Army West Point Black Knights Face Biggest Football Game in Decades

The Army West Point Black Knights haven’t played a game like the one they’ll play on Saturday in decades.

Nov 2, 2024; West Point, New York, USA; The Army Black Knights celebrate in the locker room after a 20-3 win against the Air Force Falcons at Michie Stadium. / Danny Wild-Imagn Images

Doc Blanchard, Glenn Davis and Pete Dawkins all won Heisman trophies at Army West Point. Dawkins claimed the last in 1958.

That season, Army went to South Bend, Ind., and beat Notre Dame, 14-2. The Black Knights finished 8-0-1 and No. 3 in the final AP national poll.

Army hasn’t beaten Notre Dame since then. That’s 15 straight meetings.

On Saturday, the Black Knights (9-0, 7-0) and the Fighting Irish (9-1) will meet at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. It’s always a big game, even if it’s not played every year anymore.

But this meeting? This meeting has stakes Army hasn’t seen in decades.

The Irish were ranked in both the AP Top 25 and the College Football Playoff Top 25 this week. Funny thing is, so were the Black Knights. And, in all likelihood, both will be ranked going into Saturday’s game.

The last time Army was ranked in the AP Top 25 when it played Notre Dame was in 1985. The Black Knights were No. 18. The Irish were unranked. Notre Dame won, 24-10, in South Bend.

At that time, the Black Knights hadn’t been ranked since 1962. The former poll perennials had fallen out of favor. In the last 30 years, Army has been ranked in just four seasons, including this one.

Last year, being undefeated, ranked and playing Notre Dame might have been more than enough for coach Jeff Monken and his Black Knights.

But this season the stakes are immense.

The expansion of the College Football Playoff has provided a guaranteed avenue to the top-ranked champion of one of the Group of 5 conferences, including the American, Conference USA, the Mid-American, the Mountain West and the Sun Belt.

Ordinarily, that wouldn’t matter to Army, which has been independent nearly its entire existence, save a disastrous seven-year stint in C-USA. But, the Black Knights became an affiliate member of the American for football this season. And, on Saturday, after Tulane beat Navy, the Green Wave clinched a spot in the AAC title game where they will face Army.

For the first time in program history, the Black Knights will play for a league title.

Entering this week, Boise State is the highest-ranked Group of 5 leader. If the Broncos keep winning and win the Mountain West, they’ll likely get that invite. But, if the Broncos stumble enough, the winner of the Tulane-Army game would probably claim that berth.

But, Army is in a position to do so much more — and it may need it. Beating Notre Dame would keep the Black Knights’ undefeated season alive and position them to leap-frog Boise State if they stay undefeated, win the AAC title game and the Broncos stumble.

To get there, Army realistically needs to remain undefeated. To remain undefeated, Army needs to beat Notre Dame. The last time Army beat Notre Dame was 66 years ago. It was also the last time Army finished a season undefeated.

So, yeah, it’s kind of a big deal.