Navy's triple option rolls into the Alamodome as the league's early favorite, but Jeff Traylor's rebuilt UTSA roster isn't planning on playing along.
Bush’s Picks
NAVYUTSA
NAVYUTSA
OverUnder
Best BetNavy
Navy's the preseason pick to be the AAC's best team, and that program-record run of 10-win seasons under Newberry isn't a fluke — it's a structure built on continuity that new quarterbacks tend to inherit rather than break. UTSA's talent has been refreshed but not tested together yet, and that's a real gap this early in the year. Back the option offense to be the more finished product on a random October night.
Navy
+Back-to-back 10-win seasons, program record
+11 starters returning, stable coaching staff
+Tabbed AAC preseason frontrunner by CFN
−Losing Blake Horvath, the engine of the offense
−New starter Woodson has only 3 career starts
UTSA
+Offense averaged 35.5 ppg, 14th nationally in 2025
+Owen McCown a real AAC Player of the Year name
+Largest transfer class of Traylor's tenure adds talent
−Defense allowed 28.8 ppg, ranked 93rd nationally
−Lost top WR and top 2 TEs to the portal
−McCown missing spring ball after offseason surgery
This one's got real conference stakes attached to it. Navy is coming off back-to-back 10-win seasons for the first time in program history, capped by a Liberty Bowl blowout of Cincinnati, and Brian Newberry's option attack has been pegged as the team to beat in the AAC heading into 2026. UTSA's not exactly cowering from that label. Jeff Traylor's group put up a First Responder Bowl beatdown of FIU to close out 2025 and has spent this offseason tearing the roster down and rebuilding it from the transfer portal up.
The quarterback picture is the swing factor for both sides, and neither is fully settled. Navy loses Blake Horvath, the engine of that option offense the last two years, with Braxton Woodson — a three-game starter over the last three seasons — the presumed next man up, though nothing's locked in until fall camp actually happens. UTSA's answer is theoretically the stronger one: Owen McCown is back and drawing early AAC Player of the Year buzz, but he's been held out of spring ball recovering from offseason surgery, leaving Brandon Tennison, Max Gerlich and Maguire Gasperson to split reps in his absence. Two teams betting on continuity at the sport's most important position, with real question marks at that exact spot.
Show fees
11:00 PM CT
Spread
ML
Total
NAVY Navy
UTSA UTSA
UTSA's offense was legitimately explosive last season, averaging 35.5 points a game, but the defense that let up 28.8 hasn't gotten the same offseason attention in the headlines. That's the matchup problem against Navy specifically — the Midshipmen's ball-control option offense is built to keep shootout-minded defenses on the sideline and out of rhythm. UTSA countered its personnel losses (23 players out via the portal, including its top receiver and top two tight ends) with the largest signing class of Traylor's tenure, so there's talent here — it just hasn't played a snap together yet.
Navy Midshipmen
Oct 10?vs Tulsa—
Oct 3?@ Air Force—
Sep 25?@ UAB—
Sep 12?@ Florida Atlantic—
Sep 5?vs Towson—
UTSA Roadrunners
Oct 8?vs South Florida—
Oct 2?@ Rice—
Sep 25?vs Colorado State—
Sep 19?@ Texas—
Sep 12?@ Texas State—
Sep 5?vs Vaqueros—
Recent form.
Both programs are being talked about as conference contenders this far out, which says plenty about where the AAC thinks it's headed in 2026. Navy's been floated as the league's preseason frontrunner, largely on the strength of its returning structure — 11 starters back and a coaching staff that hasn't shuffled. UTSA picked up a dozen preseason all-conference selections, tied for second-most in the league, evidence the portal reload has real juice even before a snap is played. A October road trip to the Alamodome is as good a measuring-stick spot as either team gets.
Navy Midshipmen
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
UTSA Roadrunners
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
Circle this as a legitimate August-through-October watch item for AAC race-watchers. If Navy's option is humming behind whoever wins that quarterback job, and UTSA's defense hasn't tightened up from a season ago, this could get out of hand early. If McCown's back to full speed and Traylor's new pieces gel faster than expected, it flips into exactly the kind of shootout Navy's built to avoid. Either way, this reads like a genuine early litmus test for both sides of the conference.
