Army football is one win away from bowl eligibility with a dominant win at Tulsa

October has barely begun and Army football is one win away from bowl eligibility, a feat that has eluded the past two seasons.

The Black Knights overcame a slow start and scored six straight touchdowns to pull away from Tulsa 49-7 in an American Athletic Conference game in hot Oklahoma.

Army is 5-0 for the first time since 1996, extending the nation's longest winning streak to nine games, dating back to October 2023. The Black Knights are also the AAC leaders at 4-0.

Tulsa did a good job of holding off Army's strong attack in the early going.

“We were kind of in a dog fight there,” Army head coach Jeff Monken said. “This is kind of the first time this year that we’ve really felt this.”

So the Black Knights went to the air and Bryson Daily was successful on all five of his pass attempts, loosening up the defensive coverage. Two of those completions were scores to Noah Short, for 37 yards in the first quarter and a wide-open catch and sprint of 58 yards late in the second (with the help of a David Crossan block far down the field), resulting in a 21-7 lead led.

When Army got the kickoff in the second half, it needed just three plays to build game-winning momentum, with Kanye Udoh racing 61 yards around right end for a score. On the next series, he repeated the run, covering 63 yards for a 35-7 lead.

“I thought we had some adversity in the first half that we overcame,” Monken said. “I don’t think we played particularly well overall as a team in the first half; Then we certainly played better in the second half. I'm proud of our boys. “I'm glad we got the win and I'm glad to know that there are some things we can improve on and get better at and we'll try to do that before we play next week. “

As the Golden Hurricane was forced to respect the army spreading the field, the country's main attack took over. Army rushed 49 times for 321 yards, and the total of 481 yards marked the first time the Black Knights eclipsed 400 offensive yards in five consecutive games under Monken, now in his 11th season.

“They were so focused on stopping the run that we didn’t have much of a choice,” Monken said. “I mean, we could have kept banging our heads against the wall, but we had to gain yards and the best thing we could do when they played the run really hard was try to throw it over their head or catch them.” “One too many played the run, and we did that a few times.”

For a team long known for mastering short-yardage runs, Army had nine plays of 20 yards or more.

Daily also contributed, adding several long runs, 13 attempts for 110 yards and two scores – marking the fourth time this season he had multiple rushing scores. He put his head down to score on a 4-yard carry with 5:02 left in the second quarter, giving Army the only lead they needed at 14-7. In the third quarter, Daily faked an end-around and slipped through a hole up the middle for a 27-yard score, deftly making an ankle tackle for his tenth rushing touchdown of the season. He rushed for 602 yards.

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Tulsa showed early promise, managing to complete numerous short-distance Army runs. The Golden Hurricane failed on four fourth-down conversions – it's clear that possession would be paramount in most Army games – and that included the opening drive that set Army up with a short field and an initial score.

Again, Tulsa went for fourth down on its next series, this time Kirk Francis found Kamdyn Benjamin on a 16-yard gainer – it was Hurricane's only successful fourth-down attempt. Four plays later, Cooper Legas ran unhindered from a meter away, went left past the goal and ensured a 7-7 draw.

Francis and the Legas virtually alternated snaps, hoping to confuse the Army's defenses. Cardell Williams came on late in the fourth quarter.

Army entered the game as one of only four teams in the country that had not trailed at all this season, joining Tennessee (which lost that award to Arkansas on Saturday night), Indiana (which lost that award to Northwestern on Saturday) and Texas on , and the Black Knights stuck to that mark.

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After traveling three times, Army will play three home games against Alabama Birmingham (October 12), East Carolina (October 19) and the traditional Service Academy Series game against Air Force (November 5).

“We are capable of a lot, but we still have to get better,” said Udoh. “Given this game and our previous games, we need to fix a lot of things. “So next week we’ll get back to work and improve.”

Note: Senior safety Tommy Zitiello was apparently injured on a play in the second quarter, went to the sideline and then had to be placed on a stabilization board and taken to the hospital. Monken said: “We don’t have a definitive answer as to what’s going on with him. But he's alert and agile and so on. So we are very optimistic about his recovery.”

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This article originally appeared on the Times Herald-Record: Army football rolls past Tulsa on the road to 5-0