Army West Point Black Knights Face Tulane Green Wave For American Title

The Army West Point Black Knights will face Tulane to see if they can do something they’ve never done before.

Nov 30, 2024; West Point, New York, USA; Army Black Knights head coach Jeff Monken watches his players against the UTSA Roadrunners during the first half at Michie Stadium. / Danny Wild-Imagn Images

The Army West Point Black Knights joined the American Athletic Conference in 2024 and now they’ll get a chance to win the league crown when they host the Tulane Green Wave on Friday in the AAC title game.

The contest starts at 8 p.m. eastern at Michie Stadium with the game to be broadcast on ABC.

The Black Knights (10-1, 8-0 in American) ended the season at the top of the league standing and won the right to host the league title game. Army was never won a conference title before and only spent seven years in Conference USA, where it never won more than two leagues games in any season.

Tulane (9-3, 7-1) was in line to host the game until it fell to Memphis on Thursday. The Green Wave were hoping UTSA might be able to upset the Black Knights on Saturday, but Army escaped with the win.

So, now Army gets a true homefield advantage. Friday’s high is expected to be 30 degrees in West Point.  

Here is a preview of the game.

Tulane at Army West Point

Michie Stadium, West Point, N.Y.

Time: 8 p.m., ET, Friday

TV: ABC

Radio: WKDT 89.3 FM (flagship), 90.3 FM (inside stadium), American Forces Network radio.

Coaches: Tulane — Jon Sumrall (9-3 at Tulane, 32-7 overall); Army — Jeff Monken (80-56 at Army, 118-72 overall).

Fun fact: Sumrall and Monken have each won two conference titles as a head coach, but not at their current schools. Sumrall won two at Troy in the Sun Belt Conference, while Monken won a pair at Georgia Southern in the Southern Conference.   

All-Times Series: Tulane leads series, 13-9-1.

Last meeting: Tulane 38, Army 12 (2020).

Series notes: Army has lost the last four meetings, split evenly between West Point and New Orleans.

Last Week: Tulane lost to Memphis, 34-24; Army def. UTSA, 29-24.

About Tulane: The Green Wave has to be wondering what could have been. Tulane had everything it needed to host this game in a more temperate climate in New Orleans. But Tulane was unable to beat Memphis at home on Thanksgiving night, thus giving Army the opening to take over hosting duties. This is Tulane’s third straight trip to the AAC title game, but the first time it isn’t in the Big Easy.

The Green Wave shut out Navy, 35-0, earlier this season, so it has experience with the triple-option offense. In fact, Sumrall told reporters leading up to that game that his team worked against that offense every Monday in preparation.

Tulane is like Army in that it wants to run the football behind lead back Makhi Hughes, possess the ball, move the chains and grind opponents down. It also has an opportunistic defense that is among the best in the country at turning turnovers into touchdowns.

If there's any distraction for Tulane, it's the fact that it's coaching carousel season and Sumrall is already getting traction for some power conference jobs.

About Army: There is history everywhere for the Black Knights this season and winning a conference title would be historic for a program that's been around for more than 100 years. Army has built toward this for a while but going undefeated in its first season in a new league after switching offenses last year, and switching back this year, is impressive.

Army has never won 13 games in a season. In fact, this is just the fourth time in program history the Black Knights have won more than 10. But if the Black Knights win this game, win their annual showdown with Navy and their bowl game, they will accomplish something no Army team has ever done before.

Combine that with the fact that they've been ranked in the AP Top 25 for eight straight weeks, the program's longest stretch since 1958, and one gets the sense that there is a certain level of manifest destiny around this football team.

However, Tulane is talented enough to put an end to that dream and is the best team the Black Knights have faced outside of Notre Dame, which is their one loss.

Next Up: Army faces Navy on Dec. 14 in Maryland; Tulane will play in a bowl game to be announced on Dec. 8.