Army has certainly enjoyed its inaugural season in the AAC. The Black Knights are 4-0 and just routed Temple 42-14 before an ESPN Thursday night audience.
The big question is whether Army can challenge for an American Athletic Conference title.
Last week, I posed the possibility of Army and Navy meeting in the AAC title game and then playing each other the following week in their traditional Army-Navy matchup.
Keep in mind that the Army-Navy game doesn’t count as a conference contest in the AAC because it is played after the league championship.
Army and Navy are both 4-0 for the first time since 1945.
Both Missouri and Army have won eight consecutive games, the longest current streak among FBS teams.
Reasons To Believe In Army
- The Black Knights haven’t wasted any time early on in games. Army is the only team in the FBS that has scored a touchdown on every first offensive drive of every game this season.
- To show that isn’t a fluke, Army has scored touchdowns on its first two possessions in each game.
- The Black Knights’ point differential of plus-103 is its most through four games since 1985.
- It’s not surprising that Army leads the nation in rushing offense. The Black Knights are averaging 371.2 yards per game and 6.5 yards per carry. How dominant has that been? The No. 2 team in the nation is UCF with an average of 326 rushing yards per game.
- Quarterback Bryson Daily has been impressive as a rusher and efficient as a passer. He has completed just 50% of his passes but is averaging 20 yards per completion and has thrown three touchdown passes and no interceptions. It’s running the ball where he has truly excelled with 492 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground.
- Not surprisingly, Daily is not the only major running threat for Army. Noah Short has 344 rushing yards for an eye-popping 13.8 average and two touchdowns. Kanye Udoh has gained 297 yards and four touchdowns.
- With Army getting off to quick leads, opponents haven’t been able to establish a running game. Army allows just 65 rushing yards per game and just 2.9 yards per carry.
- Army allows just 195 passing yards per game, and the Black Knights have more interceptions (six) than touchdown passes allowed (five).
- There is plenty of depth on defense. Nine players have recorded nine of more tackles, led by junior linebacker Andon Thomas, who has a team-high 22 tackles.
While there is a lot of parity in the AAC, Army doesn’t have to face Memphis or Tulane. And of course, the Navy game doesn’t count as a conference contest. That doesn’t mean there won’t be potential challenges, though.
Reason For Skepticism
The Black Knights haven’t exactly played the most difficult of schedules to date. They opened with a 42-7 win over FCS Lehigh. Their three AAC wins have come against three Owl teams – Florida Atlantic, Rice, and Temple. Those three have a combined record of 4-11.
To Army’s credit, it has beaten who is on the schedule, but the more challenging part of the slate comes in the second half. Among the key games are a non-league matchup against Notre Dame and interesting AAC contests against East Carolina and North Texas.
One other thing that must be monitored is Army’s pass rush. The Black Knights didn’t have a sack in their first three games before registering seven against Temple.
The big question: Can the Black Knights come back from a deficit?
It hasn’t happened yet this season. Army has not trailed at any point this year, though the Black Knights were tied 7-7 in the opener against Lehigh before scoring the final 35 points.
There appears to be great parity in the AAC. Army would appear to have as good of a chance as any team to earn one of the berths in the AAC title game. There are plenty of hurdles to clear, but Army has shown enough during the first third of its regular season schedule to think that the Black Knights could be in this race for the long haul.
