Army West Point Black Knights Continue Streak in National Rankings

The Army West Point Black Knights are preparing for the American Athletic Conference title game on Friday against Tulane.

Nov 30, 2024; West Point, New York, USA; Army Black Knights quarterback Bryson Daily (13) celebrates his touchdown against the UTSA Roadrunners during the second half at Michie Stadium. / Danny Wild-Imagn Images

The Army West Point Black Knights continued their streak of appearances in the Associated Press Top 25 as they moved up to No. 24 on Sunday.

The Black Knights (10-1, 8-0) beat UTSA on Saturday. For the first time in program history, they will host a conference championship game, as Tulane (9-3, 7-1) will visit to determine the American Athletic Conference champion.

The game is set for 8 p.m. eastern with the game to be broadcast on ABC.

Army clinched the berth by finishing with a better league record than Tulane. The Green Wave were undefeated before falling to Memphis on Thursday. Tulane had hosted the last two title games.

Since Army moved back into the national rankings on Oct. 13, for the first time since 2020, the Black Knights have remained in the poll for eight straight weeks. That is the program’s longest streak in the AP poll since 1958.

That season, Army was the preseason No. 9 team and remained in the poll all season, rising as high as No. 1 for two weeks before it ended the season at No. 3. Army hasn’t been a Top 10 team since 1962, when it was ranked No. 10.

Army has gotten as high as No. 16 in the poll, which was on Nov. 10. After the Black Knights’ loss to Notre Dame last week, they nearly fell out of the poll but hung on at No. 25.

Army has at least 10 wins for just the fourth time in program history and for the first time since 2018, when the Black Knights went 11-2. Army also went 10-3 in 2017 and reached 10 wins for the first time in 1996.

There is a chance the Black Knights could set a program record for most wins in a season, as they have three games remaining — vs. Tulane, the rivalry game with Navy on Dec. 14 and a bowl game, which will be determined on Dec. 8 when the College Football Playoff field and bowl game field is announced.

The Army-Navy game will not impact either team’s bowl designation. Army hasn’t played in a bowl game since 2021 when it won the Armed Forces Bowl.

This is Army’s first year in the American as an affiliate member for football. Army started its football program in 1891 and it has primarily been independent, with the exception of 1998-04 when it was a member of Conference USA.

The Black Knights exited that short stint with C-USA with a final record of 13-67 and a conference record of 9-41. Army never won more than two league games in any season.