Alohi Gilman was one win away from playing for a national title at Notre Dame. A 30-3 loss to Clemson in the semifinal game ended that dream.

But if Gilman could revisit one game of his collegiate career, it wouldn’t be that one.

“I tell people all the time, if I could go back and play another college football game, it would be Army-Navy,” Gilman said this week. “When you’re out there, it’s a war. You got a bunch of tough dudes on both sides, and they’re just going out there and trying to take each other’s heads off.”

Army and Navy will square off inside M&T Bank Stadium at 3 p.m. on Saturday. It will mark the 126th meeting between the two service academies, known as America’s Game.

Gilman, who spent his freshman season at Navy in 2016, is one of two Ravens players, alongside reserve fullback Lucas Scott, who has played in the rivalry game. Gilman and Scott never crossed paths at the academies due to their age difference, but that hasn’t stopped them from throwing playful jabs at each other.

“Lucas is my archrival the past couple of weeks,” Gilman said, adding that Scott has caught a few good passes on him in practice while on the scout team.

Scott spent four seasons at Army before joining the Ravens as an undrafted free agent and signing to the practice squad.

Scott witnessed two wins against Navy in 2022 and 2023. Gilman can’t say the same.

“[Gilman] only played in one game, but the game he played in [in 2016] was the first game that Army beat Navy in like [14] years, so I had to rub that in his face a little bit,” Scott said.

Gilman and Scott agreed that the Army-Navy game is unlike any other. Gilman called it both teams’ Super Bowl. Scott said it’s the biggest week of the year for both academies.

“It’s an unreal experience, a very chilling experience,” Scott said. “It’s hard to understand unless you do it and you’re in the academies. You go through all of that with your brothers, and that’s what’s hard to explain is the brotherhood that each team has because of the stuff you go through together.”

Since he won’t travel to Cincinnati for Sunday’s game against the Bengals, Scott plans to tailgate with his parents and attend the game. He’ll also grab a seafood lunch Friday afternoon with some of his former teammates who are now graduate assistant coaches at Army.

A former offensive lineman, Scott grinded it out as a Black Knight between the lines. But on Saturday, he’ll be soaking it all up in the stands.

“When you see that flyover, you get chills. It’s a really cool day,” Scott said.