Army exorcised the demons in Colorado Springs on Saturday, and moved one step closer to the CIC trophy. Just by virtue of their being scheduled before the Army Navy game, Air Force had been the gatekeeper to the CIC trophy, and now having shut the falcons down and shut the Falcons out - Army moves on to play Navy in mid-December for the elusive trophy.
Ahmad Bradshaw elevated himself into the 2017 Top 10 in FBS rushing. Talk about an MVP performance - and a lot of those runs were designed QB keepers. It's as if the game plan was to roll into Colorado Springs, puke on their carpet and unleash the captain for 265 yards at 11.5 yards per carry. Check, check and check.
Top ten in FBS rushing is really something - add to that inclusion in West point's rushing single season rushing top ten.
SINGLE SEASON RUSHING YARDS
No. Player Year ATT AVG YDS
1. Collin Mooney 2008 231 5.8 1339
2. Mike Mayweather 1990 274 4.9 1338
3. Carlton Jones 2004 209 6.1 1269
4. Trent Steelman 2012 241 5.2 1248
5. Raymond Maples 2012 223 5.4 1215
6. Mike Mayweather 1989 239 4.9 1177
7. Michael Wallace 2000 192 6.0 1157
8. Doug Black 1984 264 4.3 1148
9. Ahmad Bradshaw 2017 142 8.0 1132
10. Larry Dixon 2014 191 5.9 1118
Ahmad Bradshaw's season average is 125 yards per game. #17 needs 85 more yards to get his 2017 into Army's top 5 rushing seasons.
If I could show just one thing to help those who haven't been watching every Army football game visualize the Black Knights' success:
That's a lot of wins. It's enough to go bowling for the second year in a row. It's enough to spark the comparisons to 1996; and it's enough to put the CIC trophy in play.
Tomorrow we have Duke coming up to a sold out Michie Stadium for senior day - Army hopes to go unbeaten at home for the first time since 1996.
Army sits at
4th regarding time of possession , and 3rd in terms of
fewest negative yard plays on offense.
Army has lost only two fumbles this year and sits tied for
6th for fewest fumbles for a team in 2017.
129th in passing and 28 pass ypg subtly implies that Army is a running team.
The job that Brent Davis has done in leafing through the playbook over the course of these first 9 games has been outstanding. I used to rave about how Air Force's offense was multiple (squared) They had multiple formations, they ran a variety of option looks and also tried conventional power run and they had a pretty filthy play action game. This is the first time I can remember being this impressed with how Army looked against Air Force. When you look and see the strides that
Jeff Monken has taken with this team - keep in mind the style points they earned in this win at Colorado Springs - much of this team's swagger comes from Brent Davis' seemingly unbeatable offense.
Brent Davis is, of course, being mentioned for
other FBS jobs.
I suppose that with this timely
report on the 501(c)3 funding of service academy athletics now might be a good time to refresh Davis' contract. Let's hope that Davis'
interest in GA Southern is a professional courtesy in line with his time with GA Southern as OC.
With the Air Force game we saw much more of the diamond formation and a few new wrinkles out of the flexbone. Some stuff didn't work. There was a new wishbone misdirection QB keeper that didn't have the time or space to gain yardage. I think that was stuffed for no gain right before Ahmad ripped off another long run for a first down inside Air Force's 20. It kind of opens my eyes to how much of a process it is to find a new edge and then find a place to try these things out in a game. Then blend these new schemes into the mix with the weekly offensive staples.
Even with Duke coming into this one with two weeks' prep time I am not so sure they will be able to bottle up Army's rushing attack. They saw plenty new last Saturday, they had a lot to digest from the first 8 games. Duke will still need to square up against Army's zone option game, and if they cover all of that then they can sit in amazement with Army fans on Saturday and sort out what Brent Davis has devised this week just for the Devils.
I cannot wait.
Army Air Force
story,
stats,
highlights and
replay
