Four games into the 2025 football campaign, and many are wondering whether Army can salvage its season, qualify for a postseason bowl game with the mandatory six wins and, of course, win the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy.
There is no doubt that the Army faithful are spoiled by the team’s success last season, where the Black Knights finished 12-2 and won the American Conference title in their first year in the league. They expected big things from the team this year, things that just have not seemed to have panned out yet.
So that leaves the team at the edge of a cliff and, in coach Jeff Monken’s own words, Army is “desperate and fighting with everything we got to accomplish the mission” to win and turn the season around.
The bottom line is that any turn around must start this Saturday at noon, when the Black Knights, now 1-3 on the season and in last place in the American Conference with an 0-2 mark, venture to Birmingham, Ala. to take on the UAB Dragons, who are currently 2-2 and enter the game as a one touchdown underdog to Army.
Despite what the Vegas bookmakers think, it will not be an easy task for the Black Knights. UAB seems vastly improved from its 3-9 (2-6 in the American) 2024 campaign and its passing attack, averaging 320 yards per game, is certain to be of a major concern to Army’s coaching staff this week. Dragons quarterback Jalan Kitna has thrown for more than 300 yards in three straight games and is currently fifth nationally in passing yards and third nationally in completions per game.
“(UAB) is really explosive on offense,” Monken said at his regular Tuesday press conference. “The quarterback is terrific. They have some new staff members and you see the changes and improvements that they have made. Some transfer players are contributing to their success, but they got some guys who have returned, that grew up in the program, and doing a really good job.
“We are in desperate need of a win and we just continue to work and try to improve and be the best team we can be. Hopefully, the best version of what Army football can be will show up on Saturday, we will give a great effort and try to win the game.”
Army has a number of issues that must be addressed quickly if the Black Knights hope for a good ending to this season.
At the top of the many concerns is the lack of offensive production by the team, which saw Army score just one touchdown last week against East Carolina in a sluggish 28-6 defeat. The Black Knights have problems throughout its offense, starting with inconsistent blocking by the offensive line, a lack of production from its banged-up fullbacks and the failure at quarterback outside on their improbable win at Kansas State in early September.
And, of course, there is the turnover issue, with Army losing four fumbles and three interceptions thus far this season.
It does not seem to help that the playbook seems limited, making the offensive play schemes appear quite ordinary and even predictable. Defenses are simply loading the box around the line of scrimmage and daring the Black Knights to run plays around or over them that Army just does not seem comfortable attempting.
Most shocking is the fact that Army was just 2-for-16 on third down conversions and 4-for-9 on fourth down tries against East Carolina. On seven of the third down, Army needed to gain at least six yards to convert.
“We are not built like that where we can just zing it around and throwing passes,” Monken said. “We are built a certain way. It does not mean we cannot come back. That is proven against North Texas. We were down 21-0 and we had a chance and we were in overtime with them.”
The defense has been a mystery thus far, too. Unlike last season, where everyone applauded the “bend, but don’t break” defensive mentality, this year has been quite the opposite. In the last two games, the Black Knights have given up 21 points to its opponents in just the first quarter.
“That is not a good recipe for success,” Monken said. “We got to have early success in the game and I hope we will. That is a team effort and something we got to do a good job of on offense and start a little faster and, defensively, get them off the field.”
The only good news is that the defense does seem to regroup as the games go on. Against East Carolina, the Black Knights D held the Pirates to just one touchdown—on a faked field goal—in the final three quarters of its game last week.
Monken keeps calling his players “warriors,”who refuse to give up and, thus far, that seems to be the case. “(Our players) have not quit,” he said. “They keep fighting and kept playing and I am very proud of that. There have been guys that throughout the game and all the way to the end have continued to play as hard as they can play and try to play physical. Even in the game on Thursday night and they beat us handily, our guys continued to play.”
Getting an “A” for effort is great, but, as Monken loves to say, it is all about winning the football game. Right now, there is very little room for error and a lot of issues that must be addressed to see if Army can still produce a winning record this season.
There is a glimmer of hope with Army’s upcoming schedule. Only one of its next seven opponents (Tulane 3-1) before the CIC showdown against Navy has a winning record through four games.
The season is far from over and Army can rebound with victories at UAB Saturday and at home against Charlotte next Saturday to even its record and start to make something out of the 2025 campaign.
It all starts in Birmingham Saturday. We shall see.
