here, I believed that will’ve been fairly cool.”
For Oklahoma, it is this system’s first look within the Armed Forces Bowl and its first bowl sport towards a service academy opponent.
The Sooners are in a bowl sport for the twenty sixth consecutive season, the second-longest lively streak within the nation behind solely Georgia (28).
Oklahoma needed to sweat this one out, needing an upset victory over then-No. 7 Alabama in its house finale to succeed in bowl eligibility.
The Sooners (6-6) wish to keep away from a second shedding season previously three years after going from 1999-2021 and not using a sub-.500 marketing campaign.
The sport will function one of many prime speeding offenses within the nation towards one of many prime run-stopping groups in FBS.
Navy was No. 7 nationally by the common season with a mean of 249.3 speeding yards per sport.
The Midshipmen’s floor sport is led by Horvath, who has rushed for 1,091 yards and 15 touchdowns. Horvath ran for 100 or extra yards 5 occasions this season, together with 204 yards and two touchdowns within the win over Military.
The Sooners have allowed simply 154.9 yards per sport on the bottom, twelfth in FBS by the common season.
Oklahoma shall be with out a number of key items of that protection, although.
Linebacker Danny Stutsman, the Sooners’ main tackler and a consensus All-American, and security Billy Bowman Jr. each are anticipated to overlook the sport as they put together for the NFL Draft, whereas linebacker/defensive again Dasan McCullough entered the switch portal.
Linebacker Kip Lewis figures to play an excellent greater position within the bowl sport with Stutsman out.
Navy’s triple-option offense places loads of stress on linebackers.
“I am from east Texas, so I’ve performed Wing-T like again in highschool, so I am a bit used to it,” Lewis mentioned. “It has been a minute since I performed it, nevertheless it introduced me again to my roots enjoying the Wing-T.”
Oklahoma may even be short-handed on the offensive aspect, as freshman quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. will make his first begin since mid-October after Jackson Arnold transferred to Auburn.
The Sooners have been skinny at vast receiver all season and shall be once more within the bowl after a number of of their receivers who missed important time on account of accidents entered the switch portal.
They’re hopeful Deion Burks, who performed in simply one of many previous eight video games, shall be out there for the bowl sport.
The matchup shall be simply the second between the packages. In 1965, Navy beat the Sooners 10-0 in Norman.
–Area Degree Media
