Friends, your Army Black Knights open their 2025 campaign with a critical home match-up against a very talented FCS team in the Tarleston State Texans.
Every game matters, of course, but Friday’s game will be one of just five home contests on the Black Knights’ 2025 schedule. We’ll see the team debut a new starting quarterback in firstie Dewayne Coleman; moreover, the Black Knights will start no less than five new players on both offense and defense. This year’s Army Team will need to settle in and play their best ball right from the first, both to get those new players sync’ed with their teammates but also because the Texans have already played a game this season in order to shake out their own roster. They won last week at Portland State, 42-0!
How do the Black Knights get a win tomorrow?
Let’s get into it.
Keys to Victory
We’ve got four Keys this week. Here’s what we think you should watch for when the Black Knights take the field.
1. Dominate the Line of Scrimmage.
Tarleton State has a fantastically talented team, especially at the skill positions. They have a lot of team speed. However, they’re not particularly big along either their offensive or defensive line. Army needs to exploit this advantage because they probably will not be able to win on pure team speed.
On offense, C Brady Smalls and RG Paolo Gennarelli became nationally known high performers last year. Both guys served as integral parts of Army’s Joe Moore Award winning offensive line. LG Will Jeffcoat has also played a lot of football for the Black Knights and has been getting rave reviews throughout this summer’s camp. So we should expect to see Army dominate in the middle, right at the point-of-attack for the Fullback Dive. If they can do that, then they can wear away at the Texans’ defense. We all know how that will turn out over the course of four full quarters.
On the other side, Army’s 3-4 defense typically does very well when they get dynamic play at the Nose. NTs Kody Harris-Miller and Jacob Tuioti got this done last year, and now both are back — as cows! Those guys, along with DEs Jack Latore and Deshontez Gray, will need to create chaos along the front, blowing up plays and allowing Army’s linebackers to attack downhill into the heart of the Texans’ read-option offensive attack.
If we’re being honest, the mismatch along both lines of scrimmage should be the decisive point of this week’s game.
2. Blow Up the Mesh Point.
Sacks are great, but they might not be the central focus this week. The Texans operate a run-first read-option scheme that they use to set up a deadly downfield passing attack. However, their quarterback rarely runs when he keeps. Instead, we should expect to see a slow-mesh run/pass option (RPO) attack. Thus, what we really want from the Black Knights this Friday is a disciplined, run-stuffing defense that forces T-State QB Victor Gabalis to get the ball out of his hands before the Texans’ downfield routes have time to develop.
Army needs to blow up the mesh point.
If Gabalis can sit back and read the defense, he and T-State’s running attack will carve Army’s defense up. However, if Black Knights can get into the backfield and force the issue, taking the decision out of Gabalis’s hands, that read-option attack will come apart in real-time.
3. Don’t Get Beat Deep.
Tarleton State won — big — this past Saturday by establishing the run and then hitting deep shots over the top. They took a lot of deep shots last week!
If the Black Knights can slow the Texans’ running game, then those deep shots will become T-State’s primary means of staying in this game. But deep shots can change a game in one play. That’s not what Army wants. Army wants to win this week one play at a time, over and over and over again.
Army has some experience in the secondary. They can afford to give up short passes so long as they make good tackles. However, they cannot afford to allow those over-the-top, game-changing plays. Those are the plays that might keep this game close on the scoreboard.
.@CoachDannyV mic'd up with the safeties this preseason 🎙️ pic.twitter.com/piT1NGIm80
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) August 24, 2025
4. Take What’s There.
Though a good chunk of their offense has some very real game experience, Army still has a new starting quarterback, new starting fullbacks, a new tight end, new wide receivers, and two new tackles. Most of those guys have seen lots of snaps, but this will be their first time as established starters.
We’d like to see the Black Knights spread the ball around, but as a matter of reality, Portland State had their greatest degree of success running Quarterback Power against the Texans defense. Will T-State spend the week trying to get that fixed, or will that become an issue for them all season?
We don’t know.
The triple-option is designed specifically to take whatever the defense gives up. We don’t know how the Texans defense will attack Army’s offense. We do know, however, that no defense can be everywhere. So whatever the defense gives up, that’s what Army’s offense needs to take. Whether that’s Coleman running QB Power, Triple-Option Pitch plays to SB Noah Short, or anything else in the playbook, Army needs to take advantage of whatever is there.
Pics from Army’s Black & Gold scrimmage last Friday night via Lynn Fern. The full gallery — along with much more! — is available on Patreon.
Finally Thoughts
This is a game that Army should win. It’s a game that they need to win. However, we should not expect that it will be an easy victory. T-State has a very good team, they’ve already played a game, and as a program, they’ve had this contest circled for months as part of their long-term audition to move up from the FCS to the FBS.
Our next award for the Black Knight Awards presented by USAA is the Men’s Athlete of the Year 👏
— ArmyWestPoint Sports (@GoArmyWestPoint) August 19, 2025
A huge congratulations to all our nominees and well done to our winner – Bryson Daily of @ArmyWP_Football!
Daily was named the American's Offensive Player of the Year after leading… pic.twitter.com/fpU0JDK0n2
We’re expecting excellent weather tomorrow night, and as noted, this will be one of just five home games this season. Get loud!
We’ll see you out there.
Go Army! Beat Tarleton State!!!
Cover image via Flickr: West Point – the U.S. Military Academy.
