The 2008 Navy Midshipmen football team represented the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...

(USNA) as an independent during the

2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on August 28, 2008, and ended on ...

. The team was led by first-year head coach

Ken Niumatalolo Kenneth Va'a Niumatalolo (born May 8, 1965) is an American college football coach and former player who is the head coach of San Jose State. He was the head coach of the Naval Academy from 2007 to 2022, accumulating the most wins in program hist ...

. He was promoted from the offensive line coach before the season, after his predecessor, Paul Johnson, accepted the head coaching position at

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

. The Midshipmen finished the regular season with an 8–4 record to attain

bowl eligibility Bowl eligibility in college football at the NCAA Division I FBS level is the standard through which teams become available for selection to participate in postseason bowl games. When a team achieves this state, it is described as "bowl-eligible". ...

. Navy secured a berth in the inaugural EagleBank Bowl, which had a tie-in with the two independent military academies, the other being

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

. The other tie-in was with the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

(ACC). Due to a chaotic and closely contested season in the ACC, in the EagleBank Bowl, Navy ended up playing Wake Forest in a re-match of a regular season game, despite a statement in their contracting disallowing it. Unlike the earlier game, Navy lost the rematch against Wake Forest, 29–19.

Schedule

References

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

Navy Midshipmen football seasons

Navy Midshipmen football The Navy Midshipmen football team represents the United States Naval Academy in NCAA Division I Division I (NCAA)#Football Bowl Subdivision, FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) college football. The Naval Academy completed its final season as an NCA ...

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