When it comes to playing on the football field, Army has had a rough go of it lately.
Army has failed to garner more than seven wins in a season since their 10-win campaign in 1996. In their past four seasons, they are just 12-36. According to ESPN's preseason FPI rankings, Army is the next-to-last place team, ranked 126th out of 127 Division 1 A schools.
However, Army has won two consecutive season openers and will open their 2015 season at home against a Division 1 B school in the Fordham Rams. Fordham is coming off an 11-win season but played teams like Georgetown and Pennsylvania. Army handed Fordham one of their three losses last season, defeating the Rams 42-31 at home.
Army gets to host Fordham again and the big question will be if Army can overcome their graduation losses. Army, a run-oriented team, lost their top 3 rushers from 2014. Their top quarterback, also their second-best rusher, graduated as well.
Carrying the weight on offense will be senior quarterback A.J. Schurr. Schurr stepped in at quarterback at times last year, splitting time with the Angel Santiago who graduated this past spring. Schurr will not only quarterback the Black Knights, but he is also their top returning rusher, after running for 320 yards last season. He will be critical in helping improve an offense that ranked 93rd in points per game. Also supporting the running game will be senior Tony Giovannelli and junior Aaron Kemper.
Giovannelli rushed for 215 yards last season while Kemper accumulated 158 yards on the ground.
Schurr will likely not pass the ball much - last season, Army averaged under nine pass attempts per game, completing an average of four of those attempts- but he'll need to be sharp when called on to do so. He has Army's top receiver from 2014 returning in junior Edgar Poe who caught ten passes for 199 yards last season. Giovannelli also will be a top target for Schurr after he caught eight passes for 131 yards in 2014. Junior Xavier Moss led Army with two touchdown receptions last season so he may be a target in the red zone for Schurr.
The kicking game for Army is a big question mark with junior Daniel Grochowski returning as the Black Knights' main kicker. Grochowski was erratic on field goal attempts last season, making just seven out of thirteen tries. Strangely, Grochowski was particularly inaccurate from short distances, going 1-3 in field goal attempts from under 30 yards out. That puts a lot of pressure on the Army offense to convert offensive drives into touchdowns. Grochowski has shown his ability to kick a long field goal after booting a 52-yarder last season but he was also 4-8 in attempts between 40 and 49 yards out.
Army's defense has not been great as of late. They ranked 104th in points allowed per game and Fordham will certainly be a test for their defense as the Rams averaged 40 points per game last season. They were held under 30 points just twice.
Fordham's offense will lean heavily on the running of sophomore Chase Edmonds and junior Kendall Pearcey. Edmonds rushed for 1,838 yards last season and Pearcey complimented Edmond's fantastic season with 592 rushing yards of his own. They will be critical for Fordham this season, especially after they lost their top 2 quarterbacks to graduation. Their top receiver graduated as well.
Fordham has plenty of quarterbacks on their roster but not a single senior. Junior Kevin Anderson will likely take over the starting job and will be working with weapons like Tebucky Jones Jr., the son of former NFL player Tebucky Jones. Jones will definitely be the top receiver for Fordham after four of their top five receivers graduated. Edmonds and Pearcey also doubled as receivers at times last season.
Fordham's kicking game is pretty good with Michael Marando returning who was 21-27 in field goal attempts last year. His long was 46 yards and he made eight out of eleven attempts between 30 and 40 yards.
Fordham's defense was hit pretty hard by graduation but returning junior George Dawson was tied for third on the team with two interceptions last season and should put together another strong season. Their defense surrendered just 23 points per game last season but, again, they were facing many weak teams.
Army versus Fordham to open the season is an intriguing matchup. However, Army has won consecutive season openers and two straight games against Fordham, dating back to 2011 when they creamed the Rams 55-0. Fordham will be looking for revenge, but Army has home-field advantage. Army lost several running backs while Fordham lost their top two quarterbacks and send an unproven junior under center. After the two teams played a very tight game last season, this game is sure to be a fun one.
Prediction: Army 34-30