Army has a big game this week at Michie Stadium against the struggling UAB Blazers. The Black Knights are expected to win BIG. But that makes this game tougher in a sense because if anything goes wrong, we’re liable to hear nonstop complaints from fans after the fact.
That’s terrible. Wins in college football are never easy to earn.
But this *is* a big game. Army currently sits in a three-way tie for first place atop the American Athletic Conference. They need to win to keep pace with their top level foes in the conference, and they need to win BIG because point differentials count as part of the conference tie-breaking scheme. On top of that, the Black Knights are running neck-and-neck with the Squids in what looks to be a year-long race for national attention and reputation heading into the Army-Navy Game. Finally, the team becomes bowl-eligible with a win this weekend. This season’s stated goal was to get back to a bowl game and win it. Thus, this game has become the most important contest of the season to date.
Let’s talk about how Army wins this weekend.
Taking advantage of our opportunity. 5-0 ✅
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) October 8, 2024
Game 5 Victory Reel 🎥 pic.twitter.com/GmG9alwLoa
AFF’s Top Three Keys to Victory
Take What’s There
As we’ve seen over the past few weeks but most emphatically last weekend at Tulsa, this year’s Black Knights team has become adept at taking whatever the defense gives them. Tulsa started the game by stacking the box, and Army responded by throwing a few long passes, including an early touchdown pass. In the second half, the Golden Hurricane played a more traditional defense, and the Black Knights ran all over them.
This is what we want to see.
This year’s triple-option offense has been great about forcing opponents to defend the full length and breadth of the field. Not too many teams can actually do that effectively, yielding more big plays than we’ve ever seen from this team in a good, long time.
UAB hasn’t been great against the run this season, so we expect to see the Black Knights mostly keep it on the ground. However, we expect them to stack the box to start the game. Wherever that leaves a weakness, we’ll need the offense to exploit that weakness.
James gets Army Head Coach Jeff Monken talking about how this happens starting at the 8-minute mark in the following video:
Force Turnovers
As we discussed in this week’s preview article, UAB has been one of the worst teams in college football in terms of turnover margin. They’ve thrown plenty of interceptions, and they’ve fumbled several times, but they’ve not forced many turnovers themselves. With that, they currently sit -9 on the season on turnovers. Meanwhile, Army’s defense has become a ball-hawking unit, especially down in the red zone. They’re excellent down there largely because they create so many turnovers when the field compresses.
That needs to continue this week. Army wins by controlling the ball and forcing turnovers. That’s not new, but it is what we’ll need to see on Saturday to get this season’s sixth win.
Stay Focused
The fact that folks expect the Black Knights to win by almost four touchdowns creates arguably the toughest aspect of this weekend’s game. The team to this point in the season has been both focused and well-disciplined, but as we approach the midway point, the noise around this team has gotten pretty damned loud. Army needs to block that out, stay dialed in, and play their game.
I’m telling you, it’s damned difficult to play your best when folks can’t stop telling you how great you are.
This is a game that Army should win. We all see that. Even the team, for as much as they’ll want to ignore the hype, cannot help but see it. Despite that, anything can happen on a college football Saturday. This could be a close game. Hell, UAB could even win it if the Black Knights come out unfocused and fumble the ball or throw interceptions.
Army has a lot at stake this week. That is very real. They therefore need to play their very best football. With that, they can both protect Michie Stadium and everything they’ve earned to this point in the year.
Final thoughts
We should have excellent weather this weekend and — God willing — a good-looking performance from the team. Speaking personally, this author is super-excited. Here’s hoping we see something great.
Enjoy the game, everyone. We’ll see you out there.
Our Call of the Game presented by @USAA is from Kanye Udoh's 63 yard TD at Tulsa last week in our 49-7 victory. pic.twitter.com/QWgAfaX2pi
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) October 10, 2024
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