Army Black Knights football


The Army Black Knights football team, previously known as the Army Cadets, represents the United States Military Academy in college football. Army is currently a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision member of the NCAA. The Black Knights currently play home games in Michie Stadium with a capacity of 38,000 at West Point, New York. The Black Knights are coached by Jeff Monken who is in his sixth season as head coach. Army is a five-time national champion, winning the title in 1914, 1916, and from 1944–1946.
With the exception of seven seasons where the team was a member of Conference USA, Army has competed as an independent, meaning that they have no affiliation with any conference. As of the next college football season in 2020, Army is one of seven FBS schools whose football teams do not belong to any conference, the others being BYU, Liberty, New Mexico State, Notre Dame, UConn, and UMass. However, for all other sports Army is primarily a member of the Patriot League.
Three players from Army have won the Heisman Trophy: Doc Blanchard, Glenn Davis, and Pete Dawkins.
The three major service academies—Air Force, Army, and Navy—compete for the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy, which is awarded to the academy that defeats the others in football that year. Army has won eight CIC Trophies, most recently in 2018.

History

Army's football program began on November 29, 1890, when Navy challenged the cadets to a game of the relatively new sport. Navy defeated Army at West Point that year, but Army avenged the loss in Annapolis the following year. The academies still clash every December in what is traditionally the last regular-season Division I college-football game. The 2016 Army–Navy Game marked Army's first recent win after fourteen consecutive losses to Navy. From 1944 to 1950, the Cadets had 57 wins, 3 losses and 4 ties. During this time span, Army won three national championships.
Army's football team reached its pinnacle of success during the Second World War under coach Earl Blaik when Army won three consecutive national championships in 1944, 1945 and 1946, and produced three Heisman trophy winners: Doc Blanchard, Glenn Davis and Pete Dawkins. Past NFL coaches Vince Lombardi and Bill Parcells were Army assistant coaches early in their careers.
The football team plays its home games at Michie Stadium, where the playing field is named after Earl Blaik. Cadets attendance is mandatory at football games and the Corps stands for the duration of the game. At all home games, one of the four regiments marches onto the field in formation before the team takes the field and leads the crowd in traditional Army cheers.
For many years, Army teams were known as the "Cadets." In the 1940s, several papers called the football team "the Black Knights of the Hudson." From then on, "Cadets" and "Black Knights" were used interchangeably until 1999, when the team was officially nicknamed the Black Knights.
Between the 1998 and 2004 seasons, Army's football program was a member of Conference USA, but starting with the 2005 season Army reverted to its former independent status. Army competes with Navy and Air Force
for the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy.

National championships

Army has won five national championships from NCAA-designated major selectors. Army claims the 1944, 1945, and 1946 titles.

Lambert Trophy

The Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy, established in 1936, is an annual award given to the best team in the East in Division I FBS college football and is presented by the Metropolitan New York Football Writers. Army has won the Lambert Trophy eight times; seven times under legendary head coach Earl "Red" Blaik in the 1940s and 1950s, and most recently in 2018 under head coach Jeff Monken.

Bowl games

Army has played in eight bowl games. They have a record of 6–2.

Future bowl tie-ins

The NCAA's football oversight committee determined the number of primary bowl tie-ins for each FBS conference and FBS independent for the 2020-2025 bowl cycle using eligibility data from the 2014-2017 seasons. The Black Knights received one guaranteed tie-in per year. On October 24, 2019 the West Point Athletic Department announced that they had agreed to a contract that placed their team, if eligible, in the Independence Bowl for three of the six years, with the remaining years being contracted to an ESPN Events-owned bowl. Additionally, the contract contains a clause that allows Army the ability to accept a bid from a different bowl game once during the three-year agreement with the Independence Bowl and once during the three-year agreement with ESPN Events. Aligning with this, on November 5 Army announced that it had agreed to a secondary contractual tie-in with the Duke's Mayo Bowl. It agreed that it would serve as the primary backup for the bowl and would have the opportunity to accept an invitation to the game twice during the six-year cycle. The Duke's Mayo Bowl's primary tie-ins for the 2020-2025 cycle are the ACC, the SEC, and the Big Ten ; if any of those conferences were unable to place a team into the bowl during any of those years, Army would be extended an invitation to fill their place. The opponent conferences for the Independence Bowl were announced to be the Pac-12 and the American on January 30, 2020.
The Duke's Mayo Bowl can extend an invitation to Army once during the even years and once during the odd years to fill a vacancy as part of a secondary tie-in.
ESPN Events operates the following 15 bowls that Army could be invited to during odd years of the cycle:
† Dennis Michie coached 1 game in 1890, and then coached a full season in 1892.

Rivalries

Commander-in-Chief's Trophy

Air Force, Army, and Navy have played each other every year since 1972 for the Commander-in Chief's Trophy. Air Force leads the FBS service academies with 20 victories, Navy has 16 victories, and Army has 8 victories, with the trophy being shared 4 times.

Air Force

and Army meet annually and vie for the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy. Air Force leads Army 37–16–1 through the 2019 season.

Navy

Army and Navy play each other annually in the Army–Navy game, which is also a part of the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy. This series is one of the oldest and traditional rivalries in the NCAA. They first met in 1890, and have played each other annually since 1930. The games are generally played at a neutral site. Navy leads the series 61–52–7 through the 2019 season.

Notre Dame

is a rivalry which some feel has fallen into obscurity. In much of the early 20th century, Army and Notre Dame were considered football powerhouses, and met 34 times between 1913 and 1947. Though the rivalry has slowed down, they last met in 2016. Many media members considered the 1946 contest to be the "Game of the Century". Notre Dame leads the series 39–8–4 through the 2018 season.

Michie Stadium

Michie Stadium is the home stadium of the Army Black Knights in West Point, New York, which was opened in 1924. The stadium is named after the first Army football head coach, Dennis Michie. In 1999 the field was renamed Blaik Field at Michie Stadium in honor of Former Coach Earl Blaik.

Traditions

Songs


Alma Mater is the Army's school song. Army's fight song is On, Brave Old Army Team. Army also plays other organized cheers; Army Rocket Yell, Black, Gold, and Gray, and USMA Cheer.
Mascot


Army's mascots are the Army Mules. While dating back to 1899, they were officially adopted as mascots by USMA in 1936.

College Football Hall of Fame

Other notable players

President of the United States and General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower and General of the Army Omar Bradley were on the 1912 Army football team. Eisenhower was injured and his football career was over by 1913, when the two future generals were juniors. Bradley, a star of the Army baseball team for four years, was on the field in 1913 when Notre Dame upset Army in a historic college football game in which the forward pass was used for the first time. Bradley played end opposite the legendary Knute Rockne, the Notre Dame end who later coached the Irish to national championships before dying in a plane crash near Bazaar, Kansas, on Easter Friday in 1931.

Retired numbers

Award winners

Schedules as of July 29, 2020.
  1. At Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA
  2. At MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ
  3. At TBD

    Radio

Radio rights are held by the Army Sports Network.

Current broadcast team

;Army Sports Network