Army West Point Athletics
Game Notes: Black Knights Welcome Liberty
September 04, 2018 | Football
WEST POINT, N.Y. - The Black Knights are looking to rebound following last Friday's game at Duke as the Army West Point football team welcomes Liberty Saturday in the home opener at Michie Stadium.
The contest will air live on CBS Sports Network; the game can also be heard on the Army Sports Network through the TuneInapp or goarmywestpoint.com.
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HOW TO FOLLOW
TELEVISION • CBS Sports Network
RADIO • Army Sports Network
GAME NOTES • Army Notes • Liberty Notes
LIVE STATS • GoArmyWestPoint.com
TWITTER • @ArmyWP_Football
THE OPENING KICKOFF
• Army is setting its eyes on its third straight home opening win when it hosts Liberty this Saturday.Â
• The Black Knights have posted wins in four of their last five home openers, with their lone loss a 37-35 decision to Fordham on Sept. 4, 2015.
• Head coach Jeff Monken, who enters his fifth year at the helm, is trying to follow up on last year's success in which the Black Knights recorded a 10-win season for only the second time in program history, and captured the Commander in Chief's Trophy for the first time since 1996.
• In 2017, Army won its second straight bowl game with a thrilling 42-35 victory over San Diego State in the Armed Forces Bowl.
• The Black Knights were the NCAA FBS rushing leader in 2017 with an average of 362.3 yards per game, but Army is replacing four of five starters from the offensive line.Â
• With the graduation of quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw, Army lost its top rusher from a season ago with 1,742, which set the single-season service-academy record.Â
• Army's slight inexperience showed last Friday night in the Cadets' season opener at Duke. Army gained just 168 yards by way of the ground game to 184 for the Blue Devils. That marked only the second time in the last 11 games the Black Knights were outrushed by their opponent.Â
ARMY-LIBERTY HISTORY
• This will be the first all-time meeting between Army and Liberty.
• Both teams are designated as NCAA independents after Liberty joined the FBS division ranks this year.Â
• The two teams don't play any common opponents throughout the 2018 season.
ABOUT THE FLAMES
• Liberty is coming off an impressive 52-10 victory over Old Dominion last Saturday. That win marked the Flames' first ever victory as an FBS school.Â
• Just a year ago Liberty finished with a 6-5 overall record and a 2-3 conference mark (Sun Belt).Â
• The Flames started that season with a big 48-45 win over Baylor in Waco, Texas, before going on to register two more victories to begin the year 3-0.Â
• Liberty eventually ended its FCS era dropping a heartbreaker in the final seconds to Charleston Southern back on Nov. 18, 2017.
• In the Flames lone game this season, junior quarterback Stephen Calvert finished 25-of-36 and threw for four touchdowns.Â
• The ground game was solid for Liberty as well as Kentory Matthews racked up 101 yards on 17 attempts. The redshirt senior converted on a 57-yard run late in the third quarter to ultimately break the game open at 24-10.
• Receivers DJ Stubbs and Anton Gandy-Golden compiled four touchdowns between them with Stubbs registering 155 yards on seven targets and Gandy-Golden 53 yards on six catches. Gandy-Golden led all players with three TDs, while Stubbs scored the game's opening six points after breaking free for a 35-yard touchdown grab.
• The defense saw Isaac Steele and Elijah Benton both notch a team-best eight tackles. Ralfs Rusin and Jeremy Lemonier each posted one tackle for a loss as well, while Rusin accounted for the Flames' lone sack in the game.Â
MONKEN ENTERS FIFTH YEAR
• Head coach Jeff Monken enters his fifth season at the helm of Army football and has a 24-27 record with 18 wins over the past three seasons.
• He is one of only two coaches to take Army to a pair of bowl games during his tenure, joining former coach Jim Young.Â
• For the success last season, Monken was named a finalist for the Paul "Bear" Bryant Award and the Eddie Robinson Award, both of which are for national coach of the year honors.Â
RUSHING ATTACK
• The Black Knights led FBS in rushing for the first time since 2012 as Army ran for 362.3 yards per game in 2017.Â
• Army returns most of the rushing attack from last season, but the biggest piece, Ahmad Bradshaw graduated from the Academy in August.Â
• Bradshaw set the single-season rushing record last year with 1,746 yards, including 265 yards against service-academy rival Air Force in the 21-0 victory last November.
• Army does however return its entire fullback core with Darnell Woolfolk and Andy Davidson leading the way. Woolfolk was second on the team in rushing in 2017 and had 14 rushing touchdowns, while Davidson was the team leader in touchdowns in 2016 with 12.
• The Black Knights will also rely on junior Connor Slomka and senior Calen Holt, who rushed for 216 and 214 yards just a year ago, respectively.
TEAM CAPTAINS
• The team captains for the 2018 season are Darnell Woolfolk, Bryce Holland and Cole Christiansen.Â
• Holland returns as the anchor of the offensive line, which is a young group.
• Woolfolk is the second leading rusher from a year ago and heads a fullback group that has all of its firepower back.
• Christiansen is the first junior captain since Jeremy Timpf in 2015 and is in the middle of the defense that returns eight starters from 2017.
Â
The contest will air live on CBS Sports Network; the game can also be heard on the Army Sports Network through the TuneInapp or goarmywestpoint.com.
Â
HOW TO FOLLOW
TELEVISION • CBS Sports Network
RADIO • Army Sports Network
GAME NOTES • Army Notes • Liberty Notes
LIVE STATS • GoArmyWestPoint.com
TWITTER • @ArmyWP_Football
THE OPENING KICKOFF
• Army is setting its eyes on its third straight home opening win when it hosts Liberty this Saturday.Â
• The Black Knights have posted wins in four of their last five home openers, with their lone loss a 37-35 decision to Fordham on Sept. 4, 2015.
• Head coach Jeff Monken, who enters his fifth year at the helm, is trying to follow up on last year's success in which the Black Knights recorded a 10-win season for only the second time in program history, and captured the Commander in Chief's Trophy for the first time since 1996.
• In 2017, Army won its second straight bowl game with a thrilling 42-35 victory over San Diego State in the Armed Forces Bowl.
• The Black Knights were the NCAA FBS rushing leader in 2017 with an average of 362.3 yards per game, but Army is replacing four of five starters from the offensive line.Â
• With the graduation of quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw, Army lost its top rusher from a season ago with 1,742, which set the single-season service-academy record.Â
• Army's slight inexperience showed last Friday night in the Cadets' season opener at Duke. Army gained just 168 yards by way of the ground game to 184 for the Blue Devils. That marked only the second time in the last 11 games the Black Knights were outrushed by their opponent.Â
ARMY-LIBERTY HISTORY
• This will be the first all-time meeting between Army and Liberty.
• Both teams are designated as NCAA independents after Liberty joined the FBS division ranks this year.Â
• The two teams don't play any common opponents throughout the 2018 season.
ABOUT THE FLAMES
• Liberty is coming off an impressive 52-10 victory over Old Dominion last Saturday. That win marked the Flames' first ever victory as an FBS school.Â
• Just a year ago Liberty finished with a 6-5 overall record and a 2-3 conference mark (Sun Belt).Â
• The Flames started that season with a big 48-45 win over Baylor in Waco, Texas, before going on to register two more victories to begin the year 3-0.Â
• Liberty eventually ended its FCS era dropping a heartbreaker in the final seconds to Charleston Southern back on Nov. 18, 2017.
• In the Flames lone game this season, junior quarterback Stephen Calvert finished 25-of-36 and threw for four touchdowns.Â
• The ground game was solid for Liberty as well as Kentory Matthews racked up 101 yards on 17 attempts. The redshirt senior converted on a 57-yard run late in the third quarter to ultimately break the game open at 24-10.
• Receivers DJ Stubbs and Anton Gandy-Golden compiled four touchdowns between them with Stubbs registering 155 yards on seven targets and Gandy-Golden 53 yards on six catches. Gandy-Golden led all players with three TDs, while Stubbs scored the game's opening six points after breaking free for a 35-yard touchdown grab.
• The defense saw Isaac Steele and Elijah Benton both notch a team-best eight tackles. Ralfs Rusin and Jeremy Lemonier each posted one tackle for a loss as well, while Rusin accounted for the Flames' lone sack in the game.Â
MONKEN ENTERS FIFTH YEAR
• Head coach Jeff Monken enters his fifth season at the helm of Army football and has a 24-27 record with 18 wins over the past three seasons.
• He is one of only two coaches to take Army to a pair of bowl games during his tenure, joining former coach Jim Young.Â
• For the success last season, Monken was named a finalist for the Paul "Bear" Bryant Award and the Eddie Robinson Award, both of which are for national coach of the year honors.Â
RUSHING ATTACK
• The Black Knights led FBS in rushing for the first time since 2012 as Army ran for 362.3 yards per game in 2017.Â
• Army returns most of the rushing attack from last season, but the biggest piece, Ahmad Bradshaw graduated from the Academy in August.Â
• Bradshaw set the single-season rushing record last year with 1,746 yards, including 265 yards against service-academy rival Air Force in the 21-0 victory last November.
• Army does however return its entire fullback core with Darnell Woolfolk and Andy Davidson leading the way. Woolfolk was second on the team in rushing in 2017 and had 14 rushing touchdowns, while Davidson was the team leader in touchdowns in 2016 with 12.
• The Black Knights will also rely on junior Connor Slomka and senior Calen Holt, who rushed for 216 and 214 yards just a year ago, respectively.
TEAM CAPTAINS
• The team captains for the 2018 season are Darnell Woolfolk, Bryce Holland and Cole Christiansen.Â
• Holland returns as the anchor of the offensive line, which is a young group.
• Woolfolk is the second leading rusher from a year ago and heads a fullback group that has all of its firepower back.
• Christiansen is the first junior captain since Jeremy Timpf in 2015 and is in the middle of the defense that returns eight starters from 2017.
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Players Mentioned
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