Navy's game with Air Force and the Army-Boston College matchup will be played Saturday.
In the wake of the shutdown of the federal government, the Department of Defense on Tuesday suspended all intercollegiate athletic competitions at the service academies. If the shutdown ends, the athletics suspension immediately ceases.
Navy's official athletic website said the Department of Defense had given its approval for its game to be played. Boston College announced Thursday around 11 a.m. that the game with Army is on. It is BC's homecoming.
The Air Force-Navy game is the first in a series of three service academy matchups for the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy. The game will be nationally telecast on CBS at 11:30 a.m. ET; the game is sold out and a record crowd is expected. Navy will honor its 1963 team at the game. That season, Roger Staubach won the Heisman -- the last service academy player to do so -- and led Navy to the Cotton Bowl.
Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk told the Annapolis (Md.) Capital Gazette earlier this week that the academy's athletic department runs without any government funds and said Air Force officials had told him their football team could travel without government funding.
Boston College athletic director Brad Bates had tweeted Wednesday that his school has been "considering and engaging all possibilities in order to play the game, including offering financial assistance to Army for travel." It is not known if BC indeed is paying Army's expenses.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.