Air Force visits Navy in service academy clash amid shutdown

The Air Force Falcons will visit the Navy Midshipmen on Saturday, Oct. 4, at NavyMarine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, with kickoff scheduled for 12 p.m. Eastern and live television coverage on CBS. The game will proceed as planned despite a federal government shutdown that has affected some service academy athletic operations, and it will be available to stream through several subscription services offering trial periods.

On the field, Navy arrives off a 21-13 victory over Rice in which the Midshipmen ran for 283 yards. Quarterback Blake Horvath accounted for two rushing scores and about 110 rushing yards while also completing passes, and running back Alex Tecza rushed for 104 yards and led the team in receiving in the same game. Air Force is coming off a 44-35 loss at Hawaii in which quarterback Liam Szarka had a breakout performance, completing 10 of 12 passes for 278 yards and three touchdowns and rushing 17 times for 139 yards. The teams bring contrasting recent narratives: Navy has shown a productive ground game, while Air Force has produced notable offensive yardage but struggled to convert into wins.

Service academy athletic departments say the shutdown has had a...