Army drops No. 17 Air Force from ranks of unbeatens

It hasn’t been the best season for the Army football team, which entered Saturday’s round of the Commander-In-Chief’s (CIC) Trophy competition as an 18.5-point underdog against previously unbeaten and host Air Force. But the Black Knights (3-6) found salvation in the thin air of Denver’s Empower Field at Mile High, dominating throughout to top the Falcons 23-3.

With the win, Army ended a five-game losing streak and put itself in control of winning the 2023 CIC Trophy. If the Cadets can beat the Midshipmen in the Army-Navy Game on Dec. 9, the trophy will go to West Point for a year and the Black Knights will get a chance to go to the White House to meet the president. If Navy (which fell to 3-6 Saturday after losing 32-16 to Temple) wins, the CIC round-robin ends in a tie and the trophy will stay with last year’s winner: Air Force, which beat Navy 17-6 on Oct. 21.

 “I’m incredibly proud of our team,” said Army Head Coach Jeff Monken, who has won five of his last eight meetings with Air Force. “Our guys played really, really hard. And I’m really proud of our guys for that because it’s not easy to do going through a stretch like our last five games. I can’t say enough for the resilience of our guys, the way they’ve continued to come back.

“But the fierceness and intensity of these (CIC) battles are like no other games. The (win-loss) records don’t matter. There’s nothing like these academy games and the pride of playing for that trophy.  I’m happy that our guys have a chance to play for it in December.”

While the 17 points Army scored in the first quarter seem like the key to victory, a closer look shows that it was 60 minutes of tough Army defense – engineered by Defensive Coordinator Nate Woody and led by linebackers Camden O’Gara (two forced fumbles); Jimmy Ciarlo; and Leo Lowin (12 tackles, a quarterback sack, and two forced fumbles); and defensive back Bo Nicolas-Paul (two interceptions) – that derailed the nation’s best running attack. The Falcons (8-1) came into the game averaging 300.6 yards per game on the ground but managed just 155 on Saturday. The six forced turnovers were the most by any Army team since Oct 12, 2017, when the Black Knights also forced a half dozen turnovers against Rice.

Air Force saw its 13-game winning streak and hopes for an undefeated season shattered primarily by their turnovers – a single-game total larger than that of their first 8 games combined. Their 259 total yards were the team’s lowest of the season, and it was the first time since Nov. 4, 2017 – also against Army – that Air Force was held without a touchdown.

“We’ve had a pretty good go of it for awhile,” said Air Force head Coach Troy Calhoun, “and (today) you realize how hard it is to win. Credit to Army – they played really hard, really well. That’s why they won today. It was a matter of quality of execution or lack thereof. They won more one-on-ones, whether that’s making a block or maybe up front, our Offensive line. Credit to their (defensive) front. It’s so true – you have to win up front and today we did not.”

Army wasted little time getting on the board. On the fourth play from scrimmage, the Army offensive line cleared a big gap up the middle and junior quarterback Bryson Daily, who has been banged up and seen limited playing time in recent games, dashed through the space and 62 yards down the left sideline and into the end zone to give the Black Knights a lead they would never surrender.

The Falcons failed to convert a fourth-and-one play on their first possession, and Army moved the ball eight yards before kicker Quinn Maretzki drilled the first of three field goals to make the score 10-0. Air Force quarterback Zac Larrier made the first of two fumbles on Air Forces next possession, setting up an 11-play, 43-yard drive by Army capped by Daily’s five-yard push into the end zone.

Two plays into Air Force’s third possession, fullback Emmanuel Michel was hit hard by Army’s Brett Gerena and the ball came loose. It was recovered Ciarlo, and Daily then orchestrated a six-play, 24-yard advance that ended with another Maretzki field goal to boost the margin to 20-0 with 13:14 left in the half.

A nine-play, 59-yard drive by Air Force advanced to the Army 6, but the Black Knights’ defense stopped a run and a couple of pass attempts that forced the Falcons to settle for a 30-yard field goal by Matt Dapore. Though Army punted the ball away on its next possession, on Air Force’s second play of the next drive Nicolas-Paul made his first interception and charged 25 yards after the catch. Army moved the ball 8 yards on three plays, but, with the clock winding down, the Cadets were forced to settle for Maretzki’s final field goal with just 0:02 on the clock. The second half was a scoreless, defense-dominated struggle.

Daily was the offensive star of the day, rushing for 170 yards (topping 100 before the end of the first quarter) on 36 carries and completing 4-of-9 passes for 40 yards.

“It was a great day,” Daily said. “The offensive line had a helluva day blocking, running big holes – it made my job easy. Earlier this year we had moments when we had a good offense but just weren’t able to do that consistently. Coming out today and showing how good our offense can be was huge. And seeing the defense keep getting stops builds so much confidence in us.”