Tag: Army Black Knights

Army and Navy actually passed the ball, and college football fans were befuddled

Something about this just doesn’t quite feel right…

The Army-Navy game is one of the very best traditions in all of college football. It’s known for its passion, pageantry, patriotism and, most importantly, a penchant for running the ball.

Both service academies infamously boast triple-option offenses, which usually translates to keeping the ball on the ground and out of the air as much as humanly possible (think Mac Jones’ Monday Night Football performance every single weekend). Entering the 2021 Army-Navy game, both teams’ rushing offenses ranked among the top 10, with the Black Knights at No. 2 with an average of 301.2 rushing yards per game and the Midshipmen at No. 7 with an average of 228.2 yards. Army also came into this game with the most rushing touchdowns (43) among FBS teams.

But this year’s Army-Navy game was a different story.

Instead of providing a first-hand glimpse at what football looked like prior to the invention of the forward pass, both squads basically took an air raid approach, relative to their usual passing production.

Navy quarterback Tai Lavatai attempted a respectable six passes, while Army quarterback Christian Anderson threw an unthinkable 15 (he even completed seven of them). That’s essentially the triple-option equivalent to the college duel between Baker Mayfield and Patrick Mahomes, in which the two quarterbacks combined for nearly 1,300 yards on 124 attempts in 2016.

But what’s perhaps even more impressive is that — especially for a pair of teams who have found offensive success almost exclusively when running the ball — it seemed to work out. Lavatai averaged 13.7 yards per attempt, while Anderson averaged a worse but still respectable 7.2 per attempt. However, efficiency beat out volume in this one, as Navy earned a 17-13 upset victory to take its second Secretary’s Trophy in the last three years.

The Midshipmen finished a 4-8 season on a high note, while the Black Knights fall to 8-4 after a disappointing conclusion to what was otherwise an excellent season.

We could have gotten a glimpse of the new era of service academy football, but not everyone was pleased with the change. Responses to a relatively pass-heavy game garnered mixed responses on Twitter, ranging from curious excitement to rage to jokes.

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How Wake Forest scored 70 points in about 17 minutes of possession vs. Army

This is wild.

Defense was not super present Saturday during the Wake Forest-Army game in West Point, but it sure made for an entertaining game. And despite having just a seven-point lead early in the fourth quarter, the No. 16 Demon Deacons beat the Black Knights, 70-56, in a contest where Army alone hit the over.

In a game with 18 combined touchdowns, there’s a lot to dissect and analyze. But perhaps the most interesting and wild stat of the game is that Wake Forest won with 70 points off a measly 17:17 time of possession. That’s incredible; 70 points in barely 17 minutes averages out to about four points for every minute of possession.

It’s so impressive it’s actually kind of unbelievable. But stats like that don’t come around without some monster plays, and this game was filled with those too.

As CBS Sports Network noted during the game, there were seven touchdown plays for at least 40 yards, and Wake Forest accounted for six of them.

Just wild. Here’s a look at each one of Wake Forest’s huge touchdowns.

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Around the Big Ten in Week 7: Boilers play spoiler as Big Ten West race opens up

Around the Big Ten in Week 7: Purdue upsets No. 2 Iowa to open door wide open in B1G West

Penn State was one of a handful of notable programs taking the week off around the Big Ten. With Penn State, Ohio State, and Michigan all idle in Week 7, there was plenty of time to focus our attention around everything else happening around the Big Ten. And what a good weekend for that to be the case as the Big Ten West Division took center stage in a massive way.

A week after rallying from behind to knock off Penn State, the Iowa Hawkeyes were dominated at home by the Purdue Boilermakers in a result few could have possibly seen coming. The loss by Iowa opened the door for a much more entertaining division race in the west for the second half of the season, although Iowa may still be the favorites in the long run. But now, Iowa has lost a bit of breathing room and the margin for error has essentially been erased.

Here’s a look around the Big Ten in Week 7, starting with the upset of the day around college football in Iowa City.

Five keys to a Wisconsin victory over Army on Saturday

Five keys to a Wisconsin victory over Army on Saturday

The Wisconsin Badgers and Army Golden Knights are only three nights away from setting the clocks back and giving football fans a taste of what the sport was like before passing was considered normal.

Will it be extremely high-scoring? No. Will it please football fans who love huge plays and long touchdowns? Definitely not.

But it will reflect football at its core: a physical, strategic game where every play is a small war.

Related: The most important and unbelievable stats heading into Wisconsin’s matchup with Army

After shaking off mistakes and dominating last weekend, here is what Wisconsin will need to do on Saturday to come away with a victory:

Everything you need to know about the 2021 Army Black Knights

Everything you need to know about the 2021 Army Black Knights

The Wisconsin Badgers will face off against the Army Black Knights on Saturday night for the first time in program history.

Army enters the contest with a 4-1 record on the season thanks to wins against Georgia State, Western Kentucky, UConn and Miami (Ohio). They do so scoring more than 34 points per game…but only throwing the ball 5-7 times.

The matchup between these two teams presents a captivating case study for those who love old-school football. Wisconsin relies heavily on the run game and time of possession, while Army runs the triple-option and only throws six passes per game.

Related: The most important and unbelievable stats heading into Wisconsin’s matchup with Army

Here is a complete team preview for the 2021 Army Black Knights:

The most important, unbelievable stats heading into Wisconsin’s matchup with Army

The most important, unbelievable stats heading into Wisconsin’s matchup with Army

Wisconsin has an old-school battle on the schedule for Saturday night, as the Army Black Knights and the triple-option offense are set to enter the gates of Camp Randall Stadium and face off against the 2-3 Badgers.

Army will enter Saturday with a 4-1 record on the season thanks to wins against Georgia State, Western Kentucky, UConn and Miami (Ohio). They do so scoring more than 34 points per game…but only throwing the ball 5-7 times.

Related: Film room: What exactly will Wisconsin’s defense be up against on Saturday?

We know where Wisconsin stands at this point in the season: the team has looked dominant against unranked opponents though struggled against the top-10 teams it’s faced.

Army will present a real test for Graham Mertz, for the Wisconsin running game and for Jim Leonhard’s defense.

Here are some of the most important stats, and some of the craziest, entering Saturday’s old-school battle:

Tennessee football program gets mocked for bowl game disaster

The Tennessee football program gets mocked for bowl game disaster

Sunday, the AutoZone Liberty Bowl announced that it would be taking 3-7 Tennessee and West Virginia for its annual contest this year.

The Volunteers were torn to pieces on Twitter by both their own fans and fans of rival teams for accepting a bid at 3-7, but nonetheless, it won’t even end up mattering.

Just one day after accepting the bid, the Volunteers had to opt out of the game after contact tracing for COVID-19 within the program.

Athletic director Phil Fulmer just recently updated the status of head coach Jeremy Pruitt, though the Volunteers could be working behind the scenes on Pruitt’s future.

Now, it is possible the Army Black Knights will replace the Volunteers in the game against the Mountaineers.

Take a look at how Twitter reacted to the news:

Send in Army baby!

College GameDay: See Lee Corso’s headgear pick for 121st Army-Navy game

No surprise here.

ESPN’s College GameDay broadcast set up shop Saturday at West Point to help preview the 121st Army-Navy game. Entering the game, Army is 7-2 while Navy is 3-6, and the Black Knights are 7.5-point favorites.

Normally, the service academies’ famed matchup is held at Lincoln Financial Field, a neutral site, in Philadelphia. But because of the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on gatherings at outdoor events — which would have prevented the Corps of Cadets and Brigade of Midshipmen from attending, as the Army Times reported — the game was moved to Michie Stadium at West Point. And it’s the first time the game is on a home field since World War II.

Something that is typical here: Army and Navy both have fantastic alternate uniforms for this rivalry game.

The GameDay crew broadcast from outside the stadium, but Lee Corso continued to do the show from his home studio in Orlando, as he has all season.

And unsurprisingly, the former Navy defensive backs coach — dressed in a Navy robe and standing on a boat — went with the Midshipmen for his pick this week. He announced his pick earlier than usual in the broadcast, but he still put the Bill the Goat headgear on later.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice — who was also previously a member of the College Football Playoff committee — was GameDay‘s guest picker Saturday. And she went with Army over Navy.

Corso also picked Baylor over No. 22 Oklahoma State, Auburn over Mississippi State, Georgia over Missouri, No. 16 Iowa over Wisconsin, Virginia over Virginia Tech, No. 17 North Carolina over No. 10 Miami, Stanford over Oregon State, No. 21 Colorado over Utah and UCLA over No. 15 USC.

Another highlight of Saturday’s show was Kirk Herbstreit leaving the set to get to the UNC-Miami game and making his picks while flying in a helicopter.

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Oklahoma, Army game scheduled for Sept. 26 is officially canceled

OU has officially lost its second non-conference game due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Sooners and Army were set to play on Sept. 26.

Oklahoma has officially lost its second non-conference game due to the coronavirus pandemic.

When the SEC moved to a conference-only schedule, the Sooners second game of the 2020 season against Tennessee was officially canceled. Although Monday’s Big 12 decision didn’t rule out Army traveling to Oklahoma again, it made the potential of the Sept. 26 matchup much more difficult.

And now, it is officially canceled, Army announced in a press release on Tuesday.

“We are disappointed to lose Oklahoma from our schedule this season, however we respect the Big 12’s difficult decision,” said Army Director of Athletics Mike Buddie. “I am saddened for our players, coaches, alumni and fans to miss out on what has been such a highly anticipated contest since it was first announced. Given the rapidly changing environment in college athletics, we’ve been working on numerous contingency plans in the event of decisions like this, and have already begun the process of finding a future date to host the Sooners.”

That means Oklahoma has another open date it can move the Missouri State game to, its only remaining non-conference game currently scheduled for Aug. 29. The Big 12 Conference’s decision on the start of a season will have a lot to say in regards to when that game is being played.

The Bears have open dates on their schedule on Sept. 5 and Sept. 26. It has yet to be determined if the Sooners will attempt to move their only non-conference game to one of those dates.

According to Army’s press release, Oklahoma and Army will be looking to schedule a future matchup to makeup this cancelation.

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Oklahoma won’t travel to Army after Big 12 Conference model decision

Oklahoma might have lost another game on its schedule after the Big 12 made its decision on a 2020 schedule model. 

Oklahoma might have lost another game on its schedule after the Big 12 made its decision on a 2020 schedule model.

The Sooners lost a game against Tennessee when the SEC announced it was going to a conference-only schedule in late July. Oklahoma held onto its 12-game schedule longer than most, but it appears it is likely to dropping to 10.

The Big 12 Conference said in its release of a nine-game conference game, one-game non-conference model that its members’ non-conference game has to take place at home. Oklahoma was scheduled to travel to Army on Sept. 26.

The game has not been officially canceled, but that is also the weekend the SEC has decided to start its 10-game conference schedule.

The Big 12 announced that it would decide on the start of the season in the coming weeks. The conference is looking at a mid- to late- September start to the 2020 season.

Oklahoma’s only scheduled home game is scheduled to begin on Aug. 29 against Missouri State. It hasn’t been decided if that game will be moved.

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