Army football ranked in first College Football Playoff poll of 2024
Jeff Monken says the lords of college football have hired people to make the best decisions for determining the field for the initial 12-team College Football Playoff. His Army team is widely considered the current second favorite, behind Boise State (7-1) of the Mountain West, to secure what is expected to be the only school selected from the Group of Five conferences.
“They’ve asked a group of people to make decisions about what happens in the future,’’ Monken said at his Tuesday press conference. “That’s their job, not mine. I’ll let that be what it is.’’
But Monken paused for a moment, and decided to offer an opinion.
“I'm proud of our team," Monken said. “We're 8-0. We've won every game we played this year, so you know I'm proud of our team. We can't be better from a record standpoint than we are and that's all that matters.’’
The initial CFP playoff rankings were announced Tuesday night and Army made history by making the list but at No. 25 – that would make it a tall order to make the national playoffs.
The only way Army, ranked No. 18 in the latest AP poll and No. 19 by the coaches, stays in the conversation is by continuing to win. The Black Knights are a 5 ½ point favorite at North Texas (5-3) on Saturday.
“Hopefully we can get the next one,’’ Monken said. “It'll be as hard to win this game as it's been to win any game since we've been here.’’
“We’ve got a lot of football left to play,’’ he added.
Oregon, Ohio State, Georgia and Miami drew the top four spots in the CFP rankings, as broadcast by ESPN. Texas Penn State, Tennessee, Indiana, Brigham Young, Notre Dame, Alabama and Boise State take the next eight spots to complete the projected bracket.
Looking in from the outside are SMU, Texas A&M, LSU, Ole Miss, Iowa State, Pitt, Kansas State, Colorado, Washington State, Louisville, Clemson, Missouri and Army. Oregon, Mia I, Indiana, BYU and Army are the only unbeaten teams.
Even at 9-0, Army would likely be considered the underdog when it faces No. 10 Notre Dame (7-1 with a six-game win streak) at Yankee Stadium on Nov. 23 – the Irish play at No. 23 Pitt and host struggling Florida State and Virginia before then. Yes, the Fighting Irish will likely never live down its 16-14 home loss to Northern Illinois on Sept. 7 but Notre Dame has been dominant in just about every game since then.
A loss to Notre Dame would likely derail Army’s CFP hopes but a win over the Irish would spark a lot of interest. Army will finish the season with a home game against Texas San Antonio, a possible home game for the American Athletic Conference title game on Dec. 6 and the Dec. 14 Army-Navy non-league game in Maryland.
Boise hosts Nevada (3-7), plays at San Jose State (5-3) and Wyoming (2-7) and hosts Oregon State (4-4) on Black Friday – not exactly a Murderer’s Row – so it’s unlikely the Broncos are going to get unseated from the top Group of Five spot, unless Army goes unbeaten.
X / Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Army football No. 25 in initial CFP poll
