College Football News Preview 2020: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Army Black Knights season with what you need to know.
– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Schedule Analysis
– Army Previews 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2019 Record: 5-8 overall
Head Coach: Jeff Monken, 7th year, 40-36
2019 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 114
2019 CFN Final Season Formula Ranking: 89
2019 CFN Preview Ranking: 77
Obviously, no one knows what’s going to happen to the 2020 college football season. We’ll take a general look at where each team stands – doing it without spring ball to go by – while crossing our fingers that we’ll all have some well-deserved fun this fall. Hoping you and yours are safe and healthy.
5. College Football News Preview 2020: Army Black Knights Offense 3 Things To Know
– For this whole thing to work, the running game has to go beyond being very, very good. Army was third in the nation in rushing, and it wasn’t good enough.
By any reasonable standard, rushing for 3,863 yards and 45 touchdowns in a year is special, but that’s all Army does. The entire formula is based around controlling the tempo and games, and not hitting 4,000 yards on the ground for the first time in four years matters.
Leading rusher and quarterback Kelvin Hopkins is gone, as are running backs Kell Walker and Connor Slompka. But it’s Army – there are more options.
CFN in 60 Video: Army Black Knights Preview
– It all starts at quarterback with 5-9, 185-pound junior Jabari Laws the likely replacement for Hopkins. Laws finished fourth on the team with 484 yards and four scores, and 6-1, 185-pound senior Christian Anderson ran for 429 yards and four touchdowns. There are eight options to choose from with some of the other quarterbacks being used in other ways.
Who’s going to take over for the 240-pound Slomka at fullback? 5-11, 230-pound Sandon McCoy was third on the team with 576 yards and led the way with ten rushing scores. He’s the main man now to pound it up the gut, and 235-pound junior Cade Bernard is back. On the outside, senior Artice Hobbs is the leading returning tailback, and the gaps will fill in around him.
– The offensive line has a ton of turnover, but that’s normal – the Black Knight offense has a way of building up the talent up front so they’re ready as upperclassmen. 300-pound Peyton Reeder is a good-sized blocker at one guard spot, and 290-pound senior JB Hunter is a solid veteran at center.
6-2, 208-pound Camden Harrison caught 25 passes for 433 yards and three score, making him the program’s top receiver for a season since 2013. 6-3, 235-pound Michael Roberts is also back after catching five passes as more of a short-range target.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Army Black Knights Defense 3 Things To Know
4. College Football News Preview 2020: Army Black Knights Defense 3 Things To Know
– The defense was missing the same bite it had in 2018, but it was still more than fine, finishing 30th in the nation overall and allowing just 23 points per game. There weren’t enough sacks and there weren’t enough tackles for loss, but the offense didn’t always do its part to help the cause – Army was 0-6 when allowing 24 points or more. The D only allowed more than 24 three times in 2018, going 1-2.
– Three of the top four tacklers are gone, losing CB Eric Riley and S Ryan Velez from the secondary. Not having Jaylon McClinton around hurts, too, but junior Cedrick Cunningham is a great-sized safety and there are plenty of options for the other spots. Senior Javhari Bourdeau is a veteran at one corner.
– The linebacking corps loses the team’s leading tackler Cole Christiansen, but there’s good size returning in 240-pound Arik Smith – who finished second on the team with 83 stops – and 255-pound Jeremiah Lowery, who came up with 42 stops. There’s no Christiansen among the group, but holding up with a good rotation in the 3-4 won’t be a problem.
Can anyone in the front three get behind the line? There’s no real pass rush – senior Edriece Patterson came up with just three last year – and the plays in the backfield have to come from the outside linebacker.
There’s decent size, though, starting with 6-4, 280-pound Kwabena Bonsu on the nose, and 6-5, 300-pound senior Nick Stokes or 6-4, 300-pound David Gray needing to rise up on the inside.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Top Army Black Knights Players
College Football News Preview 2020: Top Army Black Knights Players
Best Army Black Knights Offensive Player
FB Sandon McCoy, Sr.
The 5-11, 230-pound veteran might not be all that fancy, but he’s a sledgehammer who led the team with ten rushing touchdowns and was good for over four yards per carry. Give him the ball ten times per game, let him loosen up the interior, and and then the flashy guys will get to do what they do.
2. C JB Hunter, Sr.
3. QB Jabari Laws, Jr.
4. OG Peyton Reeder, Sr.
5. RB Artice Hobbs, Sr.
Best Army Black Knights Defensive Player
LB Arik Smith, Jr.
The 6-0, 240-pounder was able to clean up everything that fellow former linebacker Cole Christiansen didn’t. Smith was able to get behind the line for 2.5 sacks and four tackles for loss, but he was at his steady-best against the run with 83 stops on the year. The 12 against Navy to close things out were a career-high – double-digit tackle games are about to become a regular thing for him.
2. DT Kwabena Bonsu, Jr.
3. S Cedrick Cunningham, Jr.
4. DT Edriece Patterson, Sr.
5. P Zach Harding, Jr.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Army Black Knights Keys To The Season
College Football News Preview 2020: Army Black Knights Keys To The Season
Biggest Key To The Army Black Knights Offense
Rushing means everything to Army, grinding out drives mean everything, and owning third downs means everything.
The Army offense is among the best in the nation on the money downs because it’s almost always in a manageable third-and-short situation, but when it doesn’t dominate and keep things going, there’s a problem.
Last year’s attack converted just over 45% of its chances – fantastic by any normal standards. When it got there or was better, it was 4-1 on the season – the only win when it didn’t get there was against Morgan State from the FCS.
By comparison, the 2018 offense converted 57% of its tries and hit the 45% mark ten times – going 9-1 with the only loss coming to Oklahoma. Now, over the last four years, Army is 28-4 when it gets to the 45% mark.
On the flip side …
Biggest Key To The Army Black Knights Defense
Come up with third down stops. The Black Knights have to convert on third downs to keep the defense fresh, and the defense has to stop third downs to get off the field so the offense can do what it does.
In the 11-win 2018 season, the defense allowed teams to covert on third down just 26.5% of the time, and only Liberty got past the 40% mark. Last year’s defense allowed offenses to convert on 45% of their chances overall, and seven teams hit 50% or better – all Army losses.
Key Army Black Knights Player To A Successful Season
QB Jabari Laws, Jr.
Kelvin Hopkins led the team with 710 rushing yards and seven touchdowns, and he was the normal Army passer hitting 43% of his passes with one or two big plays a game. Laws connected on 16-of-20 throws for 311 yards and a touchdown, doing most of his work in the tough 17-13 loss to Air Force.
Ultra-quick and with enough experience to be ready for the gig, he ran for over 100 yards in two games of mop-up duty and should add even more rushing pop than Hopkins. At least, that’s the goal.
Key Game To The Army Black Knights Season
at Miami University, Oct. 3
If everything goes according to plan, the Black Knights should beat Bucknell and win at Rice, and they’ll likely lose to Oklahoma. The real test for how the season will go will come up next with a trip against defending MAC champion Miami University.
Win that, and with four straight home games to follow, this can be a fantastic season. Lose, and the pressure is on considering the last four games of the year are away from home.
– Army Black Knights Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2019 Army Fun Stats
– 4th Down Conversions: Army 26-of-39 (67%) – Opponents 12-of-24 (50%)
– Time of Possession: Army 32:56 – Opponents 26:56
– Field Goals: Opponents 11-of-17 – Army 4-of-7
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Army Black Knights Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
1. College Football News Preview 2020: Army Black Knights Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
The program was on such a nice roll with three straight winning seasons, bowl victories, and wins over Navy.
So what went wrong?
The Black Knights weren’t quite as sharp offensively, there were too many tough, close losses – four by a touchdown or less – and there wasn’t the win over the good teams like there were in the previous seasons.
Army beat six FBS teams that finished with six wins or more in 2018 and five in 2017. Last year?
Zero.
Army was great against the mediocre – beating two FCS teams, Rice, UTSA and UMass – but couldn’t quite get there against everyone else.
There’s enough turnover to struggle a wee bit at times, but fortunately, there are a whole lot of winnable games, so …
Set The Army Black Knights Regular Season Win Total At … 7.5
Bet at BetMGM Win Total Line: 7
Bucknell, at Rice, at Miami University, Princeton, Eastern Michigan, Buffalo, at UMass, at UConn. There should be at least five wins out of those seven games, and that’s not even including the dates against the other teams on the slate the Black Knights should be able to hang with.
It’ll be a major disappointment if this isn’t at least a seven-win team, and if the running game can crank it back up just a wee bit, it should be closer to ten again.
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