Tag: Black Knights

Dec 14, 2024; Landover, Maryland, USA; Navy Midshipmen quarterback Blake Horvath (11) scampbles during the first half against the Army Black Knights at Commanders Field. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

Blake Horvath (4 total TDs) stars as Navy stops No. 22 Army

Posted on | by Field Level Media

A year after watching from the sidelines as Navy lost in agonizing fashion to Army, Blake Horvath propelled the Midshipmen to a 31-13 victory over the No. 22 Black Knights, on Saturday in Landover, Md.

Horvath had two touchdowns passing and two rushing. The junior quarterback carried 25 times for 204 yards as Navy (9-3) snapped a two-game losing streak in the 125th edition of the storied rivalry.

The Midshipmen also secured the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy, the annual prize awarded to the school with the best record in inter-service academy play.

With President-elect Donald Trump in attendance, Navy led all the way and improved to 63-55-7 in the series.

“We still got a football team in Annapolis,” Navy’s second-year coach Brian Newberry said immediately afterward.

Army (11-2) was coming off a 35-14 romp last week over Tulane in the American Athletic Conference championship game, while Navy had the week off.

The Black Knights entered as the top rushing team in Division I, averaging 314.4 yards per game. But the Midshipmen limited them to 113 yards on 39 carries.

Landon Robinson led the Navy defense with 13 tackles and a forced fumble. The 6-foot, 285-pound Robinson also ran 29 yards on a fake punt, setting up a clinching fourth-quarter touchdown.

Army quarterback Bryson Daily, who entered with 1,480 rushing yards and 29 rushing touchdowns, carried 19 times for a season-low 52 yards. He also threw three interceptions after entering the game with just one.

Horvath, meanwhile, was the game’s dominant player. He earned the starting job for the Midshipmen in the middle of last year before suffering an injury that sidelined him as Army stopped Navy at the 1-yard line on its final possession of a 17-11 loss.

On Navy’s first possession on Saturday, Horvath directed a 65-yard touchdown drive which he capped with a 1-yard scoring dive to put Navy up 7-0.

Early in the second quarter, Navy’s Dashaun Peele had an interception which set up a 21-yard touchdown play as Horvath threw to wide-open Brandon Chatman after a run fake to give the Midshipmen a 14-0 lead.

Army answered with a similar play to cut the deficit in half as Daily faked a quarterback draw, stepped back and threw a 23-yard jump pass to Hayden Reed for a touchdown.

After Army’s Trey Gronotte kicked a 39-yard field goal to cut Navy’s lead to 14-10 in the third quarter, the Midshipmen answered quickly.

Eli Heidenreich caught a pass in the flat, slipped away from a defender and streaked up the sideline, diving into the end zone on a 52-yard play that put the Midshipmen up 21-10.

In the final nine minutes, Navy extinguished Army’s hopes as Luke Pirris and Kenneth McShan had interceptions.

–Field Level Media

Dec 6, 2024; West Point, NY, USA; Army Black Knights quarterback Bryson Daily (13) warms up before the first half against the Tulane Green Wave at Michie Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-Imagn Images

No. 22 Army, Navy ready to battle for Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy

Posted on | by Field Level Media

The 125th meeting between No. 22 Army and Navy will mean a little more for both teams when they collide on Saturday in Landover, Md.

For the first time in seven years, whichever team wins the game will also secure the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy, the annual prize awarded to the school with the best record in inter-service academy play.

The Midshipmen (8-3) took the first step toward securing the hardware on Oct. 5, when they traveled to Air Force and trounced the Falcons 34-7. The Black Knights (11-1) followed suit on Nov. 2, churning out a 20-3 home win over Air Force despite playing without star quarterback Bryson Daily.

Army won the trophy last year and has enjoyed a historically successful campaign this season, their first in the American Athletic Conference.

The Black Knights marched to their first 9-0 start since 1996 and won all eight of their conference games before routing Tulane 35-14 in the AAC title game last Friday in West Point, N.Y.

Army has already matched a program record with its 11 wins and is headed to the Independence Bowl to face Marshall on Dec. 28, but the Black Knights’ season largely hinges on Saturday’s result.

“No matter what kind of a season we’ve had, losing this game makes the season a bit of a disappointment,” Army coach Jeff Monken said.

Monken’s squad has thrived behind Daily, whose 1,480 rushing yards lead the nation’s top ground attack (314.4 yards per game). Daily’s 29 rushing touchdowns are tied with Boise State running back and Heisman Trophy finalist Ashton Jeanty for the most in college football.

The Black Knights have smothered opponents to just 15.0 points per game, the seventh-fewest in the nation. Andon Thomas is the unit’s top tackler (83), while fellow linebacker Kalib Fortner has a team-high 8.5 tackles for loss.

Army will dig in against a new-look Navy offense that has keyed the program’s turnaround after four straight losing seasons.

Like the Black Knights, the Midshipmen still rely on the triple option, but first-year offensive coordinator Drew Cronic has added some extra pop by implementing a more modernized version of the scheme that incorporates more passing plays and spread-out formations.

Navy has thrived under the new system, scoring 32.3 points per game this year after managing just 17.7 last season.

Quarterback Blake Horvath leads the Midshipmen with 895 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground to go along with 1,154 yards and 11 scores through the air. He missed Navy’s last regular-season game against East Carolina with a back injury but said he is good to go for Saturday.

Horvath has never started an Army-Navy game, but the junior signal-caller knows he and his teammates have to treat it like any other contest.

“Don’t press,” he said. “Don’t make this game bigger than it is. It is a big game, but don’t psych yourself out.”

A win for the Midshipmen would snap a two-game losing streak to the Black Knights and bring the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy back to Annapolis, Md., for the first time since 2019.

“It would just bring a whole new level of pride to a style of football that we’ve looked to get back to this season,” Horvath said.

Regardless of Saturday’s result, Navy will finish with its first winning record since going 11-2 in 2019. The Midshipmen will also make their first bowl appearance since that year when they battle Oklahoma in the Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 27.

–Field Level Media

Dec 6, 2024; West Point, NY, USA; Army Black Knights quarterback Bryson Daily (13) carries the ball against the Tulane Green Wave during the first half at Michie Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-Imagn Images

Bryson Daily (4 TDs), No. 24 Army pound Tulane in AAC title game

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Bryson Daily scored four rushing touchdowns to lead No. 24 Army to a 35-14 win over Tulane on Friday in the American Athletic Conference title game in West Point, N.Y.

In the Black Knights’ first season in the AAC, Daily set a league record for rushing touchdowns in a season (29). However, the Army quarterback, who gained 126 yards on the ground, was hardly alone in his rushing prowess, as teammate Kanye Udoh accumulated 158 yards and a touchdown. As a team, Army rushed for 335 yards.

Army (11-1) will ride plenty of momentum into its annual showdown with Navy in Landover, Md., on Dec. 14.

Meanwhile, Tulane (9-4) will await its bowl fate after its second straight lopsided defeat. Darian Mensah threw for 209 yards and two touchdowns for the Green Wave, who could not overcome a variety of miscues on special teams.

Tulane drove inside the red zone on the game’s opening possession, but Brice Busch failed to get the hold down on a field-goal attempt, leading to a big loss on fourth down. Eleven plays later, Army got into the end zone on Daily’s 5-yard TD run.

The Green Wave once again had a chance to dent the scoreboard on their next possession, but Mensah was sacked on third down and Patrick Durkin missed a 38-yard field-goal attempt.

Two plays later, Udoh uncorked a 72-yard run that set up Daily’s 3-yard TD plunge for a 14-0 lead.

Tulane fumbled the ensuing kickoff, as Army kicker Trey Gronotte forced a fumble by Rayshawn Pleasant that was recovered by Tommy Zitiello. The Black Knights couldn’t cash in on that possession, but Mensah was intercepted by Andon Thomas shortly thereafter, giving Army another short field.

This time, the Black Knights made them pay as Daily’s 4-yard TD run made it 21-0.

Tulane finally got on the board with 44 seconds left in the half as Mensah found Mario Williams for a 42-yard touchdown pass.

However, any potential momentum from that late score ended when Army took the first possession of the second half 75 yards for a touchdown. Daily provided the exclamation point with a 7-yard TD run.

Udoh’s 1-yard TD run with 6:29 left in the contest pushed the lead to 35-7 before Tulane got into the end zone with 70 seconds to play.

–Field Level Media

Oct 19, 2024; West Point, New York, USA; Army Black Knights quarterback Bryson Daily (13) celebrates after scoring a touchdown during the second quarter against the East Carolina Pirates at Michie Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Lucas Boland-Imagn Images

Bryson Daily sets TD records as No. 23 Army tops East Carolina

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Bryson Daily matched a school record with five rushing touchdowns to lift No. 23 Army to a 45-28 victory over East Carolina on Saturday in West Point, N.Y.

Daily ran for a career-high 171 yards and scored on touchdown runs of 17, 31, 1, 3 and 4 yards. The two-time reigning American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week has rushed for a school-record 19 touchdowns on the season.

Daily also completed 7 of 10 passes for 147 yards, highlighted by a 13-yard touchdown toss to Miles Stewart.

Kanye Udoh had 19 carries for 102 yards for the Black Knights (7-0, 6-0 AAC), who have won 11 games in a row dating back to last season. Army, in addition, has yet to trail at any point this season.

East Carolina’s Katin Houser completed 24 of 38 passes for 282 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. He also rushed for a score.

Chase Sowell had seven catches for 138 yards and joined Winston Wright Jr. and Anthony Smith in reeling in a touchdown reception for the Pirates (3-4, 1-2), who have lost four of their last five games.

The Black Knights continued their run of scoring touchdowns on their opening possession to seven games after Daily found Stewart in the right corner of the end zone. The connection capped a five-play, 66-yard drive.

Trey Gronotte drilled a 32-yard field goal to complete a 14-play drive at the start of the second quarter.

Daily extended Army’s advantage to 24-0 following a pair of touchdown runs. He used a spin move to escape an attempted tackle of defensive lineman Samuel Dankah before scampering for a 17-yard touchdown with 9:10 remaining in the second half.

East Carolina turned the ball over on downs on its next possession, and Daily bulled his way through the line and scored from 31 yards out on the next play.

Daily sandwiched short touchdown runs around Sowell’s 53-yard scoring reception to stake the Black Knights to a 38-7 lead late in the third quarter. The Pirates scored a pair of touchdowns to trim their deficit before Daily added his fifth touchdown to effectively seal the win.

–Field Level Media

Nov 21, 2020; West Point, New York, USA; Army Black Knights head coach Jeff Monken leads his team out to the field before a game against the Georgia Southern Eagles at Michie Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports

Monken: Army deserves a bowl bid

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Army went from a date to play in the Independence Bowl to without a game on Sunday, and coach Jeff Monken said his team deserves better.

The Black Knights finished 9-2 and won the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy after a defeat of Air Force on Saturday and looked forward to facing a Pac-12 opponent in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La., on Dec. 26. But 24 hours later, with Southern California and other Pac-12 teams opting out of bowl games and other teams declining to face Army, the Independence Bowl was canceled.

“We had guys in tears,” Monken told ESPN about the reaction of his players after they learned the news. “We pulled off the biggest wins of these seniors’ career, they just won the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy back, that’s going to be their legacy, and they’re looking forward to playing in a bowl game one time together, before they go off in the United States Army, and we’re sitting here telling them, ‘Sorry, guys, you can’t play.’

“You can talk about a playoff system and people bitching about they’re not a top-four team, ‘Oh, we should be in.’ All we want is a bowl game. All we want is a chance to play.”

An independent program, Army pieced together an 11-game schedule, finding opponents as teams canceled games amid the coronavirus pandemic. Their two losses came on the road against Cincinnati, which finished the season No. 9 in the College Football Playoff rankings, and Tulane.

Monken had harsh words for programs that opted out of playing after they didn’t win their way into the bowl game of their choice.

“USC, a week ago, was saying, ‘We deserve to be in the College Football Playoff if we go undefeated and win the Pac-12 championship,’” Monken told ESPN. “And the Pac-12 was saying, ‘An undefeated Pac-12 team deserves to be considered.’ So they go to the Pac-12 championship against Oregon and lose and they go from wanting to go to the College Football Playoff to not wanting to play at all? I don’t get it. Boise State opted out today. They lost their championship game yesterday. So they went from being their conference champion and representing their conference in a bowl game to opting out? You couldn’t go one more week and play us?

“It just doesn’t make any sense to me that you can go from wanting to play to not wanting to play in a matter of 12 hours.”

USC said it was following recommendations from medical officials in pulling out.

“Don’t say no to Army, because you’re not just saying no to our team. You’re saying no to the 1.3 million people who serve on active duty all over the world who want to have that source of pride represented in a bowl game,” he said. “These seniors have made a pledge to put their lives on the line for every other college football player in this country, for every college football fan, for everybody that’s involved in these decisions. Somehow, some way, somebody should say, ‘We’re going to make a way for this team to play.’”

Monken said his team will continue to practice this week in case a team backs out because of COVID-19 testing or other reasons.

“If we got a Dec. 31 bowl game, if you call us on the 29th, we’ll have those guys flying there on the 30th,” Monken said. “What I’m hoping is some of these bowl games, when they hear enough of this about Army, they’re going to say, ‘You know what? If somebody cancels, we’re going to take Army. We’re going to be the knight in shining armor and we’re going to look like a hero taking this team.’

“They’ll be the hero.”

–Field Level Media