Trent Steelman During the week running up to this year ' s Army - Navy game , players from both sides spoke of the desire to " sing second . " The two service academies sing each other ' s alma mater after every game , but with a twist : the loser sings first , after which point the winning team sprints to its side to sing , yell , scream and celebrate with its fellow students , alumni and fans . Another Navy win , a nail - biting , back - and - forth 17 - 13 victory in Philadelphia , meant that for the 11th year in a row Army was going to sing first . As the team walked toward its band , cameras hovered around Army quarterback Trent Steelman , who was unable to control his emotions while singing his alma mater . An image of Steelman in tears , heartbroken over yet another loss to the Midshipmen , will be one of the lasting memories from the 2012 college football season . NAVY WINS : Beats Army 17 - 13 for 11th win in a row over Cadets This loss was worst than most for Army , which last beat Navy in 2001 – one year before Navy hired then - Georgia Southern coach Paul Johnson , who was replaced by Ken Niumatalolo in 2007 . The Cadets led 13 - 10 in the fourth quarter before Navy ' s Keenan Reynolds ran for an 8 - yard touchdown with 4 : 41 left to give the Midshipmen a 17 - 13 lead . On the ensuing drive , Steelman led Army to the Navy 14 - yard line before turning the ball over during a bobbled handoff to fullback Larry Dixon . The Midshipmen took a knee twice to end the game ; Navy ( 8 - 4 ) will play Arizona State in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl on Dec . 29 . In all , Army had 26 first downs to Navy ' s 18 , had 418 yards of total offense to Navy ' s 297 and had 370 yards rushing . The difference was turnovers : Army had three fumbles to Navy ' s one . On paper , it ' s just another loss for Army , which dropped to 2 - 10 – but as anyone familiar with the series knows , this is more than just another game . For Army , Saturday ' s game provided the team ' s best chance at beating Navy in more than a decade . HEISMAN : All the winners since 1982 Steelman feels the loss more than most . His resume as Army ' s quarterback speaks for itself : Steelman was the first true Cadets freshman to start a season opener at quarterback in the modern era ; he ' s the only player to throw and run for more than 2 , 000 yards ; his 16 wins were most by an Army quarterback since Ronnie McAda from 1994 to 1996 ; and he finished his career ranked in the top five in program history in rushing yards , total yards and rushing touchdowns . His ties to Army extend beyond his own four - year stint at West Point and the years he ' ll serve as a member of the armed forces after graduation . His grandfather served in the Air Force during World War II . His uncle served in the Army during the Gulf War . In short , Steelman is all you ' d expect and more from an Army football player . But at that moment , when the realization hit home , all Steelman could remember were four losses to Navy : 17 - 3 in 2009 , 31 - 17 in 2010 , 27 - 21 in 2011 and 17 - 13 on Saturday . As he walked off the field – and jubilant Navy celebrated on its side – Steelman was hugged by Niumatalolo , who told CBS Sports ' Tracy Wolfson right after the game that he was looking for Steelman , and shared words with Gen . Raymond T . Odierno , the Chief of Staff of the Army . Inconsolable , Steelman headed off to the locker room .