Army-Navy 2015 final score: Midshipmen hang on to win 14th in a row, 21-17

The streak is still alive. Despite trailing at halftime, 17-14, No. 21 Navy rallied behind quarterback Keenan Reynolds and a great defensive effort to beat Army for the 14th year in a row, with a 21-17 win.

It was a particularly big day for Reynolds, who set a number of records in the process. After already setting the FBS record for rushing touchdowns in a career, he tied and set the Division I record with 85 career rushing touchdowns and a bowl game still to go.

Reynolds set even more records with another rushing touchdown and a passing touchdown.

Reynolds is the first Navy quarterback to ever go 4-0 against Army. He rushed for 136 yards on 21 carries.

That said, it was a valiant effort from an Army team that has been up-and-down but still had only won two games on the year. This might be the best Navy team since the 1960s, and an Army team with a losing record hasn’t beaten a Navy team with a winning record since 1899 — so this was certainly closer than expected. That’s partly due to Army’s defense, which held the Navy offense at bay, despite Reynolds’ numbers, and partly due to Army quarterback Chris Carter, who was 9-for-15 with 208 yards passing and one touchdown.

However, the Navy defense tightened up in the second half, dropping the Black Knights for too many negative plays. Combine that with Army mistakes — a missed field goal, a fumble deep in Navy territory and interceptions on two straight drives to end the game — and the Black Knights didn’t have enough to pull the upset. Reynolds said on CBS in the postgame that the key was to limit turnovers, and the 3-0 turnover margin proved to be the difference.

1. The helmets from this game were incredible. Navy wore hand-painted helmets with a different ship for each position group. Army also wore different helmets for each position group.

The helmets looked just as awesome on the field as they did beforehand.

(Photo: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports)

2. Army doesn’t get a lot of national attention, but that’s too bad, because its best player is named Edgar Allan Poe! He was even called “The Raven” in high school. As a receiver, he isn’t used much in the triple option offense, but he caught a touchdown pass early in the game.

3. Could this be Ken Niumatalolo’s last Army-Navy game? The Navy coach has dominated this series since taking over as the Midshipmen’s head coach full-time in 2008, going 8-0. However, he’s linked to the open BYU job. He has met with BYU officials and is reportedly a top target.