Army West Point Athletics
Army Unveils Challenging 2007 Football Schedule
January 24, 2007 | General
WEST POINT, N.Y. Since re-joining the Independent ranks two years ago, Army’s football team has opposed highly difficult groupings of opponents. This year will be no different based on the Black Knights’ 2007 schedule released by Director of Athletics Kevin Anderson on Wednesday.
Seven of the 12 teams slated to square off against Army this fall appeared in postseason bowl games in 2006, including four that either captured conference divisional titles or finished second. One other squad fell just one win shy of qualifying for postseason play.
In all, the Black Knights’ collection of 2007 opponents combined for an 86-67 (.562) record last season. Four registered double digits in victories, with six notching at least nine wins. Only four of Army’s 2007 opponents posted losing records a year ago. Additionally, two conference champions from 2005 are included on this year’s ledger of opponents.
The Black Knights’ 2007 schedule includes three teams that closed last season ranked in the Top 25 nationally, four squads from Bowl Championship Series conferences, and both divisional champions from the Atlantic Coast Conference. The schedule features three ACC opponents in all (2006 champion Wake Forest, 2006 Coastal Division champion Georgia Tech and Boston College), one from the Big East (Rutgers), two from Conference USA (2005 champion Tulsa and Tulane), three from the Mid-American Conference (2006 champion Central Michigan, 2005 champion Akron and Temple), one from the Mountain West (Air Force), one Independent (Navy) and one foe from the ranks of Division I-AA (Rhode Island).
Due to challenges that Army has faced in building an Independent schedule after spending seven years as a member of Conference USA, only five games will be featured at Michie Stadium. That number is earmarked to grow to six in the years ahead.
Highlighting the Black Knights’ home slate will be a Friday night date with metropolitan rival Rutgers, as well as October showdowns with Temple and Tulane, and first-ever clashes with Tulsa and Rhode Island. Featured road affairs include visits to Wake Forest and Georgia Tech, both of which participated in the ACC Championship game this past December, a battle with longtime Eastern foe Boston College, a trip to defending MAC champion Central Michigan and a journey to service academy foe Air Force. The Black Knights will conclude their 118th season of intercollegiate competition when they square off against arch-rival Navy in Baltimore, Md.
“We’ve become accustomed to playing very difficult schedules since returning to Independent status, and this year will be no different,” states Anderson. “We are very excited to return two of Army’s most historic Eastern rivals Rutgers and Boston College to our schedule, as well as several other programs that experienced great success in 2006.
“Our players get very excited about having the opportunity to match up against some of the marquee football programs in the country. We feel this schedule gives them the chance to do that once again this year. We feel very good about our ability to compete against the teams on our schedule and welcome the challenges 2007 will present.”
The Black Knights will open their 2007 campaign on Saturday, Sept. 1 at Akron. Army and the Zips last met in 2005 with the Black Knights recording a 20-0 shutout victory over the eventual MAC champion at the Rubber Bowl. It will mark the earliest season opener in Army history, one day earlier than Army’s 2006 season opener against Arkansas State. It will also signal the first of eight straight weeks with a game for the Black Knights, whose first open date will not occur until late-October.
Army will kick off the home portion of its schedule the following week (Sept. 8) as it initiates a new series with Division I-AA member Rhode Island. The teams have never previously met on the gridiron. The Atlantic 10 Conference-member Rams, who have featured an option offense in recent years, finished 4-7 last season.
The Black Knights begin a stern two-game roadswing against ACC opponents the next week when they visit the state of the North Carolina for the first time in three years for a matchup with defending league champion Wake Forest. One of the nation’s biggest surprises last season, Wake Forest capped an 11-3 finish with an appearance in the FedEx Orange Bowl earlier this month and closed the year ranked 17th nationally. Army last battled the Demon Deacons in 1999 and have suffered four straight losses in the series. Wake Forest has prevailed in six of the previous 10 series meetings overall.
Army remains in the ACC one week later, heading north this time for a battle with familiar foe Boston College on Sept. 22. The teams have met 35 times previously in a series that dates back to 1917 with the Eagles winning the last four matchups between the schools. BC prevailed 44-7 during the Black Knights’ 2005 season opener in Chestnut Hill, extending the Eagles’ series advantage to 23-12. Boston College, which finished second in the ACC’s Atlantic Division last season, registered a victory in the Meineke Car Care Bowl and finished the year at 10-3 and ranked 20th nationally.
Army returns to Michie Stadium for consecutive home dates against Temple (Sept. 29) and Tulane (Oct. 6), respectively, marking the first of two mini two-game homestands for the Black Knights. Army and Temple last squared off in 1994, the most recent of the schools’ four pairings. After holding Independent status each of the past two years, the former Big East member-Owls begin their initial season of MAC play this fall.
Army has battled former Conference USA-mate Tulane in 10 of the last 11 seasons, seven of those games under the guise of Conference USA. The Green Wave, which defeated Army 42-28 last October in the Louisiana Superdome, finished 4-8 last season and holds an 8-5-1 cushion in the teams’ all-time matchup. Last season’s Green Wave victory over the Black Knights extended Tulane’s series winning streak to four games.
Defending MAC champion Central Michigan awaits Army on Oct. 13 as the Black Knights make their first visit to Kelly/Shorts Stadium in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. Behind the solid play of freshman quarterback Dan LeFevour, the Chippewas surprised most college football experts by capturing their first league title since 1994 last fall and notched a victory over Middle Tennessee in the Motor City Bowl to close at 10-4. Central Michigan slipped past Army 14-13 in a rain-soaked Michie Stadium tilt in October 2005, marking the first meeting between the schools.
Head coach Bobby Ross returns to the scene of his greatest college football triumphs on Oct. 20 when Army travels to Bobby Dodd Stadium for its fourth meeting with Georgia Tech and first since 1973. Ross, who led the Yellow Jackets to a share of the 1990 national championship while serving as head coach at Georgia Tech, has not squared off against his former employer since departing Atlanta in 1991. The Yellow Jackets spent most of last season ranked in the Top 25 nationally en route to capturing the ACC’s Coastal Division title. Georgia Tech finished 9-5 last season and earned a New Year’s Day berth opposite West Virginia in the Toyota Gator Bowl. The Yellow Jackets have prevailed in two of their three previous meetings against the Black Knights.
Following the first of two off-weeks, Army begins the quest for its first Commander in Chief’s Trophy title under Ross when it heads west for a service academy showdown with Air Force on Nov. 3. The Black Knights will be looking for their second consecutive win against the Falcons in Colorado Springs after garnering a 27-24 victory in Falcon Stadium in 2005.
Army will round out the home portion of its 2007 schedule with back-to-back home dates against 2006 bowl participants Rutgers and Tulsa. Longtime Eastern rivals, Army and Rutgers last met on the gridiron in 2003. Since that time, the Scarlet Knights have experienced a resurgence, vaulting to an 11-2 record last season, a second consecutive bowl appearance and a No. 12 final national ranking. The Black Knights hold an 18-15 advantage in their second longest running series, a pairing that dates back to 1891. This year’s metropolitan matchup will be held on Friday, Nov. 9 and will be televised nationally by ESPN2 beginning at 8 p.m. It will rank as Army’s third showing on ESPN2 in the past two years.
Army’s seniors will take to the Blaik Field playing surface one final time the following week as the Black Knights host Conference USA member Tulsa on Nov. 17. After capturing the Conference USA championship in 2005, Tulsa posted an 8-5 mark last fall, closing the season against Utah in the Armed Forces Bowl. It will mark the first meeting between the Black Knights and Golden Hurricane.
After a week off for Thanksgiving, Army will conclude its fourth season under Ross on Dec. 1 when it clashes with Navy at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens. It will stand as the 108th edition of the time-honored classic, the second at M&T Bank Stadium (the first was in 2000 when the facility was named PSINet Stadium) and the fourth overall in the city of Baltimore. Once again, the game will be broadcast nationally by CBS Sports, with kickoff slated to return to the noon time slot it had occupied for the majority of the 1990s and early 2000s.
“It’s obviously a very tough schedule, but the kind that we welcome playing,” says Army head coach Bobby Ross. “It will be another good test by which to judge our football program. It’s a national schedule in a sense that we will be traveling to a number of different areas of the country, and we’re pleased about that also. In my mind, this is an attractive schedule to not only our fans but to the young people that are playing in our program and the ones that we’d like to recruit.”
At this time, the Black Knights are guaranteed to make at least six national television appearances in 2007 all five of Army’s 2007 home games (ESPN family of networks), as well as Army’s date with Navy (CBS). That number promises to rise with road contests against Akron, Wake Forest, Boston College, Central Michigan, Georgia Tech and Air Force all under broadcast consideration by various television networks. Additional television dates will be announced as details become finalized in the months ahead.
Kickoff times for Army’s other home games will be announced at a later date. Thanks to an exclusive five-year, multi-media agreement reached during the spring of 2005, all of Army’s home football games and select neutral-site contests in which Army is the home team through 2009 are televised by either ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic or ESPNU. In order to maximize exposure, Army agreed to play at least one game per year on Thursday or Friday, and potentially two contests in Saturday primetime as part of the deal. All kickoff times are set between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. and determined 12 days prior to each game. Thanks in large part to this agreement with the “Worldwide Leader in Sports,” Army has experienced unprecedented national exposure the past two years, garnering a total of 17 national television appearances.
Courtesy of a cooperative effort between ESPN and the Department fo the Army, a video stream of ESPN’s telecasts of Army’s five home football games this fall will again be available live to soldiers, their families and all Department of the Army civilian employees all over the world via the Army Knowledge Online Web site (the site is password protected and accessible by Department of Defense personnel only). The program has run each of the past two seasons with great success.
2007 Army Football Schedule
Sept. 1 at Akron
Sept. 8 RHODE ISLAND
Sept. 15 at Wake Forest
Sept. 22 at Boston College
Sept. 29 TEMPLE
Oct. 6 TULANE
Oct. 13 at Central Michigan
Oct. 20 at Georgia Tech
Nov. 3 at Air Force
Nov. 9 RUTGERS
Nov. 17 TULSA
Dec. 1 Navy (Baltimore, Md.)
