Perfect Patriotic Story In Ridiculous Times: Army, Navy Both Ranked For First Time In 64 Years

As it is every Sunday during the college football season, the AP college football poll was updated following the weekend's action, and for the first time since 1960, Army and Navy both find themselves among the Top 25.

It sounds like a made-up, sarcastic number, but it has been 23,386 days since Army (23rd) and Navy (25th) both occupied spots in the AP Poll.

The last time the Black Knights and Midshipmen both had a number next to their name, Dwight D. Eisenhower was the President of the United States while John F. Kennedy was President-Elect. Neither one of the Army and Navy head coaches was even alive in 1960, while the parents of every player on both squads were either children or just a sparkle in their own parent's eyes.

Hell, I'm nearly 32 and my father wasn't quite born yet.

While being ranked in the polls together is historic, the fact that the two programs are both undefeated is even more so. The last time Navy and Army were both undefeated at this point of a season was 1945, less than a month after World War II ended.

The football teams at the service academies at that point in time were absolute powerhouses. Army claims three straight national titles from 1944-1946 while Navy lost only five games between 1943-1945.

This year's Army and Navy squads are no slouches either.

Army and Navy are both ranked for the first time in 64 years. (Danny Wild-Imagn Images)

Navy earned a big-time win over a then-unbeaten Memphis team a week after the Tigers went to Florida State and beat the Seminoles. The Midshipmen have beaten all six of their opponents by an average score of 22.3 points per game.

While Army doesn't have an overly impressive win to its name, it has dominated all six of its opponents with an average winning margin of 28.8 points per game, which is good enough for the third-best scoring margin in college football.

Being ranked together, the dominating numbers, the fact that both teams get a shot at Notre Dame later this year, or the fact that both programs could have a serious impact on the College Football Playoff are all headline-worthy stories.

But perhaps the greatest aspect of all of this - albeit a selfish one - is that both teams are providing every college football fan around the country a distraction. After all, we're all sports-obsessed because they provide us a distraction from our everyday lives.

The Army - Navy game this season could cause more chaos within the College Football Playoff than anyone could have ever imagined. Credit: Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports

The difference between this distraction and others is that this is one that everyone around the country can, and should, be paying attention to for the exact same reason.

While they're seen as football players for a few months out of the year, each player suiting up for Army and Navy has committed to serve the United States following their college careers. Cast the debate about service academy players having to serve two years in the military before pursuing professional sports aside, these are still young men who are committed to the United States of America. 

In today's day and age where every single thing is politicized and fewer young people seem to respect let alone appreciate the U.S. and what it stands for, it should be easy to applaud these two programs as they've both managed to make history together for the first time in well over a half-century.