Jeff Monken knows the challenge his Army football team is up against Saturday. He knows about Notre Dame’s current record, its long and storied history and its players, many of them top recruits and high school all-Americans, who could chart their own course in the upper echelons of college football.
Still, the 11th-year Army coach remains hopeful that if his undefeated team can play their game, execute their assignments correctly and limit mistakes, the Black Knights can have an opportunity to upset the No. 6-ranked Fighting Irish when the two schools meet at Yankee Stadium in what Notre Dame officials call their annual “Shamrock Series” contest.
“The difference between them and us is a long way,” said Monken at his weekly press conference on Tuesday. “We know the challenges that are going to be there. The defensive front that they have. It is all 11 guys, the secondary guys are athletic and fast. We do not match up physically, so what we have to execute at a high level doing what we do and hoping that it will be good enough.”
Any way you look at it, this might be Army’s biggest game in more than 60 years. The Black Knights, 9-0 overall and the winners of 13 straight games dating back to last season, have already earned a spot in the American Athletic Conference championship game against Tulane on Dec. 6. But, if both teams finish with identical league records, the tiebreaker for home field could be their ranking in the College Football Playoff ratings system. And, Notre Dame, despite its 9-1 record, cannot afford a lose either as the Irish attempt to qualify for the College Football Playoff tournament.
Right now, Army and Tulane are ranked 19th and 20th, respectively, in the CFP system and a win over Notre Dame would go a long way to giving the Black Knights a step up in the tiebreaker. A victory would also end a 15-game, 66-year winning streak by the Irish over Army. The Black Knights last defeated Notre Dame in 1958, a 14-2 victory in South Bend, Ind. Army finished that season 8-0-1 and ranked third in the nation.
To win on Saturday, Army is going to have to stop a lot of talented players on both sides of the ball, including quarterback Riley Leonard, who has thrown for 1,789 yards and 12 touchdowns this year. Leonard is also second on the team in rushing, compiling 641 yards and 13 rushing scores this season. Running back Jeremiyah Love has 720 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns while a number of receivers are available for Leonard to throw to.
“We don’t have enough time to talk about the challenges we got facing those guys,” said Monken. “They have a really good offensive line, they are very skilled at receiver, and have long, physical tight ends. Their running backs do a great job of running downhill. They have good vision, they got speed and run away from people.
“Their quarterback is a really good thrower. He is a long-bodied kid who is very comfortable in the pocket. If you just saw him throwing the ball and that is the only film you had, you would not necessarily think this guy is a running quarterback. But they have designed runs for him and when he scrambles and gets out of the pocket, he is a really good runner. I am really impressed with him as a player.”
As for Army, which enters the game as a two-touchdown underdog, Monken will again put the offense in the capable hands of senior quarterback Bryson Daily and hope that he and running back Kanye Udoh and slotbacks Tyrell Robinson and Noah Short can maintain possession of the ball for extended periods. Defensively, Monken can only hope that the team continues the “bend, but don’t break” strategy that has limited opponents to an average of less than 10 points per game.
“It is really hard to win a college football game and its hard at Army to win a football game,” Monken said. “Our guys have to embrace the fact that we have to execute our assignments and fundamentals at a really high level and try to do that better than anybody else does that.
“That makes us an underdog all the time. We have to practice and play with absolute exactness. Because, if we don’t, we are going to get embarrassed.”
