2018 Army Black Knights football team


The 2018 Army Black Knights football team represented the United States Military Academy in the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Black Knights were led by fifth-year head coach Jeff Monken and played their home games at Michie Stadium. They competed as an independent. Following their 28–14 victory over Colgate in Week 12, Army entered the AP Poll at No. 23 and the Coaches' Poll at No. 24, the first time Army had entered the national rankings since finishing the 1996 season at No. 25 in the AP and No. 24 in the Coaches'. On December 2, Army accepted an invite to participate in the Armed Forces Bowl against the Houston Cougars of the American Athletic Conference. On December 8, Army defeated its archrival Navy by a score of 17–10, increasing their Army-Navy Game win streak to three in a row and winning the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy for the second straight year. With the win the Black Knights also secured their second straight 10-win season, the first time that had been accomplished in the Academy's long and storied history. In the Armed Forces Bowl, they defeated Houston by a score of 70–14 to tie NCAA bowl game records for points scored and margin of victory. Their 11 wins are the most in one season in program history. As a result of his team's 2018 accomplishments, Coach Monken was awarded the George Munger Collegiate Coach of the Year Award by the Maxwell Football Club, the Vince Lombardi College Football Coach of the Year Award by the Lombardi Foundation, and the President's Award by the Touchdown Club of Columbus. Army finished the season with a ranking of No. 19 in the AP Poll and No. 20 in the Coaches' Poll, their highest finish in both polls since Pete Dawkins's Heisman Trophy-winning season in 1958 where the Cadets finished No. 3 in both polls. Following the completion of the season, the Black Knights were awarded the 2018 Lambert Trophy by the Eastern College Athletic Conference and Metropolitan New York Football Writers, signifying them as the best team in the East in Division I FBS. This was the eighth overall time the Lambert Trophy had been awarded to Army, and the first since 1958.

Previous season

The Black Knights opened the 2017 season with two consecutive wins over teams they had lost to over the previous two years: a blowout win over Fordham and a fourth-quarter comeback over Buffalo to open the year at 2–0. They then dropped the next two games against No. 8 Ohio State and Tulane. Following these setbacks, the Black Knights ripped off a string of six straight wins, highlighted by a 31–28 overtime victory against Temple to become bowl eligible, a 21–0 beat-down of service-academy rival Air Force, and a 21–16 victory over Duke to secure their first unbeaten home schedule in a season since the 1996 team that finished 10–2. Following this string of victories, Army dropped a shootout to 2016 Heart of Dallas Bowl opponent North Texas on a last second field goal to enter the 118th Army-Navy game with a record of 8–3 and the opportunity to secure their first Commander-in-Chief's Trophy in over twenty years.
In a steady snowfall on the afternoon of December 8, after hosting ESPN's College GameDay and wearing uniforms honoring the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division, the Black Knights defeated their arch-rival Navy by a score of 14–13 after taking the lead on a fourth-quarter go-ahead scoring drive followed by a missed last-second 48-yard Midshipmen field goal. This secured their second victory in a row over Navy and their first Commander-in-Chief's Trophy since 1996.
The Army team then capped off the season by earning their second straight bowl victory over the San Diego State Aztecs in the Armed Forces Bowl by converting a go-ahead 2-pt conversion after scoring with 18 seconds left in regulation. This secured the Black Knights' second ever 10-win season, finishing with a final record of 10–3. Following the season, they were chosen as the 2017 ECAC Division I Football Subdivision Team of the Year. Quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw finished the season with an Army and all-service-academy single-season rushing record of 1,746 yards.

Preseason

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released
Rimington TrophyBryce HollandCSR
Maxwell AwardDarnell WoolfolkFBSR
Bronko Nagurski TrophyJames NachtigalLBSR
Paul Hornung AwardKell WalkerSB/KRJR
Walter Camp AwardDarnell WoolfolkFBSR

Personnel

Roster

Schedule

Sources:

Rankings

Game summaries

at Duke

StatisticsARMYDUKE
First downs1819
3rd down efficiency5–142–9
4th down efficiency4–41–1
Plays–yards68–36552–381
Rushes–yards47–16835–184
Passing yards197197
Passing: Comp–Att–Int10–21–013–17–0
Penalties–yards7–694–30
Turnovers21
Time of possession36:0623:54

Liberty

StatisticsLIBARMY
First downs2128
3rd down efficiency5–126–14
4th down efficiency0–12–2
Plays–yards60–41782–510
Rushes–yards23–11074–449
Passing yards30761
Passing: Comp–Att–Int19–37–12–8–0
Penalties–yards6–277–100
Turnovers30
Time of possession18:3041:30

Hawaii

StatisticsHAWARMY
First downs1518
3rd down efficiency1–711–19
4th down efficiency0–23–4
Plays–yards45–36276–465
Rushes–yards13–4166–303
Passing yards321162
Passing: Comp–Att–Int20–32–06–10–0
Penalties–yards5–305–70
Turnovers00
Time of possession18:4241:18

at Oklahoma

StatisticsARMYOU
First downs2619
3rd down efficiency13–211–3
4th down efficiency4–50–1
Plays–yards87–37940–355
Rushes–yards78–33925–190
Passing yards40165
Passing: Comp–Att–Int3–9–211–15–1
Penalties–yards6–504–20
Turnovers21
Time of possession44:4115:19

at Buffalo

StatisticsARMYUB
First downs2514
3rd down efficiency9–142–11
4th down efficiency3–30–2
Plays–yards69–37255–255
Rushes–yards64–28131–103
Passing yards91152
Passing: Comp–Att–Int4–5–110–24–0
Penalties–yards7–737–78
Turnovers10
Time of possession37:3422:26

vs. San Jose State

StatisticsARMYSJSU
First downs2310
3rd down efficiency10–164–11
4th down efficiency3–30–0
Plays–yards70–39548–171
Rushes–yards65–34130–36
Passing yards54135
Passing: Comp–Att–Int2–5–013–18–0
Penalties–yards3–157–55
Turnovers04
Time of possession37:1722:43

Miami (OH)

StatisticsMIOHARMY
First downs2320
3rd down efficiency5–188–17
4th down efficiency7–93–4
Plays–yards80–40676–347
Rushes–yards27–7774–347
Passing yards3290
Passing: Comp–Att–Int30–53–00–2–0
Penalties–yards8–561–5
Turnovers00
Time of possession23:5236:08

at Eastern Michigan

StatisticsARMYEMU
First downs2710
3rd down efficiency10–191–7
4th down efficiency4–41–2
Plays–yards81–41540–235
Rushes–yards73–28911–34
Passing yards126201
Passing: Comp–Att–Int7–8–019–29–0
Penalties–yards3–258–75
Turnovers01
Time of possession45:4214:18

Air Force

StatisticsAFAARMY
First downs1716
3rd down efficiency3–98–16
4th down efficiency1–33–3
Plays–yards57–32264–286
Rushes–yards35–12559–242
Passing yards19744
Passing: Comp–Att–Int12–22–13–5–0
Penalties–yards5–555–69
Turnovers10
Time of possession22:2837:32

Lafayette

StatisticsLAFARMY
First downs923
3rd down efficiency2–812–13
4th down efficiency1–10–0
Plays–yards40–15963–408
Rushes–yards24–8357–313
Passing yards7695
Passing: Comp–Att–Int9–16–05–6–0
Penalties–yards1–56–40
Turnovers01
Time of possession21:5838:02

Colgate

StatisticsGATEARMY
First downs1321
3rd down efficiency2–88–12
4th down efficiency0–21–1
Plays–yards44–25165–286
Rushes–yards28–18859–261
Passing yards6325
Passing: Comp–Att–Int11–16–02–6–0
Penalties–yards7–553–25
Turnovers11
Time of possession24:0435:56

vs. Navy

StatisticsNAVYARMY
First downs1112
3rd down efficiency3–135–14
4th down efficiency2–31–3
Plays–yards54–20859–283
Rushes–yards37–12750–222
Passing yards8161
Passing: Comp–Att–Int5–17–24–9–0
Penalties–yards5–303–25
Turnovers40
Time of possession25:3934:21

vs. Houston – Armed Forces Bowl

StatisticsHOUARMY
First downs2327
3rd down efficiency3–137–7
4th down efficiency2–30–0
Plays–yards73–32062–592
Rushes–yards41–9058–507
Passing yards23085
Passing: Comp–Att–Int21–32–04–4–0
Penalties–yards5–337–60
Turnovers21
Time of possession24:5535:05