In the span of a week, Army went from the low of lows to a Rocky Mountain High.
On a warm, sunny Saturday afternoon at the old Mile High Stadium, the Black Knights posted as significant a victory as they have in the last half-century.
Army scored on its first three possessions and stunned a partisan Air Force crowd of over 52,000 by seizing a 17-0 lead over the first 13 minutes. The rest of the game played out much like service academy games have in recent years, two teams slugging it out as Army held on for a 23-3 victory over a Falcons team that was 8-0 and ranked No. 17 by the Associated Press and No. 25 by the College Football Playoff committee.
This is Army’s first win over an AP-ranked team in 53 tries since 1972 when the cadets beat Air Force. It’s only the second time Air Force has failed to score a touchdown in the last 20 years; the other was the 2017 game at West Point won by Army 21-0. It was also the first time an Army team beaten a Top-25 team by at least 20 points since the 45-8 win over No. 18 South Carolina in September 1958.
The postseason is out of the question for Army (3-6) but now all it has to do is beat Navy on December 9 in Foxborough, Mass., and the coveted Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy returns to West Point for the first time since 2020. Army coach Jeff Monken said all games are important but none more so than the C-I-C contests.
It was a turn of fates for the Black Knights, who owned the nation’s worst turnover margin (-11) over the past five games, all losses. In this clash, Army recovered four fumbles and Bo Nicolas-Paul had two interceptions – Air Force had entered the game with only five turnovers.
Army’s offense, which had been woeful for three weeks, played brilliantly in the opening quarter. “It was our best week of preparation,’’ said senior co-captain Connor Finucane. Junior Bryson Daily returned as the starting quarterback, though his numbers resembled more like a working man’s runner: career highs of 36 carries and 170 yards.
“It was a great day,’’ Daily beamed. “The offensive line did a hell of a job blocking, running in big holes. It made my job easier.’’
Daily’s big run was a 62-yard scamper on the fourth snap of the game, outracing two secondary defenders.
“We just felt like adding an extra blocker – those guys out of the backfield – and let Bryson carry it,’’ Monken said. “it’s just one more (blocker) to account for the (defensive) guys that they have. Fortunately, it worked out a good bit of the time.’’
Air Force’s vaunted rushing offense, at 300 yards per game, was held to just 155.
“I don’t think we changed anything, really,’’ said Army linebacker Leo Lowin. “I think we were keyed into … what they were trying to do, and we just kind of got after them. The whole purpose was making a simple game plan and play as hard as you can and that’s what we did.’’
The Falcons were stopped on a fourth-down-and-1 at their own 33 on their opening drive. The failed gamble resulted in a 45-yard field goal by Quinn Maretzki 83 seconds later for a 10-0 lead.
Air Force quarterback Zac Larrier had a forgettable game: he completed only nine of 22 throws for 93 yards and he was held to 45 net yards on 20 carries.
On the first drive Larrier had the ball slip out of his hand as he cocked for a throw and Nicolas-Paul swept in for the fumble recovery. Army followed with a typical drive by an option-based team, rolling 43 yards on 11 plays and Daily going off the right side from 5 yards for the stunning 17-0 lead with 1:53 left in the opening stanza.
Maretzki added a 40-yard field goal less than two minutes into the second quarter and a 38-yard field goal on the final play of the first half – a Nicolas-Paul interception at midfield with 19 seconds left set up the latter.
Army was coming off setbacks to Syracuse (29-16), Boston College (27-24), Troy (19-0), LSU (62-0) and last weekend to previously 1-7 UMass (21-14).
Daily seemed bothered that Army was listed as a 17.5-point underdog.
“You try not to look at outside stuff but you see that,’’ he said. “We’ve had moments where we were a good offense when we were playing well and we just weren’t able to do that consistently. So coming out today and proving how good our offense can be, it was huge.’’
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Army hosts Holy Cross (6-3) from the Football Championship Series on Nov. 11 and Coastal Carolina (6-3) on Nov. 18. Navy is 3-5 following a 32-18 loss at Temple on Saturday.
X / Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR