The Army Black Knights fell just short yesterday against a talented, highly successful Tulane team, and afterwards, both personal friends and fans online seemed pretty dejected. Speaking personally, I couldn’t see it. While there might not be such a thing as a moral victory, my own eyes told me that the team had played pretty well overall. They left ten points on the board in the first half on a pair of physical mistakes, and those cost them the game. They also gave up an insane touchdown late on a ball that a defensive back batted away — but just not quite hard enough. All of that sucks. However, Army didn’t beat themselves with the kinds of killer, self-inflicted errors that plagued this team throughout the early part of the season. They therefore gave themselves a chance to win in crunchtime. Unfortunately, they fell just short on a purely physical basis against a good team on the road.
Unfortunately, these things happen in sports.
Final Score: Tulane 24, Army 17.
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) October 18, 2025
I myself have always been able to live with losses when I felt like I put forth my best effort and successfully executed my gameplan. How could I not? There are shitloads of better athletes out there. This has never been news.
I felt like that after yesterday’s game, too. The team put forth their best effort and successfully executed their gameplan, and unfortunately, they still couldn’t — quite — get the win. What sucks about this particular loss is that it came in the wake of three more losses, two of which the team definitely did to itself through wholly preventable, self-inflicted mistakes. That put this team into a hole as they try to qualify for the postseason. Plus, the Black Knights could have won this game. So yeah, that part is frustrating.
Still. If you’re Army, you need to do three things to win football games. You need to run the ball, stop the run, and avoid turnovers. The Black Knights did all three yesterday. They ran for 233 yards on just under 4 yards/carry, dominating both the line of scrimmage with their O-Line and overall time-of-possession. They actually looked like a team whose O-Line competes for the Joe Moore Award. This put them in position to at least have a chance. They also held Tulane’s outstanding rushing attack in check through most of the day. QB Jake Retzlaff broke loose for one 37-yard touchdown run in the game’s third quarter, but outside of that one run, the Green Wave running game barely registered. Only Retzlaff himself went over 50 yards rushing, and the Green Wave failed on a crucial fourth-and-two in the red zone. Finally, Army forced Retzlaff’s first interception of the year without turning the ball over themselves.
All of this represents massive improvement from where this team was a month ago.
Kalib Fortner says 🚫 on 4th Down 🫡
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) October 18, 2025
Army takes over!
📺 ESPNU pic.twitter.com/QlloZOGuD3
We'll TAKE THAT!
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) October 18, 2025
Casey Larkin with end zone INT 🤩
📺 ESPNU pic.twitter.com/4FQHkVWEJx
Oh by the way, QB Cale Hellums also went 7/10 passing with one would-be touchdown pass dropped alongside two balls thrown away when the play just wasn’t there. Moreover, Hellums hit four different receivers yesterday.
If you want something to complain about, complain that this offense isn’t quite explosive enough. Though they looked better in the second half, the first half saw the team wholly unable to convert on third down. Sure, they went 4/4 on fourth downs, and this kept the chains moving. However, it also ensured that the offense moved so slowly that any mistake whatsoever ended the drive. It took this team *18* plays and just under 12 minutes to move the ball 48 yards to start the game. If you hold the ball for 12 minutes on an 18-play drive, you should be looking for a touchdown. Instead, the Black Knights bogged down after a chop block penalty and missed the ensuing field goal attempt. Similarly, Army’s next drive went 11 plays in just over 6 minutes, and they wound up punting from the Tulane 42. That is insane!
Army’s last drive of the first half went 49 yards in 6 plays and took just under 90 seconds. With it, the Black Knights’ put up their only points of the half, a field goal that tied the score at 3-3. Notably, the team looked astronomically more explosive than they had in either of their first two drives, and more to the point, Hellums has done this all year. Dude is truly outstanding in these kinds of hurry-up situations.
Cale Hellums airs it out to Brady Anderson to setup the TD in the third quarter 🫡
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) October 18, 2025
📺 ESPNU pic.twitter.com/TZ0pTQ68RK
This offense needs to find a better balance. Yes, they need to hold the ball and extend drives to protect their talented but undersized defense. However, they also — badly — need to score more points. And yeah, no one thought Cale Hellums was gonna be the guy this year, and that caused some issues as we figured out what we needed to do to win in 2025. However, we are where we are, and Hellums is the guy. He’s also actively great at throwing on the run and at managing run-pass options (RPOs). We now need to tailor the offense more strongly to his talents to find that next gear of explosiveness.
Maybe we saw part of that in the second half this week. Hellums went 1/2 passing for 39 yards in the first half. In the second, he went 6/8 for 86 yards, and the team scored two touchdowns. He hit WR Brady Anderson for one 32-yards chunk play, but he also hit SB Noah Short for 11, WR Tobi Olawole for 9, and SB Samari Howard for 8. At the same time, an offense that had been running for maybe 3 yards/carry suddenly started running for closer to 5. Part of that undoubtedly came because Tulane’s defense had been on the field a ton to that point. However, those quick passing plays also spread them out, reminding their defense that they couldn’t just stack the box. They needed to cover the full width of the field. That sort of thing really matters if the team wants to run Quarterback Power 30+ times per game.
Army retakes the lead with under 6 minutes left to play⚔️
— The American (@American_Conf) October 18, 2025
📺 @ESPNCFB #BuiltToRise x @ArmyWP_Football pic.twitter.com/rqrxJm7fgv
Looking Forward
With yesterday’s loss, the Black Knights now need to win three of their next four in order to qualify for a bowl game. This team has looked reminiscent of the 2023 team since the beginning of the year, and with that in mind, I personally expect them to go on that run to close the season. The offense in particular started young but has been getting notably better from week to week.
However, winning three of the next four will by no means come easy. Air Force and Temple both got good-looking wins yesterday, and Army has to play UTSA at their place. That’s always tough. Still, Tulane has arguably the best team on Army’s schedule, and the Black Knights just gave the Green Wave all they could handle and then some.
This Army Team can absolutely make a run. They just need to keep improving each week.
.@AF_Football was READY for the throw 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Lp3vSAeUR5
— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) October 18, 2025
The Black Knights travel to Air Force after their bye week. The Zoomies beat Wyoming yesterday, capitalizing on the Cowboys’ mistakes while running with power and limiting mistakes of their own. However, they still have quite a young team. Among other things, they gave up almost 200 yards rushing on 5.5 yards/carry.
We’ll see what the Black Knights can do with that.
Go Army! Beat Air Force!!!
