On a chilly night in The Bronx, a new group of Notre Dame Four Horsemen emerged on the Yankee Stadium turf to again bring a game and determined Army football team back to the realities of college football.
Almost exactly 100 years after a different stable of Notre Dame runners made history by shocking a highly-ranked and undefeated Army team, this group of players showed another unbeaten Black Knights squad what a college football blue blood, stocked with many of the best players in the country can do.
A century ago, their names were Stuhdreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden and they held off Army 13-7 at the Polo Grounds, handing the Black Knights their only loss that year during a 5-1-2 campaign and establishing Notre Dame as an elite college football program that continues today. This time, in a game honoring those players and their team, the names were Jeremiyah Love, Aneyas Williams, Jadarian Price and Riley Leonard, and they collectively rushed for 275 yards and five touchdowns.
The result was a resounding 49-14 victory over the Black Knights, who came into the game on a 13-game winning streak dating back to last year, in front of a sold-out crowd of 47,342 and a prime-time national television audience. Notre Dame has now defeated Army 16 straight times, with the last Army victory coming in 1958 when the Black Knights defeated the Irish, 14-2, in South Bend, Ind.
Notre Dame took control of the game right away, stopping Army on a three-and-out and preventing the Black Knights from scoring on its first possession of the game for the first time all year. The Irish offense went right to work, scoring on a 28-yard touchdown pass from Leonard to Jordan Faison less than five minutes into the game. The Irish then blocked an Army punt (the first block of an Army punt since 2017) and quickly scored a second touchdown, a 6-yard run by Love. By halftime, the Irish led 28-7 and that lead extended to 35-7 on the first offensive play of the second half when Love raced 68 yards for another Irish score.
As good as the Irish offense was, the Notre Dame defense was even better. Keying in on Army quarterback Bryson Daily all evening, the Irish stymied Army’s heralded and FBS-level best rushing attack, shutting down any holes inside and using their lightening fast linebackers and secondary to prevent the Black Knights from establishing an outside running game or any kind of passing attack.
Daily, who carried the ball at eye-catching 39 times and was in the game until the very end despite the lopsided score, ended up with 139 rushing yards and scored both of Army’s touchdowns. But Army was held to just 207 rushing yards on 58 carries in the game and Daily could only muster four completions on nine tries for just 26 yards.
“They are just a really good football team, extremely well coached and great athletes,” said Daily. “If you mess up anything, they are going to expose it and they did tonight. We just could not stay on the field.”
To be clear, the game showed the difference between the cream of the crop in college football and a very good, mid-level team that has managed to so far dominate its American Athletic Conference opponents in its first season in the league and reach the league’s championship game on Dec. 6. Notre Dame, now 10-1, tallied a total of 462 offensive yards, did not punt all night, scoring on every possession of the game except two missed field goals (one blocked by Elo Modozie in the third quarter) and a heroic Army goal-line stand in the second quarter that many Black Knight faithful hoped would turn the game around.
“Oh, what a great football team we played tonight, they are really athletic and extremely well coached,” said Army coach Jeff Monken. “In every phase, they outclassed us. They blocked us and kept us blocked, we could not sustain blocks in the interior or perimeter and they did a great job on the punt block.
“I am proud of our guys and our effort. Our guys continued to fight the entire game. They never stopped fighting and we pride ourselves on that. Tonight, we just faced a great team. We did not do what we needed to do in the football game and, frankly, so much had to do with (Notre Dame).”
As important as this game was to Army’s season and perhaps bruised West Point egos, everyone involved with the Black Knights football program understands that there is still a lot to play for over the next 21 days. On Saturday, Army, which is now 9-1 overall and 7-0 in the AAC, hosts UTSA where a victory and a Tulane loss to Memphis on Thursday would give Army homefield advantage against the Green Wave on the following Friday night in the AAC championship game.
After those two games, Army meets Navy in Landover, Md. for their annual contest that will decide which team gets the Commander in Chief Trophy for the year. Then, the Black Knights still have a bowl game ahead of them, though it seems extremely unlikely that they can still qualify for the 12-team College Football Playoff even if they win the AAC title.
“We are just going to keep the same mentality we have had all year,” said Daily. “That is just go 1-0 each week, forget what is in the past, whether good or bad. I think that will light a fire under some guys and we will have a good practice tomorrow. Just go 1-0 this week and that is all that matters. We have so much to play for and the season is not even close to being over so we will get back to work tomorrow.”
Monken said that the focus now turns to an improving UTSA team, which toppled Temple Saturday, 51-27, for its third win in a row. The Roadrunners have scored at least 45 points in each of their last four games.
“If we are going to win next week, we have to get back to work tomorrow and not let this derail us,” he said. “It takes mental toughness and self-discipline because it is easy to look and feel like we just got our butts kicked and say what is wrong with us. We can let it effect us but I think we have a mature enough team and when a team gets to this point of the season, we are 9-1, the games are big.
“Next week is a big game and our guys know that. It is just the next opportunity to play and really get the bad taste out of our mouths from tonight. Our guys won’t let this game linger into next week. We are going to have to work hard to beat UTSA because I think they are really good.”
