Army beat a very big, very fast UTSA team last night the way that they always beat bigger, more athletic teams — by running the Hell out of the football and dominating time of possession. The Roadrunners had so much team speed that any breakdown whatsoever by the Black Knight defense led to a UTSA touchdown. 

But the Bad Boys did just enough. They forced a turnover on the Roadrunners’ opening drive, bottled up UTSA’s rushing attack in the second half, forced 4 punts, got a stop on 4th down, and got exactly one sack late in the game when they needed it. With that, Army was able to maintain a lead throughout the contest, usually of at least 9 points. Army finished by running out the clock using their new slow-mesh read-option look, and that was your ballgame.

Army is back. 

Hold onto your hats, friends, ‘cause it’s liable to be a WILD season.

A TEXAS-SIZED victory! pic.twitter.com/G8KcdsfjrI

— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) September 16, 2023

Sometimes Statistics Lie

Defensively, the stats weren’t necessarily pretty. UTSA absolutely could not drive the ball with any consistency. Nor did they necessarily need to, except maybe to preserve their defense in the second half. The Roadrunners scored every single one of their points either over-the-top or off a single missed tackle in space, and given the sheer lightning speed they have at all the skill positions, that was all they needed. We saw a breakaway touchdown run of 19 yards right up the middle plus passing plays of 44, 46, and 72 yards. The Roadrunners threw over the top twice and hit a quick inside screen where the receiver ran through a tackle. Once those receivers got going, no one on the Army side had anything like the wheels to keep up. 

Beyond those deep shots, however, the Roadrunners struggled for consistency. UTSA had five scoring drives, all for touchdowns. The longest of those drives was the first, which went all of 3:30. The flipside of that was that they went just 4/10 on 3rd down and 1/2 on 4th down. Even with all those monster-shots over the top, they still averaged a paltry 8.9 yards/pass despite completing a very respectable 63% of their passes.

Bottom line, if the Roadrunners couldn’t get free in space, they got smoked. That’s amazing given that they ran for 121 yards on 5.5 yards/carry. However, almost all of that came in the first half on a handful of 10- to 12-yard breakaway runs. Everything about their offense went boom-or-bust.

Dominant in time of possession. pic.twitter.com/rzgJj1AM5r

— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) September 16, 2023

Sometimes Statistics Tell the Truth

Army dominated on offense. The offensive line, retooled since the ULM game, pushed a much bigger, presumably stronger UTSA front off the ball repeatedly. Army ball carriers blasted through holes between the tackles and got outside for consistent gains. In contrast to UTSA, Army running backs didn’t hit big gainers. They ground it out, slowly churning out yardage. The Black Knights went just 8/20 on 3rd down, but they went an outstanding 6/6 on 4th down, meaning that they converted 14/20 first down opportunities. Of the 6 missed conversions, 3 became field goals and 1 came at the end of the game in Victory Formation. The Black Knights punted just twice.

They also never turned the ball over, nor were they penalized, nor did they allow a sack to one of the best pass rushing teams in all of college football.

Disciplined football. pic.twitter.com/rmYHxzKHtm

— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) September 16, 2023

Final stats: *65* carries for 254 yards (3.9 yards/carry) against a team that had previously given up just 66 rushing yards/game and less than 2 yards/carry. Army held the ball for more than 44 minutes, which became a self-reinforcing cycle as the game wore on and led to a ton of UTSA defensive injuries. This included LB Trey Moore, UTSA’s best defensive player by far. As Roadrunners went down, it became harder and harder to stop Army’s attack, even with all of their defensive depth and their consistency rotating players along the D-Line. In the end, the Army juggernaut flat ran them over.

Army QB Bryson Daily looks like the real deal. He missed his first 5 passes but then settled, going 7/12 through the air starting in the 2nd quarter for 133 yards and a touchdown. He also carried 24 times for 100 yards (4.2 yards/carry) and a touchdown. 

Even more than that, he ran the offense like he was born to it. He made the right reads — giving, keeping, throwing, or pitching as the situation demanded — to keep UTSA’s vaunted defense back on its heels. RB Hayden Reed led all rushers with 20 carries for 107 yards (5.4 yards/carry) and a touchdown. Former FB Jakobi Buchanan looked the best he’s looked in the new offense, finishing with 3 carries for 30 yards (3.8 yards/carry) and a touchdown. Army receivers caught 8 balls for 188 yards and a touchdown, including one off of a halfback double-pass from RB Markel Johnson that went for 55 yards.

Amazing efforts all the way around. It’s so much more fun when everything works. 

Shoutout to 6’3”, 272 lbs. TE David Crossan, whose goal line blocking got highlighted on the broadcast. The Black Knights ran behind Crossan consistently, and he mauled dudes all night long.

Victory morning MOOD! pic.twitter.com/3PYenQI3B7

— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) September 16, 2023

Looking Forward

Once again, it doesn’t get any easier from here. The Black Knights are headed to the Carrier Dome next week to take on the Syracuse Orange. Army has an extra day to prepare, and it looks like they might need it. 

The ‘Cuse can do everything the Roadrunners did but even moreso. This is a team that’s putting up a whopping 586.5 yards/game of total offense while allowing just 212 yards of offense and 75.5 yards rushing. Holy cow! Granted, that’s come against FCS Colgate and Western Michigan, but still… 

Those are incredible numbers.

Preview Saturday's NBC Primetime matchup vs. Purdue:https://t.co/Bwe3Zjk4So

— Syracuse Football (@CuseFootball) September 15, 2023

We ought to get a better sense of who this Syracuse team can really be this evening when they take on Purdue. That game starts tonight at 7:30 on NBC.

We’ve got a solid afternoon of college football, my friends. Let’s all relax and enjoy it.

Go Army! Beat Syracuse!!!

Cover image via @ArmyWP_Football.

Sorry for the low resolution cover shot. With the night game, none of our usual sources have gone through their photos as of this writing, and the cadet who promised us pictures — you know who you are — hasn’t come through yet.