Army Black Knights' Bryson Daily Underrated Star To Watch in Bowl Season

Army West Point Black Knights quarterback Bryson Daily is an underrated star to keep an eye on during Bowl Season.

Dec 14, 2024; Landover, Maryland, USA; Army Black Knights quarterback Bryson Daily (13) throws from the pocket during the first half against the Navy Midshipmen at Commanders Field. / Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

The Army West Point Black Knights suffered a tough defeat in the annual Army/Navy Game as a standalone contest following conference championship week and ahead of Bowl Season in college football.

It was a surprisingly dominant performance by the Navy Midshipmen, who picked up a 31-13 victory. The No. 22 ranked Black Knights suffered only their second loss of the campaign, with the first being three weeks ago to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

A major reason that Army fell short in the contest was that Navy was able to keep their incredible quarterback, Bryson Daily, in check.

He completed only 7-of-16 pass attempts for 65 yards, throwing for one touchdown and three interceptions. Where the Midshipmen really flexed their muscle in surprising fashion was in the trenches and against the run.

Daily ran for a season-low 52 yards on 19 carries, averaging a paltry 2.7 per rush. He had a long of only five yards, which was the first time all season he didn’t record at least one rush for double-digit yards in a game.

It also snapped his 10-game streak of rushing for triple-digit yardage and was only the second time all year he failed to record a rushing touchdown in a game.

That speaks to how dynamic Daily has been in 2024, as the Black Knights went as fas as he carried them. His production was through the roof, and why he landed on Morgan Moriarty of Bleacher Report’s list of underrated stars to keep an eye on this Bowl Season.

“Bryson Daily is one of the toughest signal-callers in the nation, and he'll be looking to bounce back from a three-interception performance against Navy. He finished sixth in Heisman voting this year, accounting for 2,474 total yards of offense, 38 touchdowns and just four interceptions.”

75 percent of those interceptions came against Navy, as Blake Horvath was able to outduel him at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland.

He and Army will be looking to get back into the win column when they take on the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs out of Conference USA in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl. 

They went 5-7 during the season and were a last-minute replacement for the Marshall Thundering Herd, who had to opt out of the game following so many players entering the transfer portal after a coaching change.

It certainly created a unique and unprecedented situation for Daily and Army to navigate, but you can be sure coach Jeff Monken will have his squad ready to go.