Army and its quarterback Bryson Daily, deserve some respect and recognition as the college football season nears the postseason – according to Black Knight head coach Jeff Monken.
Prodded a bit by reporters at the postgame press conference on Friday night, after Army dismantled Tulane 35-14 to win the American Athletic Conference in its first year in the league, Monken said that Daily should be a serious candidate for the Heisman Trophy, given out next Saturday evening in New York.
Monken also said that the Black Knights deserve a spot in the College Football Playoff, which
starts in two weeks, not only because of Army’s 11-1 record but for what the academy
represents to college football and the support it would have nationwide.
The tournament which has expanded to 12 teams this season, automatically takes the winner of the top-five rated conferences with the other seven teams placed as at-large teams. One team must come from the Group of Five conferences, which includes the AAC, as well as the Mountain West Conference, where 11-1 Boise State also won its conference championship Friday night, knocking off UNLV 21-7.
Going into this weekend’s games, Army was ranked 25th in the CFP poll and even by defeating
Tulane, it is doubtful the Black Knights can move far enough up to be included in the playoff.
Army’s game with arch-rival Navy next Saturday is after the final CFP poll, which comes out on
Sunday.
“Here we go,” said Monken when asked whether Army belongs in the CFP. “At this moment, there are eight teams in this country that have won 11 games. All of the others have played 12 regular season games. Our team has played 11 regular season games and we have beaten everyone they put in front of us except the number four team in the country, and they beat the pants off us. We just beat another bowl team tonight.
“Who in college football and who around America wouldn’t be excited to see the Army BlackcKnights in the playoff. I think everyone would. It is a unique brand of football. Everyone in America could cheer for their home state team and alma mater and still cheer for Army. I think there would be a lot of excitement to have this team in the playoff.”
AAC commissioner Tim Pernetti also went to bat for Army Saturday.
“Army’s only loss was to the current No. 4 team in the nation and they have won 15 of their 16 games, going back to last year,” Pernetti said. “They have played only one sub-.500 team since mid-October. Their performance speaks for itself.”
Monken added that Army would be a tough out if it was given a chance.
“I think this team could compete as well as any Group of Five team in the playoff,” Monken said. “To have a team like this which has won as many games as we have and performing like we have, I would love for the college football playoff committee to give us some consideration. I would love to see this team get a crack at it and the way they are playing and the determination and confidence they play with, we would give somebody some hell.”
As for Daily, Monken was clear that the senior’s statistics and his leadership ability should be
enough to be taken seriously as a Heisman Trophy winner. Daily has rushed for 1,474 yards this
season, with 29 rushing touchdowns in 11 games. He missed the Air Force game with an injury,
but has rushed for at least 100 yards in 10 straight games this season and has scored at least
two touchdowns in each of the last nine games.
Daily has also passed for 877 yards and eight touchdowns. He has only one interception on the
season.
“I don’t know if there is anybody in the country that would balk at the idea of including the
starting quarterback of the Army Black Knights, who has rushed for 100 yards in 10 games in a
row on an 11-1 team that just won the conference championship,” he said. “Why doesn’t that
guy belong there? There are a lot of great football players in the country but there is not one
that means more to his team that (Daily). (The Heisman) is the MVP of college football. Who is
most valuable to their team and I would argue that there is not a guy in America more valuable
to their team than Bryson Daily.
“I know that the college football world would be thrilled to see that. How many times in history
that there would be an academy player who legitimately could go to (New York) and everybody
feels that guys belongs. This is that time in history. That guys belongs there.”
“They are as good as anybody we played all year, if not better. They are one of the top teams. You can tell this is a very veteran team, very senior-laden, physical upfront. This is a really quality football team. When you start slow they way we did, missing two field goals early, you don’t do yourself any favors because once they get a lead it is really hard to overcome.”
