It was the first meeting between the teams at West Point since 1943. They had lost all three games played previously at West Point to the Midshipmen, including 13-0 in 1943 during World War II. Xavier Arline started for Navy, just the fifth freshman to start at quarterback for the Mids against Army. Army: The Black Knights have overcome a schedule that had to be almost totally revamped to rebound after a subpar 2019. He first took his place with cadets on the Army side of the stadium for much of the first quarter before joining Navy midshipmen in the second quarter.