ANNAPOLIS, Md. —

The U.S. Naval Academy football team is having one of the best stretches in program history, despite predictions that the academy would struggle to compete amid radical changes to the world of college sports.

College football teams have spent millions of dollars paying players to come to their schools through what are called name, image and likeness (NIL) deals, which were first introduced in 2021. As a service academy, Navy isn't allowed to participate in NIL and its players can't be compensated. But even though the academy isn't allowed to play by the same rules as the vast majority of the sport, it has actually turned that difference into an advantage for the school.

"In the beginning, people were saying the Naval Academy and other academies couldn't compete in this

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