The Army Black Knights face one of the SEC’s finest as they seek to end a three-game losing streak.
Written By: Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
WEST POINT-There’s hardly a perfect time on the college football calendar to face a ranked
SEC team. But even the calendar’s working against the Army Black Knights this fall.
Army (2-4) is working through another trying fall, having dropped each of their last three games.
Dropping consecutive contests to ACC competition is perhaps understandable but last
Saturday’s loss proved historic: a 19-0 loss to Troy in West Point marked the first time the home
slot on Michie Stadium’s scoreboard remained blank in over two decades.
The Black Knights have proven capable of recovering from shaky starts: just last year they
flipped a 1-4 start into a final posting capped off by a double overtime victory over Navy. But that
5-2 finish flew past Baton Rouge, the Knights’ upcoming Saturday destination as they face 19th-
ranked Louisiana State University (7:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network).
Fresh off a 48-18 shellacking of Auburn, the Tigers (5-2, 4-1 SEC) host Army in their final game
before a crucial showdown with No. 11 Alabama. The winner of that showdown in Tuscaloosa
will likely become the favorite to represent the SEC West at the annual conference title game in
Atlanta (unless Mississippi, 55-49 victors over the Tigers two weeks ago, leaps back into the
race). Under the direction of head coach Brian Kelly, LSU is looking for consecutive conference
championship game appearances for the first time since the contest’s inception in 1992.
“I think if you think about who were the true blue blood football teams in college football, they’re
one of them,” Army head coach Jeff Monken said of the LSU program. “People do the research
and all that stuff all the time and they say ‘who are the teams that really have a chance to win a
national championship?’ There’s about 10 of them out of 133 schools. LSU is wonderful. So it’d
be a great challenge for us, a great opportunity. I’m excited for players to have this opportunity.”
“But it’s going to take a monumental effort for us to even have a chance to be in the game. So
hopefully we’ll make some improvements, make the improvements we need to this week to give
ourselves a chance.”
Perhaps surprisingly, it hasn’t been that long since Army got the best of an SEC team: the Black
Knights’ most recent postseason victory came in a comeback effort against Missouri at the 2021
Armed Forces Bowl. Saturday will mark their first regular season showing against an SEC group
since a 2011 loss to Vanderbilt.
For the Tigers, Saturday will be their last tune-up before making the trip to Alabama and a
chance to perhaps pad some Heisman Trophy cases. Quarterback Jayden Daniels is perhaps
the favorite on the bayou, as the Arizona State transfer is responsible for 2,809 yards of offense
and 26 total scores over the first seven weeks. The job gets no easier with running back Logan
WEST POINT-There’s hardly a perfect time on the college football calendar to face a ranked
SEC team. But even the calendar’s working against the Army Black Knights this fall.
Army (2-4) is working through another trying fall, having dropped each of their last three games.
Dropping consecutive contests to ACC competition is perhaps understandable but last
Saturday’s loss proved historic: a 19-0 loss to Troy in West Point marked the first time the home
slot on Michie Stadium’s scoreboard remained blank in over two decades.
The Black Knights have proven capable of recovering from shaky starts: just last year they
flipped a 1-4 start into a final posting capped off by a double overtime victory over Navy. But that
5-2 finish flew past Baton Rouge, the Knights’ upcoming Saturday destination as they face 19th-
ranked Louisiana State University (7:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network).
Fresh off a 48-18 shellacking of Auburn, the Tigers (5-2, 4-1 SEC) host Army in their final game
before a crucial showdown with No. 11 Alabama. The winner of that showdown in Tuscaloosa
will likely become the favorite to represent the SEC West at the annual conference title game in
Atlanta (unless Mississippi, 55-49 victors over the Tigers two weeks ago, leaps back into the
race). Under the direction of head coach Brian Kelly, LSU is looking for consecutive conference
championship game appearances for the first time since the contest’s inception in 1992.
“I think if you think about who were the true blue blood football teams in college football, they’re
one of them,” Army head coach Jeff Monken said of the LSU program. “People do the research
and all that stuff all the time and they say ‘who are the teams that really have a chance to win a
national championship?’ There’s about 10 of them out of 133 schools. LSU is wonderful. So it’d
be a great challenge for us, a great opportunity. I’m excited for players to have this opportunity.”
“But it’s going to take a monumental effort for us to even have a chance to be in the game. So
hopefully we’ll make some improvements, make the improvements we need to this week to give
ourselves a chance.”
Perhaps surprisingly, it hasn’t been that long since Army got the best of an SEC team: the Black
Knights’ most recent postseason victory came in a comeback effort against Missouri at the 2021
Armed Forces Bowl. Saturday will mark their first regular season showing against an SEC group
since a 2011 loss to Vanderbilt.
For the Tigers, Saturday will be their last tune-up before making the trip to Alabama and a
chance to perhaps pad some Heisman Trophy cases. Quarterback Jayden Daniels is perhaps
the favorite on the bayou, as the Arizona State transfer is responsible for 2,809 yards of offense
and 26 total scores over the first seven weeks. The job gets no easier with running back Logan
WEST POINT-There’s hardly a perfect time on the college football calendar to face a ranked
SEC team. But even the calendar’s working against the Army Black Knights this fall.
Army (2-4) is working through another trying fall, having dropped each of their last three games.
Dropping consecutive contests to ACC competition is perhaps understandable but last
Saturday’s loss proved historic: a 19-0 loss to Troy in West Point marked the first time the home
slot on Michie Stadium’s scoreboard remained blank in over two decades.
The Black Knights have proven capable of recovering from shaky starts: just last year they
flipped a 1-4 start into a final posting capped off by a double overtime victory over Navy. But that
5-2 finish flew past Baton Rouge, the Knights’ upcoming Saturday destination as they face 19th-
ranked Louisiana State University (7:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network).
Fresh off a 48-18 shellacking of Auburn, the Tigers (5-2, 4-1 SEC) host Army in their final game
before a crucial showdown with No. 11 Alabama. The winner of that showdown in Tuscaloosa
will likely become the favorite to represent the SEC West at the annual conference title game in
Atlanta (unless Mississippi, 55-49 victors over the Tigers two weeks ago, leaps back into the
race). Under the direction of head coach Brian Kelly, LSU is looking for consecutive conference
championship game appearances for the first time since the contest’s inception in 1992.
“I think if you think about who were the true blue blood football teams in college football, they’re
one of them,” Army head coach Jeff Monken said of the LSU program. “People do the research
and all that stuff all the time and they say ‘who are the teams that really have a chance to win a
national championship?’ There’s about 10 of them out of 133 schools. LSU is wonderful. So it’d
be a great challenge for us, a great opportunity. I’m excited for players to have this opportunity.”
“But it’s going to take a monumental effort for us to even have a chance to be in the game. So
hopefully we’ll make some improvements, make the improvements we need to this week to give
ourselves a chance.”
Perhaps surprisingly, it hasn’t been that long since Army got the best of an SEC team: the Black
Knights’ most recent postseason victory came in a comeback effort against Missouri at the 2021
Armed Forces Bowl. Saturday will mark their first regular season showing against an SEC group
since a 2011 loss to Vanderbilt.
For the Tigers, Saturday will be their last tune-up before making the trip to Alabama and a
chance to perhaps pad some Heisman Trophy cases. Quarterback Jayden Daniels is perhaps
the favorite on the bayou, as the Arizona State transfer is responsible for 2,809 yards of offense
and 26 total scores over the first seven weeks. The job gets no easier with running back Logan
WEST POINT-There’s hardly a perfect time on the college football calendar to face a ranked
SEC team. But even the calendar’s working against the Army Black Knights this fall.
Army (2-4) is working through another trying fall, having dropped each of their last three games.
Dropping consecutive contests to ACC competition is perhaps understandable but last
Saturday’s loss proved historic: a 19-0 loss to Troy in West Point marked the first time the home
slot on Michie Stadium’s scoreboard remained blank in over two decades.
The Black Knights have proven capable of recovering from shaky starts: just last year they
flipped a 1-4 start into a final posting capped off by a double overtime victory over Navy. But that
5-2 finish flew past Baton Rouge, the Knights’ upcoming Saturday destination as they face 19th-
ranked Louisiana State University (7:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network).
Fresh off a 48-18 shellacking of Auburn, the Tigers (5-2, 4-1 SEC) host Army in their final game
before a crucial showdown with No. 11 Alabama. The winner of that showdown in Tuscaloosa
will likely become the favorite to represent the SEC West at the annual conference title game in
Atlanta (unless Mississippi, 55-49 victors over the Tigers two weeks ago, leaps back into the
race). Under the direction of head coach Brian Kelly, LSU is looking for consecutive conference
championship game appearances for the first time since the contest’s inception in 1992.
“I think if you think about who were the true blue blood football teams in college football, they’re
one of them,” Army head coach Jeff Monken said of the LSU program. “People do the research
and all that stuff all the time and they say ‘who are the teams that really have a chance to win a
national championship?’ There’s about 10 of them out of 133 schools. LSU is wonderful. So it’d
be a great challenge for us, a great opportunity. I’m excited for players to have this opportunity.”
“But it’s going to take a monumental effort for us to even have a chance to be in the game. So
hopefully we’ll make some improvements, make the improvements we need to this week to give
ourselves a chance.”
Perhaps surprisingly, it hasn’t been that long since Army got the best of an SEC team: the Black
Knights’ most recent postseason victory came in a comeback effort against Missouri at the 2021
Armed Forces Bowl. Saturday will mark their first regular season showing against an SEC group
since a 2011 loss to Vanderbilt.
For the Tigers, Saturday will be their last tune-up before making the trip to Alabama and a
chance to perhaps pad some Heisman Trophy cases. Quarterback Jayden Daniels is perhaps
the favorite on the bayou, as the Arizona State transfer is responsible for 2,809 yards of offense
and 26 total scores over the first seven weeks. The job gets no easier with running back Logan
Diggs (585 yards, third-best in the SEC) behind him and two of the top five conference receivers
(Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr.) among Daniels’ aerial options.
“We have to keep making steps forward, keep playing our ball. I think we made steps forward
today,” Army’s leading tackler, Kalib Fortner, said of a performance that allowed just one Trojan
touchdown. “But that stretch doesn’t get any easier. So, we’re just going to keep playing, playing
our ball, and play with a lifeline mentality and we’re going to get better.”
Monken is enthused about the LSU trip thanks in part to one of the closest things to a silver
lining plucked from the offensive no-show against the Trojans: no matter how dire and dreary
things got on Saturday, he was pleased to see their effort and heart never dwindled, fighting to
the very last play of the game (an interception that sealed the Black Knights’ fate). That effort
was best personified by the defense, which let up only 149 yards in the second half after
yielding 300 on 29 plays over the first half-hour.
“Our guys never quit, I have not seen our guys quit. I didn’t see a look of despair in their eyes, I
didn’t see any guys that had cashed it in,” Monken said. “They tried to make some plays, guys
kept playing. I don’t know if that’s a silver lining, that’s just an expectation, hopefully, part of our
culture and who we are as a football program, that we’re going to keep fighting.”
“Our players are disappointed. I promise you that they’re not laughing and joking about it. It
hurts when they lose, they invest a lot into the program, they put a lot into it, we all do. So
hopefully, we rebound and are able to get better.”
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