Navy football facts

It's official. The Navy Midshipmen will join the Big East for football in 2015. Here's a few pieces of trivia to share with your beermates during the Villanova game tomorrow...

* Players must fulfill five-years of military service after graduation. If drafted into the NFL, most players are granted leave to pursue professional careers. Sometimes, but not always. Last season running back Eric Kettani was recalled to active duty not long after making it onto the New England Patriots practice squad.

* Navy won a National Championship in 1926. In an familiar scenario, Alabama, Stanford and Navy all finished the season undefeated. But only 'Bama and Stanford played for the title (college football has always been a joke). That game ended in a 7-7 tie, therefore all three teams finished the season without a loss and were recognized as tri-national champions. Navy won a share without even having to play the game.

* Has two Heisman Trophy winners in its history; Joe Bellino and Roger Staubach.

* Owns the better historical record in the famed Army-Navy game; 56-49-7.

* Mascot is Bill the Goat who is, not surprisingly, a live billy goat. Goats were part of the country's early maritime tradition; they were brought on voyages to provide ships with milk and butter, as well as eat garbage.

* The current Bill is the 33rd to serve in that capacity.

* He has been kidnapped before...

The first reported kidnapping of "Bill the goat" was perpetrated one week before the Army-Navy football game of '53. West Point cadets snuck onto the Annapolis grounds, assisted by a West Point exchange student living at the Naval Academy. After locating the goat behind the stadium, the cadets stashed "Bill" in the back of a convertible-- however, their cover was blown when the goat's horns shredded the car's top. The cadets successfully made it back to West Point and presented the goat to the entire Corps at a raucous dinnertime pep rally-- however, many Navy midshipmen refused to resume classes until "Bill" was returned. After the goat's return was ordered by officials from West Point (as well as President Dwight D. Eisenhower himself, a West Point grad), the Army cadets staged a mass protest which was posted on the front page of several New York papers as "Goat Rebellion at West Point." The Army football team went on to defeat Navy 20-7

* Play at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Capacity 38,000. Tons of history, museums, and monuments at the Naval Academy Campus. Only 30 minutes from Baltimore, this is going to be one hell of a cool place to travel for an away game.