History hangs heavy over the massive confrontation between the military and Notre Dame this weekend. Once upon a time there was the most famous rivalry in the country, a war that captivated the entire country. Americans waited anxiously for the newspapers, gathered around radios and stared into the glow of enormous early television sets to learn which of these titans would claim the best and most important game of the year.
Army-Notre Dame inspired both Grantland Rice’s “Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the four horsemen rode again” – and Knute Rockne’s plea “Win one for the Gipper.” It is the source of sports as myth, of coaches as strict but loving father figures and of players as doomed or exalted heroes.
So it’s somehow perfect, narratively speaking, that this rivalry, which has fallen so far from its 20th century peak, could once again change the trajectory of an entire sport. The business of college football today would be unrecognizable to Rockne, Red Blaik, Ara Parseghian and other legends of the Notre Dame-Army rivalry, but the primary focus is identifying the man on the other end of the line , defeating him and dropping him. the cards fall where they may fall – would be very familiar.
Army and Notre Dame claimed sixteen national championships in the 20th century, including seven in the 1940s alone (technically six, since they split in 1946). They have fallen far since then; Army’s last title season was in 1946, and Notre Dame’s was in 1988. The Irish have since fought their way back to prominence, with the help of unlimited resources, a de facto personal broadcast network and a nationwide recruiting footprint.
The far more interesting transformation is taking place at West Point, where the military is making history on multiple fronts. The 9-0 Black Knights are one win away from just the fourth double-digit victory in the program’s entire 131-year history. You have to go all the way back to 1958 to find Army’s last undefeated season. Aside from a seven-year stint in Conference USA at the turn of the millennium, Army was a proud independent until this year, when it stormed into the AAC and took control of the joint.
The miracle here is how the Army got itself into this position despite not being able to take advantage of college football’s two earth-shattering weapons: NIL and the transfer portal. The military doesn’t allow its players to take NIL money, and you don’t just parachute into West Point for a single mercenary season.
But it’s not hard to see how the military’s old-fashioned ethos is a counterintuitive advantage. While other OC schools were raided for their best talent, or tried to assemble a squad of one-time bounty hunters, the military is building a team. (Yes, this sounds like a commercial. That doesn’t make it any less true.)
For example, quarterback Bryson Daily played exactly one game as a freshman and didn’t throw a pass. He played five as a sophomore, scoring two touchdowns on 12 rushing attempts. He took over the starting job as a junior, and now, as a senior, he leads all FCS quarterbacks in rushing yards and ranks second in rushing touchdowns with 21. That’s the kind of wait-your-turn, be-ready-if -called. mentality that the portal and NIL have already destroyed the entire country.
As Florida State has shown to have a chilling effect, it’s not enough to bring in a bunch of star recruits, throw them a ball and expect them to win games. Team cohesion also helps with the kind of cohesion you get from living, eating, practicing and bleeding together for three or four seasons. NIL can cover up many of college football’s sins, but it cannot replace them.
Army beats its opponents by grinding them into dust, holding the ball for large portions of the game and using opportunistic turnovers and a conservative ball control attack to control the pace. It is a way to defeat a physically superior opponent; stay in the conversation long enough and you can take control…both in the game and in the season.
Admittedly, despite its impeccable record, the strength of the military is a real concern. The Black Knights are ranked 19th in the current CFP standings, behind a string of one-, two- and three-loss teams. The SEC and Big Ten can bicker over who is the better conference; Such debates do not exist with the AAC.
That’s what makes this weekend’s Notre Dame rematch so compelling and so crucial. Army now has a chance to turn the entire playoff structure upside down. All it has to do is snap a 15-game losing streak dating back to 1958 and overcome a projected spread of 14.5 points. But if Army can pull that off, everything will open up: a new Group of Five team will force its way into the playoff conversation, and the Irish will either be completely out of the mix or trying to claw their way over a fellow two-loss SEC team. . And who knows what could happen next once the playoffs start? We’re in uncharted territory here throughout the schedule.
Sure, Army-Notre Dame may never return to its glory days when it determined the fate of the college football universe. But it is another crucial match that must be seen, and that is one of the many elements of this season worth celebrating.
