Army Attempting To Snap ‘The Streak’ Against Notre Dame

It was 1958 when Notre Dame lost most recently to the Army West Point Black Knights in football, a 14‑2 setback. That was the final season Army had under coaching legend Earl “Red” Blaik, who led the Cadets to an 8‑0‑1 record and a No. 3 finish in the Associated Press poll, with Heisman Trophy winner Pete Dawkins leading the charge.

Since then, from 1965‑2010, the Fighting Irish and Army met 14 times in football, with Notre Dame winning each contest. The Irish outscored Army 494‑79 in those meetings, an average score of 35.3‑5.6.

Although there is a long way to go yet before breaking the NCAA-record 43-game winning streak Notre Dame had in consecutive years against Navy from 1964-2006, the current 14-game run is the longest active Irish dominance against a team that is still competing in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

In second place is a 10-game winning streak versus Illinois from 1938‑68, eight apiece against Washington (1948‑2009) and Tulane (1944‑71), and six versus Indiana (1951‑91).

Whereas Army’s streak of futility isn’t a surprise against Notre Dame, a far more unnerving current 14-game losing streak at West Point is the one to archrival Navy since 2002. It serves as a constant reminder of the football disparity between the two military brethren. Since 2003, Navy qualified for a bowl bid 13 of the past 14 years while averaging 8.5 wins per campaign.

Conversely, in the 19 seasons from 1997‑2015, Army was 56‑167 for a .251 winning percentage, and its lone finish above .500 was a 7-6 campaign in 2010, when it lost to Notre Dame 27‑3 in the Shamrock Series that was held in Yankee Stadium.

Under third-year head coach Jeff Monken, the more seasoned 2016 Black Knights— 15 starters returned from last year (six on offense and nine on defense before tragically losing cornerback Brandon Jackson in a single-car accident Sept. 11) — are in line with their 5-4 start to at least break even, especially with a game against Football Championship Subdivision foe Morgan State Nov. 19.

While posting quality wins on the road against Temple (28-13) and Wake Forest (21-13), the West Point team ranks second nationally in rushing yards per game with a 320.6, behind former Notre Dame head coach Bob Davie’s New Mexico team (358.8), but ahead of Navy (299.6), last week’s victor over the Irish with 320 rushing yards.

Also notable is Army is sixth nationally in total defense (286.4 yards allowed per game) and 13th in scoring defense (18.1 points allowed per game).

“Coach Monken has done a great job of bringing this program back to prominence relative to their standing amongst the academies,” Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said.

Notre Dame had only six possessions against Navy last Saturday. It scored on five of them (three touchdowns and two field goals), but it wasn’t enough. A similar strategy is likely to be employed by the Black Knights to shorten the game.

“We had a number of third-down situations [on defense] where we didn’t get off the field,” Kelly summarized of what will be needed to win. “And we've got to get off the field on third down.

“We can’t have a foolish penalty. … In the red zone we can’t settle for field goals; we’ve got to score touchdowns.”

Army has come tantalizingly close to ending its losing streak to Navy the past several years, falling by scores of 27-21 (2011), 17-13 (2012), 17-10 (2014) and 21-17 (2015).

That might also be a case of having greater familiarity with defending the triple option because of its own use of the scheme. Against Notre Dame, it’s facing a different style and more highly recruited athletes. The losing streak against Navy likely would end sooner than the one versus Notre Dame.

Monken has used two quarterbacks in junior starter Ahmad Bradshaw and sophomore Chris Carter, whose passing last year against Navy (9 of 15 for 208 yards with a touchdown and an interception) nearly resulted in pulling off the upset. Bradshaw’s 602 rushing yards are second to sophomore fullback Andy Davidson’s 707.

The top receiver “literally” is one of the most famous names in college football: senior 6-4, 215-pound Edgar Allan Poe. His 16 receptions last season averaged 26.6 yards and included six touchdowns, and this year his 12 catches average 20.4 yards. Sophomore brother Christian Poe has nine catches to rank second on the team.

Leading the defense is senior playmaking linebacker Andrew King, who paced the Black Knights in tackles (92), tackles for loss (16.5) and sacks (4.5) in 2015, and has been a force again for the nationally ranked unit.

With Monken now in his third year and the Black Knights more experienced and competitive, particularly on defense, than they have been for 95 percent of the past 20 years, the possibility of taking Notre Dame to the wall like they did in 1995 (28‑27) and 1998 (20‑17) before losing in the closing minute is far more possible.

In a year where much has crumbled around Notre Dame’s football team, if there is any time to achieve it at West Point, it is now.

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