Army Football Game Notes: The Rutgers Game

Army Football Game Notes: The Rutgers Game

November 16, 2015 | Football

WEST POINT, N.Y. - The Army football team will play its final home game of the 2015 season with a visit from Rutgers at Michie Stadium on Saturday.

The Black Knights are 2-8 following a 34-31 loss to Tulane last Saturday at Michie Stadium.

Rutgers, a member of the Big Ten Conference, is 3-7 overall and 1-6 in conference games and is coming off a 31-14 setback to Nebraska at home.

Army is averaging 21.8 points per contest and ranks ninth nationally with 257.4 rushing yards per contest.

The Black Knights are allowing 28.2 points per game and lost five of their games this season by a touchdown or less.

Quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw leads the team with 468 rushing yards and a team best five rushing scores. He averages 58.5 yards per game with a team-high 130 attempts in seven games played. He has thrown for over 100 yards in two games this season and has five touchdowns through the air.

Fullback Aaron Kemper is second on the team in rushing with 447 yards on 83 carries. He is averaging 49.7 yards per game and 5.4 yards per carry. Kemper has reached 100 yards in two games this season.

Army's rushing attack saw nine different players carry the ball against Tulane, including Elijah St. Hilaire, who carried it for the first time in his career.

Defensively, Andrew King leads the Black Knights with 80 tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 quarterback sacks. Jeremy Timpf shows 75 tackles, 16 more than Xavier Moss. Brandon Jackson has three of the team's five interceptions and had one against Tulane.

Following the Rutgers contest, the Black Knights are on idle before heading to Philadelpia on Dec. 12 for the 116th playing of the Army-Navy Game. The game is set to be played at Lincoln Financial Field and CBS will broadcast the game live at 3 p.m.

TULANE LEFTOVERS
• It was the 20th meeting all-time between Tulane and Army and the first since 2011. The Green Wave lead the series 10-9-1.
• This was Army's second game of three against the American Athletic Conference with Navy up next on Dec. 12.
• Saturday was Jeff Monken's first game as Army's head coach against Tulane.
• Army wore the 3rd Infantry helmet sticker, which is a season-long tradition that will change each game.
• Niko Schillaci and Wyatt Wilkerson served as game captains and joined season captains Jeremy Timpf and Matt Giachinta for the coin toss.
• Jared Rogers carried the American flag onto the field prior to the game.
• Caleb McNeill carried the French flag onto the field prior to the game.
• Challenger, a Bald Eagle, flew over Michie Stadium during halftime with the superflag. Challenger flew at the Philadelphia Eagles game on Sunday.
• Center Matt Hugenberg started his 22nd consecutive game, the most of any Army offensive player.
• Army's offensive line changed for the second-straight week. Hugenberg was joined by guards Jaryn Villegas and Mike Houghton and tackles Rick Kurz and Ryan Alexander.
• Villegas made his first start since the UConn game on Sept. 12.
• Christian Drake had a career-long rush of 47 yards in the first quarter.
• Drake set a new career-best total of 69 rushing yards.
• Ahmad Bradshaw set a new career high in passing yards with 121. He also threw two touchdowns for the second time in his career (Fordham).
• Bradshaw made his first-career reception for 25 yards on a pass from Joe Walker.
• Army scored a touchdown on its opening drive for the third time this season (Fordham, Eastern Michigan). The 75-yard drive lasted 6:44 and Army ran 13 plays.
• The 15-play drive to tie the game at 31-31 in the fourth was a season long for plays.
• John Trainor set new career standards in catches (3), yards (81), touchdown receptions (1) and had a career-long reception of 31 yards.
• Campbell's 22 yards rushing set a new career best.
• Gibby Gibson earned his fourth start of the season at linebacker.
• Alex Aukerman started at linebacker for the second-straight week.
• Jeremy Timpf made his 22nd consecutive start, which is the longest streak among defensive players.
• Andrew King has a tackle for loss in 13 straight games dating back to the Western Kentucky game Nov. 15, 2014.
• King led the team in tackles with seven.
• Brandon Jackson made his third-career interception and his second-career sack.
• Kenneth Brinson set a new career-high with three solo tackles and equaled his career best with three total tackles.
• Andy Davidson blocked a punt, leading to a touchdown return by Kenneth Brinson following a 21-yard return. It was Army's first blocked punt for a touchdown since the 2014 Army-Navy game.
• Grochowski is now 5-6 on field goals in 2015 and 30-46 in his career after making a 38-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.
• Alex Tardieu punted three times for 121 yards, an average of 40.3 yards per boot.

ABOUT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS
Rutgers enters Saturday's game with a 3-7 overall record, including a 1-6 mark in Big Ten play. The Scarlet Knights are coming off a 31-14 loss to Nebraska in which the RU defense forced three interceptions.

Anthony Cioffi, Kevin Wilkins and Saquan Hampton each had interceptions on defense, while Kaiwan Lewis made a career-high 13 tackles. Linebacker Quentin Gause had two tackles for loss, and has a tackle for a loss in six straight games.

Rutgers is averaging 25.3 points per game on offense and is led on the ground by Robert Martin and Josh Hicks, who both have more than 600 yards rushing this season. Martin has scored five touchdowns, while Hicks has crossed the goal line four times. Chris Laviano has started nine games at quarterback and has completed 153 of 253 pass attempts for 1,798 yards. Laviano has thrown 12 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions. Andre Patton has a team-high 30 catches, but Leonte Carroo is the big-play threat with 28 catches for 589 yards (21.0 avg.) and nine receiving touchdowns.

On defense, Steve Longa has a team-best 111 total tackles, two sacks and two forced fumbles. Gause is second on the team with 81 stops and Lewis has contributed 61. Cioffi has a team-high four interceptions this year.

Rutgers has victories against Norfolk State (63-13), Kansas (27-14) and at Indiana (55-52). The Scarlet Knights have lost four consecutive games and five of six overall. Three of those losses have come to ranked opponents, No. 4 Michigan State (31-24), No. 1 Ohio State (49-7) and at No. 16 Michigan (49-16).

ARMY-RUTGERS HISTORY
The series between Army and Rutgers dates back to the Cadets' second season in 1891. Army hosted the Scarlet Knights on Nov. 14, 1891 and fell to Rugters, 27-6, on The Plain. Since the series opener, the two teams have faced off 47 times. The matchup shows the Scarlet Knights ahead at 20-18 and riding a eight-game winning streak into Michie Stadium. This is the 22nd meeting all-time at West Point with Army leading at 13-8. The teams have played 11 neutral site games, including the last two contests in 2010 and 2011.