Friends, we got a great start to the weekend. Your Army Black Knights won the fourth quarter and therefore won the game at Temple last night, getting both a much-needed in-conference victory and an important boost of confidence heading into the heart of the 2026 football season.
This was not a particularly pretty win. The Black Knights let Temple outgain them 459 yards to 315, and they gave up 217 yards rushing on a whopping 6.8 yards/carry. We said before the game that Army couldn’t afford to beat themselves, and yet, we rarely saw Temple’s defense stop the Black Knights’ offense. Instead, Army’s offense mostly stalled as a result of penalties and/or the occasional errant pitch or pass. Meanwhile, the Black Knights defense gave up a long touchdown on a busted coverage play; they gave up another on a go route over the top, and they lost contain against the run when they had the Owls pinned against their own goal line late in the fourth quarter.
Any or all of those mistakes could have cost them this game.
FIGHT ON TO VICTORY! 🫡#GoArmy pic.twitter.com/L2OliBfwVu
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) September 25, 2026
But good teams find ways to win, even when they don’t necessarily have their best stuff. That’s doubly true on the road. Army found a way to win this game late, and that’s the real takeaway. When they had to have it, they took it.
We knew this Temple team had an explosive offense with a lot of talent. They scored 48 points last week at Toledo and hung with Penn State for a half, finishing with 176 rushing yards on 5.3 yards/carry. They have a good team.
But busted coverages can be fixed. What’s important this week — especially coming off a win — is that Army played truly excellent red zone defense. They forced two turnovers on downs, a missed field goal, and a successful field goal in the red zone, and at the end of the day, that’s how they won. Looked at another way, Temple either scored on explosive plays or they didn’t score at all. Once they got down into the red zone, they got absolutely nothing all game long. This shows marked improvement by Army’s young defense. It gives them an important base on which to build for the rest of the season.
Let’s not forget that this defense is very much still growing into its responsibilities. S Stephen Nnadozie led the team in tackles, which we might’ve expected. He’s the team’s firstie captain and on-field leader, but this is still his first season starting. After him, we had cow LB Elijah Walton, yearling CB Julian Porter, yearling NB Zane Tallman, and yearling LB Jaquavious Moss, collectively buttressed by firsties CB Jaydan Mayes and DL Dillon Stowers. Those were your top seven tacklers last night.
The play that ended it. pic.twitter.com/9RVKIRJDMQ
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) September 26, 2026
Tallman in particular stood out late in the game, but friends, he has a hell of a tough task. Army’s nickelback does a lot in this defense. The Black Knights play a Big Nickel 3-4, so Tallman is either a safety or a linebacker depending on the coverage, and he has to be good at both. Right now, Army fans are asking him to play like former standout NB Jimmy Ciarlo did as a firstie. Oh by the way, Ciarlo is now in his second season in the NFL with the LA Chargers. Tallman may get there, but let’s understand what we’re asking. He has good speed and made several heads-up plays last night. However, we all need to realize that this team must play complimentary football in order to win games. This offense has to protect this defense a little bit while all these yearlings grow into their responsibilities. With all of that said, counting Temple’s made field goal as a red zone stop, this defense actually got *6* stops in a game that saw the Owls get just 8 total possessions.
As an offense, you absolutely must be able to make that work.
But really, the offense played pretty well, especially in the second half. They went 6/12 on third down and 2/2 on fourth down in the game overall, rushed for 4.9 yards/carry, and took the game over late, when they absolutely had to have a touchdown to win. When it counted, they went to what was working, their inside running game, and just kept hammering it until they broke Temple’s defense down. The Black Knights wound up holding the ball for 38 minutes total time-of-possession, which is how their defense wound up getting six stops. They need to clean up the penalties and some of the first half execution, but that’s still a good performance when taken as a whole. Most importantly, they never let off on the gas, and when they had to punt, they mostly did it in a way that allowed game MVP James Wagenseller to pin Temple up against their own goal line.
Our 4th quarter drive with the game on the line.
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) September 26, 2026
12 rushes. 75 yards. TD.#GoArmy pic.twitter.com/t2uiYgTiTg
The only thing I really didn’t like about yesterday’s game was using Lonesome Polecat on fourth-and-two. First, because Army was running for almost 5 yards/carry at that point and could’ve picked up the first down with either the Dive or Quarterback Follow. Second, because they should’ve either motioned out of that formation when they saw how Temple lined up on defense or else run a quick slant, and they were never gonna throw a slant on fourth-and-two. And third, because it took a game-saving holding penalty to keep that play from getting blown up in the backfield. Only the fact that QB Cale Hellums somehow managed to fight his way to the first down in traffic forced Temple to actually accept that penalty, allowing Army to punt.
For those wondering, QB Cale Hellums finished with 22 carries last night out of 57 total rushing attempts. Army’s fullbacks also took 22. SB Samari Howard finished with 8. That’s not a bad distribution, especially considering the way the game played out in the second half. Maybe a little more outside running late could’ve stopped Temple from stacking the box, but I personally thought the Staff did the right thing to stick with what was working late in the game.
At the end of the day, we saw a good effort overall with a strong fourth quarter victory. Sure, the game was nerve wracking from the sidelines, but I’ll still take it and another just like a week from now.
Sing that VICTORY SONG! 🔊#GoArmy pic.twitter.com/rm5zFcQG2Q
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) September 26, 2026
Looking Forward
Army travels to La. Tech next week to take on the Bulldogs in a 7:30 p.m. ET game on ESPN+. That promises to be another one-score nailbiter made more intense by the fact that the Bulldogs have a bye this week. They’ll have plenty of time to prepare for Army’s triple-option offense.
Friday night victory mood 🏴☠️ pic.twitter.com/VpvG3NdkZQ
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) September 25, 2026
La. Tech has what looks to be a stout rushing defense. Over the past two weeks, they allowed just 3.4 yards/carry to LSU and 3.8 yards/carry to Baylor. Granted, both those teams lit up the Bulldogs’ secondary through the air, in Baylor’s case with their backup quarterback, so maybe that’s not an honest comparison. However, it’s still worth watching. We might be in for another week of tough sledding if the Black Knights can’t figure out a way to get the ball to the perimeter.
Still, it feels like the team got back in rhythm this week despite their struggles in the first half. If they can just keep building on their current momentum, they’ll have every chance of finishing with a special season.
Go Army! Beat La. Tech!!!
