Army football pulls within one win of bowl eligibility with dominant win at Tulsa
October has barely gotten underway, and Army football is one win away from bowl eligibility, a feat missed the past two seasons.
The Black Knights overcame a slow start and rolled off six consecutive touchdowns to pull away from Tulsa 49-7 in an American Athletic Conference game in steamy Oklahoma.
Army is 5-0 for the first time since 1996, extending the nation’s longest win streak to nine games, dating back to October 2023. The Black Knights are also the AAC leaders at 4-0.
Tulsa did a good job bottling up Army’s potent rushing attack in the early going.
“We were in a little bit of a dog fight there,’’ Army head coach Jeff Monken said. “That's kind of the first time this year we've really felt that.’’
So, the Black Knights took to the air, and Bryson Daily was successful on all five of his passing attempts, softening up the defensive coverage. Two of those completions were scores to Noah Short, for 37 yards in the first quarter and a wide-open catch and sprint of 58 yards late in the second (with help of a David Crossan block far downfield), for a 21-7 lead.
Receiving the second-half kickoff, Army needed only three plays to establish game-crushing momentum with Kanye Udoh racing 61 yards around the right end for a score. On the next series, he repeated the run, going 63 yards for a 35-7 lead.
“I thought we had some adversity in the first half that we overcame,’’ Monken said. “I don't think we played particularly well overall as a team in the first half; then we certainly played better in the second half. I'm proud of our guys. I'm glad that we got the victory, and I'm glad to know there's some things we can improve on and get better at, and we're going to try to do that before we play next week.’’
With the Golden Hurricane forced to respect Army spreading the field, the nation’s No. 1 rushing attack took over. Army rushed 49 times for 321 yards, and the 481 total yards marked the first time the Black Knights have surpassed 400 offensive yards in five consecutive games under Monken, now in his 11th season.
“They were so intent on stopping the run, we didn’t have much choice,’’ Monken said. “I mean, we could have kept beating our head against the wall, but we had to gain yards, and the best thing that we could do was when they were really playing the run hard was trying to throw it over their head or catch them with one too many guys playing the run, and we did a couple of times.’’
For a team that has a long reputation for grinding out short-yardage runs, Army had nine plays go for 20 yards or better.
Daily did his part as well, busting off some long runs, 13 attempts going for 110 yards and two scores – that’s the fourth time this season he has multiple rushing scores. He put his head down to score on a 4-yard carry with 5:02 left in the second quarter, giving Army the only lead it would need at 14-7. In the third quarter, Daily faked an end-around and slipped through a hole up the middle for a 27-yard score, deftly stepping through an ankle tackle for his tenth rushing touchdown of the season. He has rushed for 602 yards.
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Tulsa showed promise in the early going, stuffing numerous Army runs for short yardage. The Golden Hurricane failed on four fourth-down conversions – understanding possessions would be at a premium in most Army games – and that included the opening drive, setting up Army with a short field and initial score.
Again, Tulsa gambled on fourth down on its next series, this time Kirk Francis finding Kamdyn Benjamin on a 16-yard gainer – it was Hurricane's only successful fourth-down try. Four plays later, Cooper Legas ran untouched from a yard out, going wide to his left and a 7-7 draw.
Francis and Legas practically alternated snaps, hoping to confuse the Army defenses. Cardell Williams came on late in the fourth quarter.
Army came into the game as one of only four teams in the nation to have not trailed at all this season, joining Tennessee (which lost that distinction against Arkansas on Saturday night), Indiana (which lost that distinction against Northwestern on Saturday) and Texas, and the Black Knights upheld that mark.
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After taking to the road three times already, Army will embark on a three-game homestand against Alabama Birmingham (Oct. 12), East Carolina (Oct. 19) and the traditional service academy series game against Air Force (Nov. 5).
“We’re capable of a lot of things, but we still have to get better,’’ Udoh said. “We have a lot that we need to fix, based off of this game and our previous games. So, we're going to get back to work next week and improve.’’
Note: Senior safety Tommy Zitiello was apparently injured on a second-quarter play, got to the sideline and then had to be placed on a stabilizing board and taken to hospital. Said Monken, “We don't have any definitive answer on what's going on with him. But he is alert and moving and all that stuff. So, we're very optimistic about his recovery.’’
X / Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Army football rolls past Tulsa on road, move to 5-0
