Friends, we have not been giving the Army Defense as much fanfare as they deserve. Army’s defense has been terrific this year, and now that the Black Knights have played a primetime game on ESPN, seemingly everyone in America has noticed.
What’s Changed?
Last year, Army’s defense spent an average of 62 plays/game on the field. As you might expect, this presented a serious challenge.
That would challenge any defense.
In general, you want to keep your defense’s total number of plays between 45 and 50, with fewer plays being better for obvious reasons. Fewer plays means a fresher defense plus fewer chances for the opposition to score.
This year, the Army defense has averaged 54 plays/game. With that, the defense has played very well. Granted, Army Head Coach Jeff Monken would like to force shutouts whenever possible, but if we haven’t quite seen that, we also haven’t seen opponents scoring much, either. Army currently has the nation’s 6th ranked scoring defense, allowing just 10.5 points/game. That’s ain’t bad.
When Army opponents have scored this season, it’s mostly come via long touchdowns against a cover zero blitz. Against Temple, we saw this result in a busted coverage play. Other times, we’ve just seen opponents make good plays down the field. We haven’t seen a lot of them, but when opponents score, this tends to be how.
Meanwhile, Army’s defense has been truly excellent at keeping opponents out of the end zone once they reach the Red Zone. Indeed, opposing teams have scored on just 50% of their total Red Zone trips — 4 scores on 8 attempts — whereas last year opponents scored on 24 of 26 attempts. Army is either picking off passes or blocking field goals on fully half of their opponents’ Red Zone possessions!
Last year, Army ended the season ranked 53rd in total defense. That’s not bad by any means. It’s a little better than the middle of the pack for FBS college football. This year, though, the Army defense ranks 12th in the FBS. They’ve given up just 1,033 yards of total offense all season on just 4.8 yards/play. They’re allowing a mere 258.2 total yards/game. Moreover, while Army’s defense has been good against the pass for the past several years, this year they’ve improved dramatically against the run. In 2024, this defense has allowed just 62.5 rushing yards/game on 2.9 yards/carry. That’s good for 5th overall on a yards/game basis and 22nd on a yards/carry basis. By comparison, though Army’s Red Zone defense was very good last year, their rushing defense gave up a whopping 176.2 rushing yards/game on nearly 5 yards/carry.
Shutting down opponents’ running games has made them one-dimensional, shortening their drives overall while leaving opposing quarterbacks vulnerable to pressure in the pocket. This plays directly into Army’s strengths and has in turn created quite a few mistakes down the field. With that, Army’s secondary has fully 6 interceptions in just four games, putting them in a tie for 18th overall in the FBS.
Defensive Line
This season, the Defensive Line has shown significant improvement with a noticeable increase in pre-snap movement and stunts during plays. The Temple game offers a prime example. The front seven’s activity produced an overwhelming *7* total sacks. By the end of the game, Temple QB Evan Simon, who is a good player overall, looked like he was seeing ghosts.
Even better, Army’s defensive strategy has adapted to the types of quarterback the Black Knights have faced. We’ve seen an aggressive front seven when the quarterback drops back, but against more mobile quarterbacks, we’ve seen a disciplined rush that carefully maintains its lanes. This has created opportunities all over the field.
Yearling NT Kody Harris-Miller has been a revelation for the Black Knights this season. He has 8 tackles, 5 solo, but more than that, he is setting the conditions for the rest of the defense to be successful. With that, Firstie DL Kyle Lewis has put up 10 tackles, 7 solo, plus a sack.
Linebackers
This season, the Army Linebacking Corps has shown a balanced and collective effort. There isn’t one standout linebacker but rather a talented team of contributors. LBs Andon Thomas and Kalib Fortner lead the team in tackles, but LB Brett Gerina also has a significant number of tackles. This is a positive sign for the team’s performance as the season progresses.
Secondary
Lastly, though the coaching staff has seemingly downplayed Army’s secondary play through these first four games, the unit has been outstanding overall. S Max DiDomenico leads this group with 13 tackles, including 10 solo, plus an interception. However, arguably the more impressive stats come from Army’s corners. Yearling CB Donovan Platt has one interception. Fellow yearling CB Jaydan Mayes has two. Both guys also have 6 tackles, 4 solo. CB Justin Weaver adds 8 tackles, 7 solo. All of this from a group that was, as a matter of reality, Army’s biggest question mark coming into the season.
As we said in the opening, though, now the secret is out. Army fans, it’s time to get excited about the play on both sides of the ball this year. Sure, the offense is fun to watch, but this defense has more than done its part as well.
Go Army! Beat Tulsa!!!
Cover image via Facebook: Army West Point Football.
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