The 2023 Spring game is this Friday and it’s officially time to start looking ahead to Army Football! There’s still plenty of baseball and lacrosse left to play, of course, but we all know that what you really want is a dose of offseason football coverage.
This is, perhaps, the most difficult schedule in recent memory. Army will play an SEC team, two ACC teams, three former conference champions, and four division winners, all of whom combined in 2022 for a win-loss record of 88-65 (.575).
The Black Knights will play in four stadia that the Army team has never before visited, including two NFL venues for CiC games — Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA, and Mile High in Denver, CO. Army will also play in Tiger Stadium at Louisiana State and Malone Stadium at Louisiana-Monroe for the first time.
The good news is that this year’s schedule includes just four true road games, the last being on October 21st. Of the final five contests, Army will play three at Michie along with the two neutral-site CiC games.
2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣3️⃣ Football Group Tickets Available Now!!#GoArmy
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) February 21, 2023
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The Games
Here’s the schedule, friends. We’ve noted each team’s 2022 record in parentheses.
September 2nd: at Louisiana-Monroe (4-8, 3-5 in the Sun Belt)
This will be the first game for both teams. Road openers are always scary, but Army took care of business against the Warhawks last year at Michie. The biggest point of interest in this one will be how the new offense looks under new OC Drew Thatcher.
September 9th: Delaware State (5-6, 2-3 in the MEAC)
The Hornets will be coming off a game against D-II Bowie State. Theoretically, Delaware State shouldn’t pose a threat to the Black Knights in Michie, but crazy things happen all the time in college football.
Friday, September 15th: at UT – San Antonio (11-3, 8-0 in Conference USA)
The Roadrunners will be playing their second straight game in the Alamodome, just one week after hosting the Texas State Bobcats. This could very well be the first real test for Army as last year’s C-USA champs will be looking to start their American Athletic Conference tenure off with another good year.
September 23rd: at Syracuse (7-6, 4-4 in the ACC)
This will be a tough turnaround for Syracuse. They’ll play at the Big Ten-West defending champs, Purdue, the week prior. Purdue often gets late kickoffs in non-conference home games, which means that Syracuse could face a 5 AM arrival back in New York. They’ll then have a long week of triple-option prep while Army will have an extra day after the Friday night game in San Antonio. Additionally, the Orange have no bye weeks up to this point. Yikes! Hopefully, Army can pull out their first-ever win at Syracuse.
September 30th: BYE WEEK
2023 Army Football Schedule Wallpaper pic.twitter.com/ZKu7Dpppuh
— 𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠 (@BrigadeReview) November 11, 2022
October 7th: Boston College (3-9, 2-6 in the ACC)
The Eagles will be coming off of a game against Virginia at home, but they’ll have to face a well-rested Army squad at Michie. BC was not great last year, but don’t count them out in 2023. They’ve done some heavy lifting in the transfer portal this past offseason.
Luke DeCock: ACC gives its football teams new guidance on scheduling non-Power 5 road games: Don't https://t.co/CmmjdiRJfH pic.twitter.com/QsSEQ1QdTB
— Gwinnett Daily Post (@GwinnettDaily) February 14, 2023
October 17th: Troy (12-2, 7-1 in the Sun Belt)
The Trojans will travel to Michie Stadium this year after getting a 1-point win over the Black Knights on their turf in 2022. They’ll be coming off a home game against Arkansas State. This is arguably the third-toughest game of the year for Army and the toughest at Michie Stadium.
October 21st: LSU (10-4, 6-2 in the SEC)
The Tigers will be hosting their second straight home game after facing Auburn the week prior.
The good news? LSU Head Coach Brian Kelly won’t be able to look ahead to a triple-option game with Auburn the week prior.
The bad news? There’s a reason it’s called Death Valley.
#LSU announced today that a game against Army has been scheduled for Tiger Stadium in 2023. The only other time the teams met came in 1931. Here's the @AP_Sports story that appeared in Lake Charles @AmericanPress on November 9, 1931 detailing @LSUfootball first meeting w/ Army. pic.twitter.com/3pYMDJKZqt
— Michael Bonnette (@LSUBonnette) August 28, 2018
October 28th: UMass (1-11)
Both the Black Knights and the Minutemen will be coming off tough games this week. UMass faces Penn State on the road the week prior. Don’t count on last year’s 1-11 record mattering in 2023, though. Coach Don Brown’s crew is returning 76% of their production from last year, and they’ve got a lot of big bodies on that team.
This year’s tilt will be played at West Point. Hopefully the home crowd will keep UMass from turning things around in 2023.
November 4th: Air Force (10-3, 5-3 in the Mountain West)
Zoomie QB Haziiq Daniels and game-breaking FB Brad Roberts are both gone this year, meaning that this will be a very different Falcon team than we’ve seen in either of the last two seasons. This year’s game will also be at a neutral site for the third straight year — and presumably the final year before the series heads back to Michie Stadium in 2024.
Air Force will play Navy and then Colorado State — their two biggest rivals besides the Black Knights — in the two weeks prior to this contest. Due to construction at the Air Force Academy, none of those rivalry games will take place at Falcon Stadium.
Air Force, Army to play at Empower Field at Mile High in 2023https://t.co/Tak0mjrALN pic.twitter.com/n09stpqxvJ
— FBSchedules.com (@FBSchedules) September 19, 2022
November 11th: Holy Cross (12-1, 6-0 in the Patriot League)
This Veteran’s Day game will be the 25th all-time matchup between these two schools. The Crusaders are no joke, either, having made it to the FCS quarterfinals in 2022.
Holy Cross will be coming off a game at Lehigh which they should win handily.
November 18th: Coastal Carolina (9-4, 6-2 in the Sun Belt)
The Chanticleers will come to Michie Stadium after having hosted Texas State the week prior. QB Grayson McCall will be playing in the final true road game of his super-senior season. That should make this a true test of the Black Knight defense, though anything is possible with the new coaching staff. Still, Coastal is returning fully 79% of their offensive production.
November 25th: BYE WEEK (Rivalry Weekend)
December 2nd: BYE WEEK (Championship Weekend)
December 9th: Army-Navy (Navy 4-8, 4-4 in the American)
The Army-Navy Game is heading up to Boston for the first time in series history, and the Black Knights will have a whopping 20 days to prepare for it. Navy, on the other hand, will have 13 days after a game in Dallas against SMU. And if Navy somehow happens to find themselves in the AAC Championship Game, they’ll have just 6 days to get triple-option ready. This will also be the first time a team will have to drive more than six hours to get to the Army-Navy game since the Rose Bowl game in 1983. That probably won’t affect the football team much, but it’s going to SUCK for the Brigade of Midshipmen.
As far as scheduling goes, everything advantages Army. The Black Knights just need to execute.
America's Game is coming to Gillette Stadium!
— Gillette Stadium (@GilletteStadium) June 15, 2022
Excited to announce that we will host the historic Army Navy Game for the first time on Dec. 9, 2023.
More info: https://t.co/XmgbY9O1u0 pic.twitter.com/JyXCiQgeBG
Any way you slice it, this should be a very entertaining football season. Stay tuned to AFF for all of the football coverage you need!
Go Army! Beat Navy!!!
*Cover image via @ArmyWP_Football
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