Well friends, how about that?! Your Army Black Knights got their first win over a Big 12 opponent since way back in 2006!
We didn’t necessarily think it would go this way when the game started.
FIGHT ON TO VICTORY!
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) September 7, 2025
FOR THAT'S THE FEARLESS ARMY WAY! pic.twitter.com/oLMLHuO4oH
After last week’s season-opening loss, we all thought it might take this Army Team a little time to find itself. They’ve got a new quarterback — again! — plus three new offensive linemen, new tight ends, new wide receivers, and a stable with a few new fullbacks. All those new pieces struggled to come together as one coherent whole last Friday night. If they started better here in Week 2, the Black Knights still couldn’t quite get there at first.
How long would it take before they’d come together as a total team?
Almost exactly two full quarters of football.
Through the game’s first 27:35, these guys fought their asses off, but they just weren’t getting it done. Their offense ran 20 plays for just 55 yards, taking a mere 11:20 off the clock through those first twenty-seven minutes of play. Army’s defense fought valiantly, forcing two field goals and a punt but also giving up a touchdown and all too many first downs. Army needed to make something happen right then and there, or they were gonna that game slowly but surely as they got totally overwhelmed.
The offense came to the line with just under 2:30 left to play in the first half. New starting QB Cale Hellums ran for a yard, pitched to SB Noah Short for 7, and then ran for 2 more to set the Black Knights up at their own 33. From there, they set up to pass, but Hellums never forced anything, running Quarterback Draws for 9 yards then 4. That earned them another first down at the 44. Hellums then hit his first pass for 6 yards with just under a minute left to play. A 10-yard pass and an 11-yard scramble put the Black Knights at the K-State 28 with just :37 on the clock.
At least, I thought, they won’t get shut out this week.
A Hayden Reed run and a run by Hellums, both out of the Flexbone, moved the Black Knights just 5 yards, down to the K-State 23. Then Short finally got some separation, and Hellums hit him for 18, down to the K-State 5. Holy shit! The ball’s going in!!! Hellums ran for a yard to the 4 then hit SB Samari Howard for 2 crucial yards to the K-State 2. But now the Black Knights had just :08 left, and they had to take their final timeout. Hellums missed TE Parker Polosky in the end zone with :03 left, and things looked dicey. Time for just one more play. Friends, he hit WR Brady Anderson for a touchdown on fourth and goal as the clock struck zero.
TOUCHDOWN ARMY!!
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) September 7, 2025
We roll the dice on 4th down and Cale Hellums finds BRADY ANDERSON! pic.twitter.com/yp5Ub3N9hp
Let’s take a moment to admire this amazing play. OC Cody Worley gave Hellums a counter-rollout run-pass option (RPO) in his first start (!), and Hellums looked off his first read — Noah Short well-covered in the middle of the end zone — to hit an open wide receiver in the corner. The last time we saw something like that, the Black Knights had either Jabari Laws or Kelvin Hopkins at quarterback.
That drive changed everything. Army scored and would get the ball coming out of halftime. More importantly, we watched this team grow into something more than just eleven dudes playing football. We watched them become a real, by God Army Football Team in real time.
Amazing play; amazing sequence. There aren’t enough words for how awesome this was.
The Legend of Cale Hellums. Tell your children you saw it born.#GoArmy #InHellumsWeTrust
— As For Football (@asforfootball) September 7, 2025
A completely different Army Team took the field after the half. Army went three-and-out, but then their defense forced a four-and-out, and from there, the Black Knights held the ball for almost ALL of the rest of this game. They reeled off a 14-play, 89-yard drive that took damn-near eight minutes off the clock and which featured a Noah Short halfback pass for 53 yards! K-State answered with a kickoff return for a touchdown to make it 21-14, but in a way, this became the Wildcats’ worst disaster of the night. Their defense came straight back onto the field, and the Black Knights hammered those poor bastards. Army went thirteen plays in 7:22 but stalled at the K-State 18-yard-line. K Dawson Jones hit a critical 35-yard field goal to make it, 21-17, and I thought, They just need one more stop to win this game.
Instead, they hit the damnedest squib kick anyone has ever seen. K Anderson Britton beaned a jabronie on K-State’s blocking team, and you knew it was trouble when he flinched instead of diving on the ball. After it hit him, the ball bounced straight back fully ten yards, right into the waiting arms of Army’s hands team.
Visibly gassed and literally drenched with sweat, K-State’s defense had to come right back out — again! — and this time, Army ran those dudes right the Hell over. The Black Knights had run well on their last drive, but they’d struggled to move the ball up the middle. Now FBs Briggs Bartosh and David Clerk began to find some running room. This set up Hellums to run the Quarterback Follow and straight-up QB Power until he finally broke free for a 14-yard touchdown run with just under 3:00 left to play.
ARMY BALL!!
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) September 7, 2025
Hit K-State on the squib kick and the Black Knights have it! pic.twitter.com/BZegxs8nqP
Hellums finds the opening and is gone from 14 yards out 👀 pic.twitter.com/LdARH1iyiQ
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) September 7, 2025
The game’s final sequence proved the adage that ball don’t lie.
K-State QB Avery Johnson hit a receiver deep in Army territory, but after two steps, Army S Collin Matteson got a hat on the ball, jarring it loose for a fumble. This was a bang-bang play, and it was called incomplete on the field, but it should have ended the game. Replay showed clearly that the receiver controlled the ball and took two steps before the ball came out. But the Big 12 officiating crew protected their league and actually confirmed the ruling on the field much to the surprise of both the announce crew and ESPN’s official rules expert.
What can you do?
Matteson jumped a route and ended the game a few plays later with a gorgeous, bobbling interception. Because ball don’t lie. He had blockers and a lane to the end zone, but he went down to avoid some freaky weirdness. Army slowly but surely ran out the clock.
INTERCEPTED BY ARMY pic.twitter.com/TG7q3Cu7Ch
— Pardon My Take (@PardonMyTake) September 7, 2025
An incredible finish to an incredible comeback. West Point, by thee! BEAT NAVY!!!
Running the Numbers
The Black Knights finished with 332 yards of total offense. They ran for 237 yards on 3.4 yards/carry against a very stout defense that had to that point been allowing less than 3.0 yards/carry. They held the ball for more than 40 minutes total time-of-possession, going 10/22 on third down and freaking 6/7 on fourth down. Hellums finished an outstanding 8/12 passing for 95 yards and a touchdown with no picks and no sacks. Army forced 2 turnovers counting that squib kick without turning it over themselves. Army’s defense didn’t notch any sacks, but they put up 2 tackles-for-loss, forced 2 punts and 2 field goals, and they held K-State to just 2/9 on third down.
They didn’t play a perfect game, but they played well enough. More importantly, they got better as the game progressed. By the middle of this game’s third quarter, they played vintage Army Football.
That’s all we can ask. As it happens, that’s all they needed to win this game.
In his first career start while earning the W. pic.twitter.com/WKdhtlVQd0
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) September 7, 2025
Looking Forward
Friends, most of the American Conference is rolling hot. USF (2-0) beat Florida yesterday in the Swamp, 18-16. They look incredible now that QB Byrom Brown is fully healthy. Memphis (2-0) beat Georgia State, 38-16. Tulane (2-0) hung on against South Alabama, 33-31. Navy (2-0) hung with UAB (1-1) through an early shootout and a couple of weather delays before pulling ahead, 38-24. North Texas (2-0) came back and won at Western Michigan, 33-30. East Carolina (1-1) and FAU (1-1) both throttled FCS opponents. Hell, even Temple (2-0) put the boots to Howard yesterday, 55-7. Notwithstanding Charlotte (0-2) and Rice (1-1) both getting swaggerjacked at home, our newly rebranded American Conference looks extremely competitive here in 2025.
Get Up and Fight Some More. pic.twitter.com/VavkbjPnXx
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) September 7, 2025
Army gets a bye this week while North Texas hosts Washington State (2-0). After that, the Black Knights will host the Mean Green for a late September showdown to start conference play. Army fans have got to be feeling pretty good it.
Go Army! Beat North Texas!!!
