Army’s first bowl appearance since 2021 continues to be fumbled.
News broke during the Army-Navy game that the Black Knights needed an opponent for the Independence Bowl after Sun Belt champion Marshall opted out due to a slew of its players entering the transfer portal.
The Independence Bowl confirmed that Louisiana Tech (5-7), which is located about an hour from Shreveport, La., home of the bowl, has “stepped up” to play Army.
Another opportunity has passed to give Army, the American Athletic Conference champion, a worthy opponent with name recognition.
Bowl replacements are considered by the college’s Academic Progress Rate ranking among 5-7 teams. Cincinnati, Wisconsin, Air Force, Auburn and Virginia were the first five 5-7 teams based on APR. Were they invited? Did they decline?
Adding more drama to Saturday was a tweet by Air Force play-by-play announcer Jim Arthur stating the Mountain West asked Air Force (5-7) if it would step in as Army’s opponent. Air Force said yes, per Arthur. The Independence Bowl chose nearby Louisiana Tech, which ranked 17th in APR among 5-7 teams, instead. Did Army not want to play Air Force for a second time?
Army’s bowl game process was spoiled from the jump when Marshall was named the Black Knights’ initial opponent in a “champion vs. champion” matchup. Marshall wasn’t retaining or extending coach Charlie Huff and one had to expect good Thundering Herd players would enter the transfer portal.
Yet, the Independence Bowl locked in Army’s matchup with Marshall while Tulane, Navy. Memphis, East Carolina, all who finished behind the Black Knights in the regular season, received Power Four opponents.
Can’t make it up.
Black Knight Nation requested a comment from AAC commissioner Tim Pernetti and instead received this statement from the American Athletic Conference in regards to the Independence Bowl situation:
“The Army West Point Black Knights had a historic season, concluding with an impressive 11-2 record and earning the title of American Conference Champion. While we are disappointed that Army and our student-athletes, who displayed incredible grit and perseverance this season, will not have the opportunity to compete against Sun Belt Conference champion Marshall University, we thank Louisiana Tech for rising to the occasion to help ensure the Independence Bowl proceeds as scheduled.”
Pernetti commented to Action Network’s Brett McMurphy on Marshall opting out of the bowl.
The conference and commissioner of an 11-win champion is thanking 5-7 Louisiana Tech for “rising to the occasion” and pointing some blame on Marshall for accepting a bid that shouldn’t have been extended with a head coach in his way out in the first place.
It’s a mess. The Independence Bowl and or AAC should also accept their role in it.
Now, we likely have the first 11-2 vs. 5-7 matchup in bowl history.
At this point I feel like Army should withdraw from the bowl too. We have coaches leaving too and I just heard that Udoh entered the transfer portal. After a historic season, its ending is sadly turning into a disaster. I hate the new college football. Bowls are largely meaningless now and NIL and the transfer portal have turned the sport into a mercenary mini NFL with no loyalty and ever increasing haves and have nots. Ugh.
Army has two options— 1) Withdraw or 2) Go score the most points ever in college football bowl history. Beat this team to a bloody mess and absolutely destroy them to oblivion.
In addition, participating in conference play never ends well for Army, as evidenced yesterday…and now with this waste of a bowl game.
Well said, Big Daddy.
Army gets a chance to play once more.
A little redemption and a chance to regain some pride after the Navy game.
An advance workout for Spring football?
Go, dismantle LA Tech, start working on next season.
One last chance for fans to savor a great season of Army Football.
Sal. Scott. Big Daddy. Like they always say: “follow the money.” The Independence Bowl Committee saw the chance to get maybe 10-20 thousand more fans x ticket price than would have gotten with any other opponent, as it will be like a home game for La Tech students and area fans that are only an hour or less away. It’s an away game for us. What happened to the concept of fairness and a neutral site? At least Army has enough time to get through the mourning period and then enough time to prepare for the game and resolve the problems they didn’t resolve for the Navy game. You have to know La Tech will do the same things offensively and defensively that Navy’s coaches were smart enough to do, namely, stack the box on defense with 9 guys and have two guys blitzing Bryson every play (whether a pass or run, no matter, as Army only sends 1 or 2 guys out on pass plays), and on offense, intentionally run mostly QB scrambles and/or almost “automatic” 5-10 yard gain short passes that Army just lets opponents have. Looking back on the season, about 90% of our opponent’s yardage was gained that way. Our defense is tough on ordinary running plays, but falls apart on QB scrambles and short passes. Navy was smart to recognize these things. Army did not do well to anticipate and prepare for such.
It is a mess. Torn between the reward to players and one more time together and the huge fiasco the AAC has handed us. You are prob correct. It is a terrible match up. Got to remember we can’t just show up or we will put ourselves in danger. The ending of our season does not align with our teams tremendous effort for the season.
Big Daddy
December 15, 2024 at 3:27 PM
At this point I feel like Army should withdraw from the bowl too. We have coaches leaving too and I just heard that Udoh entered the transfer portal. After a historic season, its ending is sadly turning into a disaster. I hate the new college football. Bowls are largely meaningless now and NIL and the transfer portal have turned the sport into a mercenary mini NFL with no loyalty and ever increasing haves and have nots. Ugh.
MM
December 15, 2024 at 7:13 PM
Army has two options— 1) Withdraw or 2) Go score the most points ever in college football bowl history. Beat this team to a bloody mess and absolutely destroy them to oblivion.
In addition, participating in conference play never ends well for Army, as evidenced yesterday…and now with this waste of a bowl game.
Scott
December 16, 2024 at 10:02 AM
Well said, Big Daddy.
Army gets a chance to play once more.
A little redemption and a chance to regain some pride after the Navy game.
An advance workout for Spring football?
Go, dismantle LA Tech, start working on next season.
One last chance for fans to savor a great season of Army Football.
Norm Remick
December 16, 2024 at 10:48 AM
Sal. Scott. Big Daddy. Like they always say: “follow the money.” The Independence Bowl Committee saw the chance to get maybe 10-20 thousand more fans x ticket price than would have gotten with any other opponent, as it will be like a home game for La Tech students and area fans that are only an hour or less away. It’s an away game for us. What happened to the concept of fairness and a neutral site? At least Army has enough time to get through the mourning period and then enough time to prepare for the game and resolve the problems they didn’t resolve for the Navy game. You have to know La Tech will do the same things offensively and defensively that Navy’s coaches were smart enough to do, namely, stack the box on defense with 9 guys and have two guys blitzing Bryson every play (whether a pass or run, no matter, as Army only sends 1 or 2 guys out on pass plays), and on offense, intentionally run mostly QB scrambles and/or almost “automatic” 5-10 yard gain short passes that Army just lets opponents have. Looking back on the season, about 90% of our opponent’s yardage was gained that way. Our defense is tough on ordinary running plays, but falls apart on QB scrambles and short passes. Navy was smart to recognize these things. Army did not do well to anticipate and prepare for such.
Steve Miller
December 18, 2024 at 12:24 PM
It is a mess. Torn between the reward to players and one more time together and the huge fiasco the AAC has handed us. You are prob correct. It is a terrible match up. Got to remember we can’t just show up or we will put ourselves in danger. The ending of our season does not align with our teams tremendous effort for the season.