Though Tulsa comes into this week’s game fresh off a win over Oregon State, the Golden Hurricane represent the best remaining chance Army has at bowl eligibility. The Black Knights will be coming off a bye week, but we shouldn’t be surprised if some of that extra time got spent on December prep instead of November games during those extra days off.
To guarantee a bowl spot, Army needs to win one of their next two games. A home game against a team that they beat 49-7 last year sounds a whole Hell of lot better than an away game against a team that Army beat by just one score despite forcing three turnovers.
Your Need To Know heading into Senior Day at Michie Stadium! pic.twitter.com/C0gyrc9sii
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) November 19, 2025
Tulsa Golden Hurricane
Army beat these guys by six scores last year, but this team now looks a lot different than they did. For one thing, they’re now led by first-year Head Coach Tre Lamb. Lamb, like Army Head Coach Jeff Monken, comes from a coaching family. But his family has more ties to the Army program than you might think. Lamb’s cousin Taylor was a four year starting quarterback at App State back when Army DC Nate Woody was the Mountaineers’ defensive coordinator. Those seasons included bowl appearances every year they were eligible alongside multiple 10-win seasons. Lamb also backed-up then-QB Cody Worley for two years at Calhoun High School in Calhoun, Georgia, when Lamb’s father Hal served as that team’s head coach. Afterwards, Worley went to play for Lamb’s uncle Bobby at Furman.
Friends, Tre Lamb knows this Army offense and defense inside and out. His ability to describe schemes in detail on both sides of the ball, recalling individual stats from games throughout the season, and to discuss the differences in facing both Army and Navy’s offense, all without a sheet of notes, was extremely impressive in last weekend’s postgame press conference.
Expect the Golden Hurricane to come into this weekend’s game prepared and ready.
Offense
Tulsa has a young team with exactly one primary player at each position. Redshirt freshman QB Baylor Hayes completes just under 60% of his passes for an average of 6.6 yards per attempt. Senior RB Dominic Richardson leads the team in rushing with 4.7 yards per carry. TE Brody Foley has 34 receptions on the year and is averaging nearly 15 yards per catch. Top WR Zion Booker averages just over 9 yards per catch in something more like a possession receiver role for his team.
The Golden Hurricane operate a fairly balanced attack, but they’re not quite a ball control team. They don’t prioritize time of possession; they seek explosiveness. They do a decent job with it, but they’ve also committed a ton of turnovers and taken a bunch of sacks. As a team, Tulsa has thrown 9 interceptions and lost 7 fumbles. They’ve also had another 12 fumbles that didn’t end up in the other team’s hands. Plus, they give up more than 2 sacks and 15 sack yards per game. Army’s defense should have some chances to make big plays, but obviously, that comes down to execution.
Lamb admitted in his press conference this week that he doesn’t expect to call more than 50 plays on Saturday. So presumably he’ll have a short call sheet and won’t be saving too many playcalls for later in the game. Expect to see some deep shots early, and expect to see Tulsa go for it on fourth down just as much as Army does.
Numbers don’t lie pic.twitter.com/14399KN4tC
— Tulsa Football (@TulsaFootball) November 20, 2025
Defense
Listening to Lamb talk about Army’s offense mixed the comic with the concerning. He stayed complimentary, but he also showed a much deeper, clearer understanding of Army’s offense than any coach has done publicly in a long time.
Junior LB Ray Coney leads Tulsa’s defense. He has almost twice as many tackles than anyone else in their front seven. The team gives up a little over four yards per carry on the ground, however, putting them into the Charlotte/UAB/UNT/Air Force category by way of comparison.
The Golden Hurricane have a decent red zone defense, but they’ve struggled to generate turnovers despite doing a good job getting sacks. They have a talented young team that could become a force going forward. However, their defense hasn’t been reliable in a lot of big moments this year.
Our @PFSNcollege highest-graded AAC CBs:
— Cam Mellor (@CamMellor) November 19, 2025
Elijah Green, Tulsa: 91.2
Jonas Duclona, USF: 84.0
Jahiem Johnson, Tulane: 83.6
Jaidyn Denis, Memphis: 80.7
Damarius McGhee, Florida Atlantic: 80.6
Khary Crump, Rice: 80.3
Kollin Lewis, North Texas: 79.9
James Chenault, USF: 79.4
Da'Veawn… pic.twitter.com/LeHZHiKiLk
Special Teams
Senior PK Seth Morgan has been perfect on points-after, but he’s gone 14/17 on field goals. He’s fairly reliable inside of 50 and has a career long of 49. Punter Angus Davies has been phenomenal this year, averaging over 43 yards per punt. He has seven punts of 50+ yards, has 20 punts inside the 20, and doesn’t have a single touchback all season. Wow!
This question comes up so much more often than you’d think.
— As For Football (@asforfootball) November 19, 2025
Friends, it’s YOUR Army, & it’s YOUR Military Academy.
We wrote about this a few years ago, & it became one of our most popular pieces ever.#GoArmy #BEATNavy https://t.co/CmTz0STgox https://t.co/Sx4dAFzYVu pic.twitter.com/kFSyRF4YSO
Match-Up Notes
This could become a ball control game like the one we saw against Temple with one key difference — Tulsa isn’t going to try to out-ball control anybody. Still, Army will have to make their possessions count. Scoring fourteen points likely won’t get it done for a second straight week. The Black Knights should be willing to take some risks early and often on offense. Giving or getting twenty to thirty yards of starting field position matters a lot less when you’re playing a team that’s constantly looking for a touchdown play regardless of where they are on the field.
Turnovers could play a huge role in this one. Army has been just slightly better at generating turnovers compared to Tulsa. But Tulsa has been way worse at giving the ball away. If Army can capitalize a couple of times, they can take some of those explosive chances away from the Golden Hurricane.
Army’s defense will need to play patient this week. The Black Knights will have chances to force turnovers and get sacks. But they can’t get beat deep. On the flip side, Tulsa has shown the ability to throw underneath consistently, but can get themselves into trouble if they go for it all at once. The Black Knights need to force Tulsa’s offense and their freshman quarterback to exhibit extreme patience as well.
Final Thoughts
The game kicks at noon on CBS Sports. The Varsity App has the radio call, and the AFF Firstie Club has the best gameday chat.
Proud to honor an enduring symbol of service and sacrifice for the past 250 years.https://t.co/QlUpMO7VlC#GoArmy pic.twitter.com/5DeHAW0pm9
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) November 15, 2025
The weather calls for chilly but dry conditions at Michie Stadium where the Cadets will enter as 10-point favorites. Here’s hoping the Black Knights spend Sunday wondering which bowl they’ll attend!
Go Army! Beat Tulsa!!!
