Army Football: 5-TD Day For Bryson Daily Thrashes Delaware State

The Army QB finished with two rushing touchdowns and a stunning three touchdown passes

© Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports

In last week's loss to Louisiana-Monroe, everything fell apart in the fourth quarter for Army. The Black Knights hoped for an easier day in their home opener. It wasn't an unreasonable request, considering their opponent. The Delaware State Hornets lost to Division II Bowie State in their own home opener last week.

This time around, Jeff Monken and Drew Thatcher's offense worked much better.

The Black knights were victorious by a score of 57-0. This brings their record to 1-1 on the year. It was the Black Knights' 15th consecutive victory over an FCS team.

Army's first offensive touchdown of the season came from a 13-yard touchdown run by junior quarterback Bryson Daily with eight minutes remaining in the first quarter. Daily followed it up on the next drive with a 59-yard passing touchdown to Isaiah Alston. 

Daily's day ended just at the start of the fourth quarter. At that point, Army was already up 43-0. He got his rest with a final stat line of 8-11 passing for 193 yards and three touchdowns through the air. That gave him a final QB rating of 310.1. Daily also rushed for 65 yards and two touchdowns on nine attempts.

Alston was Daily's top target on the day, catching three passes for 135 yards and two touchdowns. This was the highest receiving yardage total by an Army player in a single game since 2007.

"The defense gave us exactly what we were preparing for," Daily said of Army's offensive performance. "Isaiah's a big time playmaker. Any way we can get him the ball, we're going to try to. He ran two great routes, got open, I just had to throw it in his area and he's going to catch it."

While head coach Jeff Monken was happy to be in the win column, he found himself looking ahead to the bigger challenges that Army will face this season.

"Last week, he made some really good plays, but obviously had some plays that he'd like to get back. He had fewer of those today," Monken said of Daily's day. "There are some plays where he would want to try that one again...and that's okay. That's good. Quarterbacks should be critical of their own play...He's a really easy kid to coach and a hard worker. He's going to get better."

The Army defense also pitched a shutout for the first time since 2020 when they beat Navy 15-0.

Delaware State next take the field on September 16 when they play fellow FCS school Richmond on the road.

The road only gets tougher for Army when they head west to face UTSA in the Alamodome on Friday, September 15. That game will be broadcast on ESPN.