The “Fourth Quarter Warrior” mindset is pushed through spring practice, preseason and regular season. Army prides itself on being tougher and more resilient than its opponent.
Army’s play in the final 15 minutes has been uneven at best in close games this season. Saturday’s Tulane loss was a prime example.
The Black Knights appeared in control of their own destiny following Cade Hellums’ 1-yard TD run that put Army 17-10 with 5:14 left. The defense forced Tulane to 4th-and-8 from Army’s 12 with two minutes remaining. A stop there would have increased Army’s chances of winning. But, Tulane quarterback Jake Retzlaff found an open receiver in the back of the end zone for the tying touchdown.
Was Army playing for overtime when it ran three straight times up the middle in the next possession? Quarterback Cale Hellums was having some success through the air and has looked comfortable running a two-minute offense late in the first half of the last three games. Why not get Hellums out of the pocket on a rollout pass-run option? Hellums admittedly said that if he would have followed fullback Carson Smith’s block to the left on third down instead of running toward a space that wasn’t there that he might have kept the drive going.
Tulane’s bonkers, game-winning touchdown catch brought back memories of Miracle at Michie game between the teams in 2007. Just unlucky for the Black Knights. Cornerback Jabril Williams played the ball like he was coached. Unfortunate that Williams’ deflection stayed in the field of play and bounced into Shazz Preston’s hands. Preston bobbled and gathered it for the stunner. Army coach Jeff Monken said he told safety Collin Matteson as he was coming off the field that he could have tackled Preston after the ball was tipped but that would have been an incredibly difficult reaction to play that has Matteson’s momentum going towards the sideline.
Army controlled the first half and only had a 3-3 halftime score to show for it. The 10 points that Army left on the field came back to bite them. The Black Knights produced zero points on their opening drive that took 11 minutes and 44 seconds over 18 plays and settled for a 44-yard field goal, that was missed by Dawson Jones. Hellums couldn’t connect with a wide-open Brady Anderson for a long touchdown pass. Anderson had to adjust to throw and couldn’t bring it in. Hellums essentially said in postgame press conference that he wish he could the throw back.
Three fullbacks carried the ball but not senior Hayden Reed. Carson Smith, who made his first career start, Jake Rendina and Briggs Bartosh have apparently moved ahead of Reed, who fumbled in Army’s last game against Charlotte. Army is going to need production from Reed during this next four-game stretch where it needs to win three games to be bowl eligible.
Hellums, who set career highs in rushing (155 yards) and passing (125 yards), is tied for third in FBS with 10 rushing touchdowns after two Saturday. He has one more than Air Force’s Liam Szarka and two more than Navy’s Blake Horvath.
Missed assignments continue to bite Army’s defense. The Black Knights left a gap unfilled on Retzlaff’s 37-yard touchdown run in the third quarter that gave the Green Wave offense a jolt.
Noah Short caught his 49th career pass, tying him with Isaiah Alston for the most by an Army player in the Jeff Monken era. For the second straight game, Army couldn’t establish Short on edge runs. Short fought got 23 yards on seven carries.
Norm Remick
October 23, 2025 at 5:38 PM
The chop block call was NOT a chop block but a simple double team that the defender got off of. We got screwed. And shortly after that biased call, Hellums got clearly horse-collared. The ref was right there and chose to ignore it. Hellums got horse-collared at least one more time. And, Brady Anderson should have caught that pass. Sure, he got turned around. But he had plenty of time being all alone and had both hands on the ball, even in his arms.. It should have been an easy catch. And without pressure on their qb, somebody always scrambles around and gets open, as happened on their potential last play, but tying touchdown.