PHILADELPHIA — Navy has turned sports' most patriotic rivalry into one of the most one-sided.

The Mids did more than extend Army's series misery in the 110th meeting between the two service academies, they denied the Black Knights their first bowl bid in 13 years.

Ricky Dobbs ran and threw for a score to help Navy beat Army, 17-3, yesterday for their eighth straight win in the series. Dobbs set an NCAA single-season record for touchdowns scored by a quarterback with 24, and threw the go-ahead TD to help Navy improve to 54-49-7 overall against Army and take its biggest lead in a series that began in 1890.

Navy won the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy, awarded to the team with the best record in games between the three service academies, for a school-record seventh straight year.

"This isn't the biggest college football rivalry in sports," Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo said. "This is the biggest rivalry in sports."

The Mids (9-4) have a postseason date against Missouri in the Texas Bowl on Dec. 31. Army (5-7) would have played in the EagleBank Bowl with a win, but that matchup is now Temple vs. UCLA at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 29.

In front of 69,541 fans at Lincoln Financial Field, Army scored the only points of the first half on Alex Carlton's 23-yard field goal. The 3-0 halftime lead may not have seen like much to an Army program looking for respectability under first-year coach Rich Ellerson, but it marked:

• the first time Army led at halftime in the series since 2001.

• the first time Navy was shutout in the first half of the series since 1993.

• the first time Army led Navy since the first quarter of the 2006 game.

"We didn't make it easy for them," said Ellerson, like Niumatalolo, a former University of Hawai'i player and assistant.

The Black Knights could have put more points on the scoreboard. Carlton missed an earlier field-goal attempt, and they had to settle for three after getting just 6 yards following an interception return to the Navy 12.

The Mids took advantage of the opening. Dobbs went over the 1,000-yard rushing mark in the third and became only the third Navy QB to reach that milestone. He found a wide-open Curry for the Mids' first lead, and Joe Buckley tacked on a 36-yard field goal.

"I didn't think I was going to be that wide open, but it worked out that way," Curry said.

Carlton missed another field goal in the fourth and Army lost a fumble.

With cadets and midshipmen standing, bouncing and cheering the entire game, it was clear how much the rivalry means to both sides.

Billed as "America's Game," fireworks went off as both teams stormed the field waving their school flags during introductions.

"I'm in awe of these young men," Niumatalolo said. "They come to the Naval Academy, they come to West Point when we are a nation at war with more than one conflict. We have more than one conflict and they still decided to come and protect our freedoms."