proof that true scholar-athletes CAN compete with the big boys...<br /><br />NAVY FOOTBALL TEAM RANKED 24TH IN THE NATION IN FINAL POLLS<br /><br />ANNAPOLIS, Md.-The Navy football team capped off a remarkable season by being ranked in the top 25 in both final polls. The Mids, who won 10 games<br />this year for the first time in 99 years, won a bowl game for the first time since 1996 and won the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy for the second-consecutive year, finished the year ranked 24th in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches Poll.<br /><br /> "I'm excited for our players, coaching staff and fans," said Navy head football coach Paul Johnson. "This is a validation for all the hard<br />work that everybody has put into this program."<br /><br /> The top 25 ranking marks the first time Navy has cracked the polls at any point in the season since Oct. 22, 1979, when Navy was ranked 17th in<br />the Associated Press poll. It's also the first time since 1963, when Navy finished second, that the Midshipmen have finished the season ranked in<br />the Associated Press poll and the first time Navy has been ranked at any time in the USA Today/Coaches poll. The last time Navy ended its season ranked was 1978 when the Mids finished 17th in the UPI poll.<br /><br /> The Mids are one of just five Non-BCS schools in the final 25 joining Utah, Louisville, Boise State and Fresno State.
