WEST POINT, NY. – Army football has taken the nation by storm this year in the world of college football and has quickly found itself to truly become “America’s Team”.
Today’s matchup however, had a much deeper meaning and tone to it.
Many are familiar with the traditional Army – Navy rivalry that takes place at the end of the year marking the official end to the college football regular season, but what many overlook is the traditional Army – Air Force rivalry game that happens every season as well.
The Army – Air Force game usually takes place early on in the season as an intro game to the Commanders Cup series. Which is a contest between all three service academy teams, as Army currently is the defending champion and the trophy has resided at West Point since the last Army – Navy game.
While the Army – Navy rivalry is one of respect and tradition, the Army – Air Force rivalry is one born out of pure hatred for one another. It is safe to say that neither team respects nor acknowledges each other.
Leading up to the game some cadets supposedly from West Point journeyed from New York all the way to Colorado to play a harmless prank on the Air Force Academy earlier in the week in preparation for today’s game.
Leading into the game, many thought they’d be getting to see another Heisman worthy performance from Army quarterback Bryson Dailey, however, 30 minutes before the game, it was announced that backup quarterback Dwyane Coleman would get the starting nod, making his first career start.
Dailey would be labeled as inactive with an undisclosed injury, however, he is set to be back on the field next week when the team travels to Denton to take on North Texas.
The first quarter was a bit on the slower side, with an Air Force offense that couldn’t get any forward momentum going and an Army team that had to a adjust to a new leader taking snaps under center. Nevertheless, Army struck first with a 30 yard field goal from Trey Gronotte to give them an easy 3-0 lead.
Army’s defense was on lockdown the entire game, forcing back to back sacks early on in the first to keep the Air Force offense at bay.
While the clock moved very fast towards halftime, the score barely budged, as Army would go into the half with a 6-3 lead over Air Force.
Coming into the 2nd half, Army’s offense finally started to show signs of life.
On Army’s first drive of the half, Kanye Udoh found himself untouched as he zoomed into the endzone for a 12 yard touchdown.
Coming into the 4th quarter, Army’s defense opened up in a huge way, after getting a controversial pass-interference call the play before, Casey Larkin came up and grabbed an interception to put Army back on offense.
Army would do it again later in the quarter as safety Max DiDomenico would fly across the field for the Army defense grabbing its second interception of the day.
Immediately on the play after, Army would get its second touchdown of the day thanks to Kanye Udoh who found himself getting to the endzone again.
With the game way out of reach for Air Force, Army decided to throw salt in the wound with yet another interception for the defense as Jayden Mayes would pick off a last ditch effort pass from Air Force in the endzone to officially call game.
After the game, Coach Monken spoke with CBS about how the defense performed today.
“”Our defense just played their hearts out… Nate Woody, our defensive coordinator, just an incredible job defending this offense.”
With this win, Army advances to 8-0. This comes for the first time since 1996.
With this win, Army also extends their winning streak to 12 straight games, the longest active streak in the entire country.