Army has seen a limited amount of success in the past 25 years. They have made a grand total of two bowl games in those 25 years (1996 Independence Bowl and 2010 Armed Forces Bowl). They have had losing seasons in 16 of the last 17 years. A lot of the poor season occurred when a new head coach tried to change Army away from the triple option. It has been proven for many years that the Service Academies are best suited to run the triple option. Rich Ellerson came in 2009 to restore the true triple option at Army and had some success. He went 5-7 in 2009 and then 7-6 in 2010, with a bowl victory over SMU. Since that bowl winning season, Army went 3-9, 2-10, and 3-9 again. Ellerson was let go following the 2013 season.

2013 Army Black Knights Season

In 2013, Army returned 14 starters from the 2012 squad. The season started well with a victory over FCS Morgan State. They were blown out at Ball State, but played a solid game at home against the #5 Stanford Cardinal. They lost the following week at home to Wake Forest and fell to 1-3. They traveled to Dallas to play Louisiana Tech and got a nice 19 point win, 35-16. They played well against Boston College, but lost 48-27 and then crushed Eastern Michigan 50-25. Army sat at 3-4 heading into a road game against Temple, but ended up losing the last five games. They did play well against Air Force (42-28 loss), Western Kentucky (21-17 loss), and Hawaii (49-42 loss). The last loss was against Navy, which was the 12th consecutive loss in the famed series for the Black Knights. For the year, Army averaged 24.4 points and 387 yards per game. Defensively, they gave up an average of 31.6 points and 411 yards per game. The entire 2013 schedule is below.

Offense

Jeff Monken has nine returning starters on offense to work with in 2014. Army used four different quarterbacks in 2013, but Angel Santiago started 11 of the 12 games. Santiago struggled at times throughout the season, which allowed AJ Schurr and Kelvin White to get playing time. Santiago finished with 592 yards passing (49.5%), 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. On the ground, he had 593 yards and 10 touchdowns. In limited action, Schurr finished with 196 yards passing, one passing touchdown, 102 rushing yards, and 4 rushing touchdowns. White has moved to the receiving group leaving Santiago, Schurr, and sophomore Matthew Kaufmann to battle it out to be the starting quarterback. This unit should do better in 2014 compared to last season, regardless of who ends up as the starting quarterback.

The running back group for Army is far and away the best unit on the entire offense. Terry Baggett ran for 1,113 yards and 8 touchdowns in 2013, which was 400 more yards than the next leading rusher, but that is only the beginning for the Black Knights. Raymond Maples was the leading rusher in 2011 with 1,066 yards AND in 2012 with 1,215 yards. He was seeking for a 3rd straight 1,000 yard rushing season, but a groin injury knocked him out for the year. He was granted a rare 5th year of eligibility (rare for a service academy) and is back for 2014. At fullback will be Larry Dixon, who had 705 yards and six touchdowns in 2013. Trenton Turrentine and Tony Giovannelli add quality depth. The group is loaded with experience and makes the offense very dangerous in 2014.

Though the wide receiver position is not the focal point of the triple option, it is still important. Leading the way will be Xavier Moss and he has to prove 2014 was no fluke. In 2013, Moss had 35 catches for 463 yards and 1 touchdown. Running back Terry Baggett was the 2nd leading receiver by yardage with 123 yards on 6 catches. Chevaughn Lawrence was the 2nd leading receiver by catches with 10 receptions for 105 yards and 1 touchdown. Added to this group is former quarterback Kelvin White. This group, especially Moss, should do well in 2014.

The offensive line is always important in the triple option attack. This year, Army will have three returning starters from 2013. Leading the way will be 2nd Team All-Independent Steve Shumaker at left guard. There is quite a bit of reorganization on the line as well. Ryan Powis started at center in 2012, but may line up left tackle. Shumaker started 12 games at right guard in 2012 as well. Overall, this unit should be solid in 2014 under Monken's first year.

Defense

The defense did improve in 2013 compared to 2012. In 2012, Army gave up an average of 35.3 points and 427 yards per game. In 2013, the defense gave up an average of 31.6 points and 411 yards a game. Seven starters return from 2013 and the defensive line return all three starters. Defensive end Robert Kough been named to the 2nd Team All-Independent squad for two years in a row. In 2013, Kough finished with 33 tackles, 3 sacks, and 5 tackles-for-loss. He will be joined by returning starters Richard Glover at nose tackle and Mike Ugenyi at the other end spot. As a unit, they gave up an average of 213 yards per game and 5.1 yards per carry. Those numbers should go down in 2014 with this veteran group.

The most inexperienced group on the Army defense is at linebacker. Only one starter returns from 2013 and that is Julian Holloway. However, Holloway may not be the starter at the beginning of the season. Derek Sanchez, Jeremy Timpf, Andrew King, and Stephen Ricciardi are projected as the starters for 2014. Overall, the group has only 13 combined starts. This unit will struggle at times this year, but luckily they do have veteran units in front and behind them.

The defensive secondary gave up an average of 198 yards passing in 2013. That number was actually in line with most of their other seasons since 2007. Three starters return from last season led by senior strong safety Geoffery Bacon. Bacon was second on the team in tackles with 63. Chris Carnegie will start at one of the cornerback spots after starting 20 games over the previous two years. The other corner will be Josh Jenkins. He started 11 games last year as a true freshman. The unit should be solid this year.

Special Teams

Both specialists return for Army in 2014. Daniel Grochowski, who started the last two years, will be the kicker after going 8 for 11 in 2013 with a long of 48 yards. At punter will be Alex Tardieu. Last year he had 51 punts with an average of 37.3 yards and a net of 34.4 Tardieu should improve in his second full season as punter. Army does lose their top returners in Scott Williams and Julian Crockett. Perhaps they could try to use Xavier Moss at returner?

2014 Season Outlook

Jeff Monken was an ideal choice to take over at Army. Monken has been around the triple option for nearly two decades. In addition, he was the head coach at Georgia Southern from 2010 through 2013. Monken led Georgia Southern to the FCS Semifinals three straight years between 2010 and 2012 and had a winning record all four years. He finished with an overall record of 38-16. There should not be much of a learning curve because the offense is the same for the players. The only concern is the small nuances that each coach brings in. The defense is switching from a 4-3 to a 3-4, so there will be some growing pains there. Overall, the season sets up well for Monken in his first season. Let's see what the schedule looks like in 2014.

One of the perks of being an independent is that most teams get to set a favorable schedule. Army has an easy schedule in 2014. They have three MAC opponents, two FCS teams, and face only one team from a "Power 5" conference. The games against Buffalo and Wake Forest will probably determine whether Army gets back to a bowl game. If Army can open 2-2 or 3-1, they will be in prime position to get to a bowl game. Both Ball State and Rice will be tall orders for Army to beat, but the schedule lightens up after that. The have winnable games against Kent State, Air Force, and Connecticut. They end against Western Kentucky, Fordham, and Navy. Both Yale and Fordham will count towards bowl eligibility so Army only needs six wins in 2014. They are a prime contender to have a much improved year, as noted in this article.

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Matthew Dixon
I follow College Football at all levels; FBS, FCS, Division II, and Division III. In addition, I am a horse racing enthusiast.