Friends, your Army Black Knights got a MONSTER win yesterday, coming from behind to beat Tulane 20-17. The team is now 3-2, and if they struggled at times yesterday, this also felt like exactly the game we needed to see from this team.
ON BRAVE OLD ARMY TEAM! #GoArmy https://t.co/1aac3WqWuh
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) October 10, 2026
The defense won this game. They tackled well, forced three punts, got their first interception of the season, and created a critical turnover on downs late in the fourth quarter to give the offense a chance to go ahead and win the game. Perhaps most importantly, they held an excellent rushing team to just 122 yards on the ground on 4.7 yards per carry. They got beat on a swing pass that went for a touchdown, and they got beat on an explosive run that went for 41 yards late in the game, but even then, they got the runner down and didn’t give up any points. The game-winning turnover on downs came almost immediately after that one huge run.
It’s no secret that this defense has struggled at times this season. This week, though, they looked confident, plugged holes in the running game consistently, and wrapped up when they tackled. If they can continue to play like that, this team has every chance to finish strong down the stretch this year and to perhaps contend for another American Conference Championship.
Similarly, though it felt like the offense struggled at times this week, they still finished with 329 yards rushing and 2 rushing touchdowns on 59 carries. That is really good! The offense adjusted after going three-and-out in the first series, scored on their second drive, and wound up converting 8/15 third downs over the course of the game. That’s a 53% conversion rate, which is excellent. Sure, five penalties hurt them for 20 yards, especially on their first field goal drive where they would probably have scored a touchdown without the false start on third-and-three from the Tulane 12-yard line. Mostly, though, they played consistent offense despite having to work to create explosive plays. Really, it was the lack of explosive plays that made it hard to consistently drive all the way down the field for touchdowns. This was the first game all season in which the offense seemed to struggle to get the ball to their playmakers in space for big yardage with some consistency.
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You wouldn’t think it, but the offense actually ran for more yards this week than they had last week despite hitting way fewer big yardage runs. Obviously, we saw fewer pitches this week. I think we had three total. But really, the biggest difference came in the passing game. Last week, QB Cale Hellums went 12/24 passing for 151 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. This week, he went just 3/6 passing for a whopping 19 yards, though that’s inclusive of a drop from WR Brady Anderson and a completion to SB Samari Howard that came back on an illegal touching penalty that went out of bounds. For whatever reason, we saw way fewer passes and pitches this week as a part of the overall gameplan. Perhaps not surprisingly, the offense finished with a marginally more consistent performance overall but with fewer explosive plays and thus way less scoring.
Speaking personally, I would like to know what the coaching staff saw on tape that made them decide not to work the outside running game. SBs Zach Mundell and Samari Howard collectively finished with 4 carries yesterday for a total of 41 yards. That’s a lot of yardage on not many attempts! And yet, in a game where Army struggled to create chunk plays, we saw one or maybe two that looked like true option reads that went to the outside. Mostly Hellums carried the load on what looked like designed QB Zone and/or QB Follow runs. Commentary noted during the game that this was the plan, so it’s not like it was some fluke.
Later, we saw Hellums run the Midline Option out of a slow mesh look, but even then, those runs all stayed between the tackles. Hell, I’ll bet half of Army’s runs went through the A gap. It’s hard to argue with the results given that Hellums finished with 223 yards rushing and 2 rushing touchdowns on 5.9 yards per carry. Still, I don’t think anyone wants to see him getting 38 carries per game consistently through the rest of the season. He played great, but as we saw last year, that kind of thing will wear on anyone over time.
I would also like to know what the call was on P James Wagenseller’s fake punt. It was a good fake, and he very clearly got the look that he wanted from Tulane’s punt coverage team. But the fake came on fourth-and-twelve at the Army 36-yard line. Situationally, this was not good decision-making. Wagenseller picked up 9 yards, but it was fourth-and-a-mile. Tulane turned that failed fake into three critical points in a game in which they otherwise struggled to move the ball. Kicking away probably forces another punt given the way Army’s defense had been playing.
But look, we know all that this Army Team still has room to improve. They still have a lot of young players on defense, and the offense still needs to stop making mistakes that put them behind the chains. We saw plenty of plays get blown up in the backfield this week, especially early in the game. However, this team still got the game they needed this week, and they won the fourth quarter to do it, and that is awesome. With the win, they remain very much in the hunt for both the American Conference Championship and the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy.
Hellums with the patience and vision 👏 📺 @CBSSportsNet #GoArmy https://t.co/1Ucariwgre
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) October 10, 2026
Looking Forward
All three service academies looked like they maybe figured some stuff out this week. We saw Army’s defense tackle and stop the run. Meanwhile, Navy came back to beat a good Tulsa team with a strong second half in a decidedly Army-like performance. QB Jackson Gutierrez finished with *41* carries for 232 yards and 3 rushing touchdowns. That is Cale Hellums at K-State territory and perhaps unsustainable long term, but man, was it also super-impressive. Not to be outdone, the Zoomies beat NIU 28-7 behind sophomore QB Evan Medders, who ran for 114 yards on just 16 carries. The Zoomies finished with a whopping 439 yards rushing on 67 carries (6.5 yards/carry).
Winning vibes 😁 https://t.co/Q5XDnC8yX5
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) October 10, 2026
Army held the ball for 35:34 this week. Navy held it for 34:31. Air Force absolutely hogged it for 39:09.
Next week, the Black Knights will face a truly excellent Florida Atlantic team that’s currently 4-1 with its only loss coming to Florida in the Swamp. Those guys can really score points, but they’ve also got the nation’s 107th ranked rushing defense.
Should be a good one. We’ll see you out there.
Go Army! Beat FAU!!!
