Joel Klatt explains why he wants Army vs. Navy to open college football's regular season

Joel Klatt tried his hand at fixing the college football calendar during the latest episode of his podcast, and he has a fascinating idea for the Army–Navy Game.

Evidently, Klatt believes the College Football Playoff’s effect on the bowl schedule has taken away some of the pomp and circumstance from the legendary battle. The FOX analyst thinks that moving the game to August, where it could serve as the official start of the football season, would give it the platform it deserves.

“I don’t think that we should have Army-Navy right after the conference championship games,” Klatt stated. “I believe that the Army-Navy game is one of the most special events that we have in our country. It’s one of the great football games on the planet, and it’s getting pinched where it’s at. I know it’s the traditional time frame and point of season, but think about it — Army and Navy are now in a conference. Yet, their game doesn’t have any bearing on whether they’re going to the conference championship game or not, which we just saw this year with Navy. Then, they’ve got to play that game, which is, you know — it’s going to mean everything to them and should, because again, in a lot of ways, outside of the Rose Bowl, it’s the most historic college football game that we have.

“So what do we do with Army-Navy? It’s getting pinched by the Heisman. It’s getting pinched by the Playoff. We now play a bowl game on the same day. It’s not in the right spot. Army-Navy needs to start the football season. Week Zero of football. And mind you, I didn’t say college. I didn’t say the NFL. It’s because it’s both.”

Continuing, Klatt proclaimed that Army-Navy could serve as a sort of “national anthem” to the football season, if the game was played in August: “Army-Navy is the national anthem to our sport and to the fall. In a lot of ways, folks — I know that we’re celebrating the New Year right now, but doesn’t the New Year feel a lot like the start of the fall? Isn’t that when people are going back to school, going to college, kids are back in school?

“The summer has ended. You’re kind of restarting your work life. It’s a de-facto New Year right there. We need a national anthem to our favorite time of year. The favorite time of year in our country is the fall. It just is. Army-Navy could be the national anthem to our sport. We could showcase it in August, and really kick things off early. If we move that game to the beginning of the season, we can make it more special. We can have everybody there. All the commissioners. The dignitaries. It would be a huge event. Only game that day.

“It’s kicking us off into the fall for the regular season. Now, we can start sometime late in August and play our way through college football.”

All told, Joel Klatt brings up some salient points regarding the future of the Army-Navy Game. Regardless, it’ll remain one of the most important college football games of the season, but it’s certainly deserving of a grander stage than the one currently provided due to various scheduling changes.