Down by seven with under a minute remaining, Navy faced fourth-and-1 near midfield. Blake Horvath took a shotgun snap and ran up the middle.

After one key block right at the line to gain, the senior quarterback slipped through a seam in the defense and was gone.

For a team that doesn't exactly load up on five-star recruits, Navy can make long scoring plays look comically easy. That 51-yard run by Horvath was followed by a 2-point conversion that gave the Midshipmen a 32-31 win over Temple two weekends ago. Now Navy comes out of a bye week as one of six remaining unbeaten teams in the FBS — and the only one outside the Power Four conferences.

In some ways, the aesthetic is what you'd expect from a service academy. The Midshipmen run more often than they pass, and option concepts are ce

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