Daily’s 4 Rushing TD’s Crown Black Knights AAC Champions

Quarterback Bryson Daily rushed 25 times for 126 yards and four touchdowns as the Army West Point Black Knights rolled over the Tulane Green Wave 35-14 to win the American Athletic Conference championship in front of 14,016 at Michie Stadium on Friday night. This is the first conference championship in the 134 year history of the football program at the United States Military Academy.

The Black Knights won the coin toss and elected to defer. Green Wave defensive back Rayshawn Pleasant returned the opening kick 18 yards to start their first possession at the Tulane 24 yard-line.

Running back Makhi Hughes got the rushing game started for Tulane with three consecutive handoffs up the middle for 19 yards to the Tulane 37. Quarterback Darian Mensah then hit wide receiver Mario Williams for a 30 yard gain to the Army 27-yard line. A false start penalty on wide receiver Yulkeith Brown backed them up by five yards. The Black Knight defense kicked in and held Tulane to a 4th-and-2. Kicker Patrick Durkin lined up for a 37-yard field goal attempt. However, holder Brice Busch didn’t get the ball down in time and threw the timing off and Busch was smothered with the ball underneath him for a turnover on downs.

With Daily at the helm and the game time temperature of 27 degrees, the Black Knights settled in for a ground attack. Running back Noah Short rushed through the left side for a 17 yard gain. This was followed by two rushes from running back Kanye Udoh for five and six yards respectively. Short, Udoh and Daily each took turns rushing the ball, as they would do throughout the course of the game. Outside of Short’s opening run, the longest rushing play on the drive was 11 yards by Daily. After 11 plays, the Black Knights marched 72 yards down the field and chewed up 6:36 off the clock when Daily rushed up the middle for a five-yard touchdown run, his first score of the day. Kicker Trey Gronotte’s extra point gave Army West Point the early 7-0 lead with 3:48 left in the opening quarter.

The Green Wave also took to the ground starting with their second possession, which began on the Tulane 34-yard line. Hughes rushed up the middle twice and then Mensah rushed left for 13 yards, going out of bounds at midfield. Running back Shaadie Clayton-Johnson rushed up the middle for a nine-yard gain for the last play in the first quarter.

Mensah and Hughes continued the Green Wave rushing attack when play resumed. They made it as far as the Army West Point seven-yard line when center Vincent Murphy jumped early for a false start penalty on 3rd-and-6 to push them back to the 11-yard line. Mensah was sacked by linebacker Elo Modozie for an eight-yard loss to set up a 4th-and-19 at the Black Knight’s 20-yard line. Durkin came out for his second field goal attempt of the game, from 38 yards, which sailed wide to the right. The Green Wave came away empty handed after a 12 play drive that took nearly seven minutes off the clock.

The Black Knights didn’t waste any time on their next drive. Short rushed to the right for five yards before Udoh broke past the defensive line into the secondary heading towards the end zone. Tulane cornerback Micah Robinson took Udoh down at the Tulane three-yard line to give Udoh a 72-yard run. Daily rushed up the middle for three yards for his second rushing touchdown of the day. Gronotte’s extra point was good and Army West Point led 14-0 with 10:18 left in the half.

Gronotte booted a 62-yard kick which was returned by Pleasant from the Tulane three-yard line. Pleasant returned the kick 35 yards before Gronotte, the kicker, forced a fumble. Black Knight safety Tommy Zitiello pounced on the ball at the Tulane 38-yard line for the turnover as Tulane’s special teams woes continued.

Army continued to pound the ball on the ground. Udoh, Short and Daily all rushed for small gains less than five yards, except for one carry by Short that went for 14 yards. With a 14-0 lead and 4th-and-3 from the Tulane four-yard line, Army elected to go for it. Running back Tyrell Robinson rushed to the right side of the line but was stacked up by Green Wave defenders for no gain. After 10 plays in which they went 34 yards in 6:09, the Black Knights came away empty handed.

Hughes rushed for nine yards, and then for seven to get out from under the shadow of their own goal posts. Mensah dropped back for a pass to Williams but was intercepted by linebacker Andon Thomas who returned it 16 yards to the Tulane 21-yard line.

Army West Point ran five rushing plays, and burned up the two-minute time out and three timeouts by Tulane, before Daily rushed across the left side for a four-yard touchdown, his third of the day. Gronotte converted the extra point despite a botched snap. The Black Knights led 21-0 with 1:40 left until halftime.

After tight end Alex Bauman returned Gronotte’s kick 12 yards, the Green Wave took over at their 40-yard line. Mensah rushed up the middle for eight yards. Then Hughes hauled in a 10-yard reception to get into Army territory. Mensah hit Williams in stride at the Army 31-yard line, who then ran it into the end zone for a touchdown. Durkin’s extra point was good making the score 21-7 in favor of Army with 44 seconds on the clock. Army ran one play and then ran out the clock for the halftime break.

The Black Knights received the ball to start the third quarter and immediately resumed their rushing attack. Udoh took two handoffs for short yardage gains and Daily rushed for one. Just when the Green Wave was preparing for another running play, Daily mixed it up by completing an eight-yard pass to Short. It was the first passing play of the game for the Black Knights.

Army continued to run the ball on the next four plays before Daily hit wide receiver Casey Reynolds for a nine-yard gain in the second, and final, Black Knights passing play of the game. Daily then took the quarterback draw 21 yards up the middle to set up the next scoring opportunity. Daily rushed for seven yards for his fourth rushing touchdown of the day. Gronotte’s extra point was good. Army West Point ran 11 plays for 75 yards in 6:31 and led 28-7 with 8:29 left in the third quarter.

Despite the obstacles they faced in the game, the Green Wave didn’t give up. They didn’t come to the championship game by laying down. They picked themselves up and marched back down the field. At first they resorted to the ground game with rushing attempts by Hughes and Mensah, but eventually they abandoned that for the passing game. Mensah hit wide receiver Shazz Preston for 16 yards; Bauman caught an 11-yard reception; Williams hauled one in to advance three yards; Brown added two catches for 21 yards. Tulane was marching down the field when on offensive lineman Josh Remetich was hit with an unnecessary roughness penalty, which set them back 15 yards. Two plays later, it was 4th-and-8 from the Army West Point 16-yard line. Mensah through a pass to the 10-yard line for Brown, but it was broken up by cornerback Donovan Platt, leading to a turnover on downs. After 12 plays, 44 yards and taking 6:09 off the clock, the Green Wave didn’t have anything to show for it. Now they battled the Black Knights and the clock as there was only 2:13 remaining in the third quarter.

Other than a five-yard run by Short, Udoh and Daily wore the Green Wave defense down. As the fourth quarter began, the run plays started getting longer. Udoh rushed to the left for 11 yards, and then two plays later ran up the middle for 17 yards more. Daily then rushed for 11 yards. After 16 plays, 84 yards and 10:44 taken off the clock, Udoh rushed up the middle for a one-yard touchdown. Gronotte’s extra point was good and the Black Knights now led 35-7 with only 6:29 remaining until they would be crowned champions on their home field.

Tulane continued to try to make it a game in what time they had left. Starting from the Tulane 20-yard line, Mensah passed to Williams for 14 yards for the first down. On the next play, he dropped the ball and recovered his own fumble for a four-yard loss. He hit Hughes for a four-yard pass and Brown hauled in a 10 yard reception. On 4th-and-1, Mensah rushed up the middle for seven yards to place the ball at midfield with a fresh set of downs.

Hughes grabbed a pass for a nine-yard completion, and running back Arnold Barnes III rushed to the left for four yards and the first down. After throwing an incomplete pass intended for tight end Reggie Brown, Mensah rushed up the middle for 13 yards to the Army West Point 24-yard line. On first down, Mensah threw to Mario Williams in the end zone but cornerback Casey Larkin broke up the play just in time for the two minute timeout.

Williams hauled in a nine-yard reception, which was followed by two rushing plays by Hughes. The drive ended with a two yard touchdown pass from Mensah to Bauman. Durkin’s extra point made the score 35-14 and capped off a 16 play, 80 yard drive that took 5:13. Now the Green Wave had 1:10 left on the clock to try to get the ball back.

Tulane kicker Jacob Barnes attempted an onside kick, which the Black Knights recovered at the Tulane 44-yard line. Two kneel downs by backup quarterback Dewayne Coleman and the game was over. Army West Point won 35-14 and secured their very first conference championship in team history.

Kanye Udoh rushed 20 times for 158 yards and one touchdown while Bryson Daily ran 25 times for 126 yards and four touchdowns to lead Army. Noah Short carried eight times for 50 yards and Jake Rendina had one carry for four yards. Daily threw two passes, one to Casey Reynolds for nine yards and an eight-yard reception for Short.

Darian Mensah went 17-for-25 in passing for 209 yards, two touchdowns, one interception and one sack. Mario Williams hauled in six receptions for 109 yards and one touchdown; Yulkeith Brown caught three passes for 30 yards; Alex Bauman pulled down three passes for 24 yards and one touchdown; and Makhi Hughes added 22 yards on three receptions. Hughes rushed 14 times for 66 yards and Mensah rushed 10 times for 41 yards.

“When you start slow the way we did, missing two field goals early, you don’t do yourselves any favors,” said Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall. “Because once they get a lead, a couple scores, it’s really, really hard to overcome.”

“The good news is we have one more bowl game left to play so we can maybe, hopefully, rectify how we feel tonight,” Sumrall added. The Green Wave now waits for the NCAA selection show on Sunday to determine which bowl game they will be playing in.

Meanwhile, Army West Point isn’t even thinking about which bowl game they will be in. As AAC Conference Champions, there is an outside chance that they could be in the revised FBS playoff bracket, but even if they miss the playoffs, they’ll get a bowl berth. Before they can think about that, they have to get through one more game that will be held next week.

“Now we’ve got the biggest game of the year coming up in eight days and we’re looking forward to that,” said Army head coach Jeff Monken.

The 125th Army-Navy game will be played next Saturday in Landover, Md. Because both Army and Navy beat Air Force this year, the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy will be presented to the winner of that game. This will be the eighth time in the 52 year history of the CIC Trophy that it will be awarded to the winner of the Army-Navy game, and the first time since 2017.