Army Black Knights Have Clear, but Difficult Path to College Football Playoff

The Army Black Knights might need some help to earn a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Nov 9, 2024; Denton, Texas, USA; Army Black Knights offensive lineman Paolo Gennarelli (71) celebrates after a 14-3 win against the North Texas Mean Green at DATCU Stadium. / Danny Wild-Imagn Images

The Army Black Knights have been one of the biggest surprises in college football during the 2024 season.

They are entering their Week 12 bye with an undefeated 9-0 record, as they have a little extra time to prep for a massive matchup against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Yankee Stadium for a neutral site game next week.

That game will determine just how legitimate of a chance the Black Knights have to make the College Football Playoff. As shared by Morgan Moriarty of Bleacher Report, their road is a clear, but difficult one.

The first part of that equation is finishing undefeated, which means beating Notre Dame, the UTSA Roadrunners and Navy Midshipmen to finish out the regular season. Then, an American Athletic Conference Championship Game, potentially against the ranked Tulane Green Wave, to close things out.

An undefeated record with two victories over ranked opponents is solid, but may not be enough to jump over the Boise State Broncos. The undefeated Mountain West Conference representatives will need to slip up, probably more than once, as the second part of the equation.

A regular season loss and failure to win the MWCCG could be enough for Army to sneak past them in the CFP rankings.

“The committee's initial rankings of Army at 25th despite being undefeated, compared to Boise State's 12th means the committee drastically values the strength of the Mountain West's teams compared to the AAC. Mountain West teams are a combined 52-61, whereas the AAC teams are 65-64 overall. If Army stays unbeaten and still ranks low, the committee will likely be asked plenty of questions about this,” Moriarty wrote.

Another thing to keep an eye on is the health of star quarterback Bryson Daily, who battled an undisclosed injury a few weeks ago. Without him, the team isn’t nearly as dangerous and we have seen in the past that programs are penalized when star players are absent.

The Black Knights are far from the only team on the bubble heading down the stretch of the regular season. But, they are the ones that could draw the most attention, especially if they remain the only undefeated Group of 5 team standing at the end.

It will be fascinating to see what the committee chooses to do should Boise State be tripped up along the way. The matchup between Army and Notre Dame is essentially an elimination game, as the team that loses will see its CFP hopes extinguished.