Timing is everything in college football, and Navy's athletic director knows it might be time to shift the annual gridiron showdown with Army. As discussions heat up about an expanded College Football Playoff and its impact on the regular season, one of the sport's most storied rivalries could find itself on the move.

The Army-Navy game, traditionally played on the second Saturday of December, may need to find a new spot on the calendar. With an expanded CFP potentially kicking off earlier in the month, there's been some pushback on keeping the classic rivalry in its usual time slot. But Navy's Michael Kelly is taking a pragmatic approach.

"There's bound to be a way to thread a needle on this, to find something that's so great for the enterprise (of college football) and still preserves an important American asset like the Army-Navy game," Kelly told The Athletic.

While Kelly is reportedly open to moving the game back one week, he's also protective of what makes this matchup special. "We all have to be flexible, and the primary focus is to make sure we continue to work together, to give it to the best audience that it can be," he said. "But for us, the whole thing from day one in this was maintaining an exclusive window."

The rivalry dates back to 1890, making it one of the oldest in college football history. Navy leads the all-time series 64-55-7 and has claimed victory in each of the last two meetings. As the sport evolves with new playoff structures, finding the right balance between tradition and progress will be key—and for fans of these two service academies, the game's unique place in the season is something worth preserving.