In all of Army’s Conference USA years, the Black Knights racked up a total of just nine conference wins. The team now has a chance to match that seven-year total in just their first year in the American Athletic Conference.
Okay. It’s time for a little horn-tooting from the As For Football program. For years leading up to last fall’s announcement, I shouted at anyone who would listen that Army needed to do whatever it could to get into the American. Ideally, that would have been before the trio of teams in 2023 plus SMU this past year departed, leaving the existing members with large exit fees. But better late than never I guess.
But this, friends, is why everyone needs to follow As For Football. AFF listeners stayed in the know the whole time!
Everytime I mentioned conference membership, I was told that our Conference USA days put the program into a tailspin, and that this would surely happen again if Army departed from independence. We heard this again and again from non-AFF supporting fans. Now, in a conference made up almost entirely of former Conference USA members, Army has a chance to be a conference champion. They’re also arguably more relevant nationally than they have been at any point since 1958.
While many attribute the poor play in the Conference USA days to conference membership, it had far more to do with the offense. The two best finishes in conference standings back in those days came in the team’s first two years when the Black Knights still ran the triple-option. Granted, those weren’t great years, necessarily, but neither were the Ellerson years in independence.
Moreover, not every year is going to be great regardless of scheme. Let’s therefore remember that the hiring of Todd Berry and the installation of an offense that Army had no business running actually sent Army into a tailspin. In their final year in Conference USA, Army tried running a pro-style passing attack with an offensive line that weighed on average 284 pounds. That sounds stupid on its face, and it certainly didn’t work very well.
This year, Army reverted back to the tried and true flexbone, and behold! The team is rolling. Are there differences? Sure. But it’s still the team’s bread and butter! They have more FBS wins this year than they had in the last two years combined as an independent.
This has nothing to do with conference membership. It’s this team. They’re just a very good football team.
Tulane Green Wave
Tulane is in its third consecutive championship game, having beaten UCF in 2022 and lost last year to SMU. Notably, this will be their first time playing this game on the road.
This Friday night in New Orleans, it’ll be 45⁰. That’s cold enough for a light coat or perhaps a jacket. West Point’s forecast, however, calls for 24⁰ as of this writing with winds at a steady 9 mph and gusting to 25 mph. With the wind chill, the real-feel temperature drops to 13⁰.
So yeah. The Green Wave have drawn a very real road game this week.
Offense
Tulane seems like a pretty balanced offense as they gain about half their yards in the air and about half on the ground. In order to achieve that, however, they run about more than twice as many running plays as they do passing plays. They’re one of just three teams in the conference — the others being Army and Navy — with at least 500 rushes on the season. They average fully 5.0 yards/carry.
RB Makhi Hughes is this team’s primary rushing threat. He accounts for nearly half of the carries and more than half of the yardage. How? Lots of chunk plays.
QB Darien Mensah is just a freshman, but he’s running the offense as if he has much more experience. He’s the only quarterback in the AAC completing at least 65% of his passes. He is not afraid to throw the deep ball. Mensah averages more than 3 completions/game of greater than 20 yards.
Army will have to prevent big plays. The cold weather and wind gusts should aid the secondary with those long throws. The weather might even create some turnover opportunities if throws drop off at the end. Beyond that, the Black Knight’s defensive front needs to keep Hughes at bay. They did that last week against UTSA’s primary back, allowing him just 3.8 yards/carry. Army’s linebackers will have the hardest job of the day. They’ll have to play chicken between defending medium crossing routes and plugging holes in the trench. DC Nate Woody has undoubtedly queued up a lot of film for his guys this week.
Defense
The Green Wave defense comes in at 67th in yards/carry allowed. UTSA, Notre Dame, ECU, and Rice have all outperformed that number. But that didn’t stop Tulane from blanking Navy in Annapolis. Granted, Navy’s starting quarterback, QB Blake Horvath, got hurt on the third drive of the game, and it drowned the offense. Even so, it’s shocking to see Navy muster just 100 yards on 35 rushing attempts.
Tulane has a pair of mustachioed linebackers, and they lead the team in tackles — LBs Tyler Grubbs and Sam Howard. If Army tries to brute-force its offense this week, those two guys will pose the biggest threat.
Last weekend, I did something I rarely do. I begged Army to pass towards the end of a game in which they were leading. UTSA ran the first half-Tulsa defense all game long. They never respected the pass, not even once. That resulted in an impressive 10/17 performance for 190 yards and a touchdown from Army QB Bryson Daily. But in the final four drives of the game, Army only threw when they got behind schedule.
The Black Knights will need to be less predictable against this talented Tulane defense. To give OC Cody Worley credit, he did this very well earlier in the game. Still, the Roadrunners’ secondary never backed up, and Army struggled to move the football consistently on the ground because of it.
𝟑. 𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐒. 𝐎𝐔𝐓. 🏆#AmericanWay x #AmericanFB pic.twitter.com/udu60VU90W
— The American (@American_Conf) December 3, 2024
Special Teams
Aussie P Will Karoll has averaged 43.2 yards/kick this year, 3.5 more per punt than Army. So the Black Knights will have to be careful about field position.
However, place kicking has been a sore spot for the Green Wave. They haven’t allowed any blocks, but the trio of kickers they’ve used haven’t been consistent. Combine that with freezing cold temps, and we could see a special teams liability from Tulane.
Final Thoughts
Tulane has the second best team on Army’s schedule this year. The line sits at Green Wave (-6) with the total set at 46.5 as of this writing. Army fans should hope for the under in a slugfest. That’s how the Black Knights pull this one out.
Tulane is good at stringing together 20+ yard plays, so Army will have to do enough to force punts and field goal attempts, while taking significant time off the clock when they have the ball themselves.
This week’s bonus home game kicks off at 8 PM Eastern on ABC. It’s the first time since 1972 that Army will play a home game on a broadcast channel that isn’t a CiC game. Despite the weather, there aren’t many tickets left available, too, so expect the stands to be plenty crowded. This will be a huge game with a big-game atmosphere.
Don’t miss it!
Go Army! BEAT Tulane!!!
Cover image via ArmyWP_Football.
Leave a Reply
Your email is safe with us.