PHILADELPHIA - Tired of hearing that the gap with its biggest rival had closed, Navy made a statement.
Adam Ballard had 192 of the Midshipmen's 490 rushing yards, leading Navy to a 42-23 victory over Army in the 106th meeting between the service academies.
Quarterback Lamar Owens added 99 yards rushing and three TDs, Ballard scored twice and Reggie Campbell had a 54-yard TD run for bowl-bound Navy.
The Midshipmen have won four straight and six of the past seven against Army to take a 50-49-7 lead in the series.
"I would've been satisfied with a one-point victory, but we wanted to prove that we're on a different level," Owens said. "That's a team that was calling us out, saying they were better than us for us whatever reason. We listened to that for two weeks. To come out and play the way we did was phenomenal."
Zac Dahman threw three TDs and had 255 yards passing for Army, which had a four-game winning streak snapped.
"It just comes down to execution. We didn't play that well or to the best of our ability," Dahman said.
Navy outscored Army 134-31 in the previous three meetings, winning each by 28 or more. But the much-improved Black Knights came out strong and led 10-7 midway through the second quarter.
The Midshipmen responded with TD runs of 28 and 1 yards by Owens to take a 21-10 lead at halftime. Ballard's 67-yard scamper made it 42-17 nine seconds into the fourth quarter.
Navy captured the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy outright for the third straight year, a first in school history. The trophy, awarded annually to the winner of the competition among the three major service academies, was on the line for both teams for the first time in nine years.
"Everybody was saying they had caught us and we weren't that good," Navy coach Paul Johnson said. "I'm of the adage that you have to show me."
One of the most storied rivalries in college sports, for many the game has taken on more significance in recent years because of ongoing military occupations.
Army linebacker Barrett Scruggs wore on his uniform the patch of a soldier who was recently killed in action in Afghanistan.
Fighter jets and helicopter gunships roared over the stadium before kickoff, electrifying the sellout crowd of 69,322 at Lincoln Financial Field.
