Full-circle moment for Navy coach Newberry

FORT WORTH, Texas — Navy coach Brian Newberry grew up only a few miles from the University of Oklahoma campus, and the first college game he attended as a kid was to watch the Sooners.

His parents still live in his childhood home in Moore, Oklahoma.

Now in his first bowl game as a head coach, Newberry is trying to beat the Sooners. The Midshipmen (9-3) play them in the Armed Forces Bowl on Friday.

“Kind of a full-circle deal. It’s pretty neat,” said Newberry, who was then asked the rooting interest of his extended family of OU fans. “Blood runs a little deeper than that.”

Navy has the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy after an impressive 31-13 win over Army in Newberry’s second season as head coach, after four as defensive coordinator.

“He’s had a fantastic career, and he’s a winner,” Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said of Newberry. “It’s a familiar face for a lot of people around here.”

Oklahoma (6-6) wraps up its first season in the Southeastern Conference with a 26th consecutive bowl appearance — the only longer active streak is Georgia’s 28. The Sooners have to win to avoid their second losing record in Venables’ first three seasons. They won a national championship and a record 14 Big 12 titles during 23 consecutive winning seasons before that.

Navy is looking to win 10 games for only the sixth time in school history.

“That’d be huge for us when we talk about our legacy that we want to leave behind,” senior linebacker Colin Ramos said.

Or as Newberry noted, “They want to go out the right way.”

Taking Sooner snaps again

Michael Hawkins started three games at quarterback in the middle of the season, and now is back in that role for the bowl game. He was the first Oklahoma true freshman to win on the road in his first career start, at Auburn on Sept. 28.

Jackson Arnold was back as the Sooners starter the last five regular-season games, but the sophomore is now headed to Auburn after being among about two dozen Oklahoma players to go into the transfer portal. Hawkins’ only action in that span was in a lopsided win over FCS team Maine on Nov. 2.

“Mike’s looked good, and we love where he’s at and the progress that he has made,” Venables said.

Seventh-year college player Casey Thompson is among the backup quarterbacks. He has 62 career touchdowns (52 passing and 10 rushing) in four years at Texas, then one each at Nebraska and FAU. He has played in only one game without throwing a pass for Oklahoma, where his father and brother played quarterback.

No stranger to Amon Carter

Oklahoma’s first time in the Armed Forces Bowl isn’t its first game in TCU’s home stadium.

The Sooners last played there in 2022, a 55-24 loss to TCU, the eventual national runner-up. Then-Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel was knocked out of the game in the second quarter when hit in the head while sliding by TCU linebacker Jamoi Hodge, who was ejected for targeting.

That was Venables’ first year as Oklahoma’s head coach, a 6-7 season that ended with a bowl loss to Florida State.

Triple option

The triple-option Midshipmen average 249.3 yards rushing per game, their most since a school-record 360.5 in 2019.

“It levels the playing field, especially with a team like Oklahoma, who they’re never going to see the triple option in the SEC,” Navy quarterback Blake Horvath said. “They’re not recruiting guys in the SEC to run the triple option.”

Navy does do more than run the ball. Horvath has 1,095 yards and 15 touchdowns rushing, but his 1,261 yards passing are the most by a Midshipman QB since 2016. He’s thrown 13 TDs.

Only once before

In the only previous meeting between the teams, Navy won 10-0 at Oklahoma in October 1965.

There are Texas connections, too

Newberry played at Baylor from 1992-96, his last season being the first of the Big 12 Conference, so he has a lot of friends in Texas.

The coach said 30 Navy players are from the Lone Star State, one of his top recruiting spots.

“To get a chance to go back and play in a bowl game and get some exposure down there is really big,” Newberry said.