Black Knights Continue Hot Start with Win over Miami Ohio

Saturday, September 25

West Point, N.Y.

12:00 p.m. ET

Army West Point

4-0

Miami (OH)

1-3

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Miami (Ohio)

Army West Point

Black Knights Continue Hot Start with Win over Miami Ohio

September 25, 2021 | Football

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – For the first time since 1996, the Army West Point football team has started off its season 4-0 after defeating Miami (OH) by a score of 23-10 on Saturday at Michie Stadium.

With the result, the Black Knights have extended their winning streak at Michie Stadium to 13 games. The contest was highlighted by a career day from QB Christian Anderson who rushed for 236 yards, which stands as the sixth-most all-time in a single game. The feat falls 29 yards short of the Academy's quarterback rushing record, held by QB Ahmad Bradshaw (265 yds, 2017).

Anderson opened the game attacking the rushing record with a 72-yard touchdown statement on the team's third snap of the game.

The RedHawks (1-3) got off to a slower start, as the Black Knights' defensive unit forced the opposing team to punt on their first two possessions. Following an exchange of punts, including Army's first punt since the third quarter of the season-opener at Georgia State (Sept. 4), the Cadets responded on the following drive by coming up with their fourth takeaway of 2021 on a key CB Cameron Jones interception. Jones' snare was the third of his career.

Miami (OH) aimed to string a few plays together, but their efforts were slightly stunted by OLB Andre Carter II's recording his fifth solo sack of the year, to regain position as the nation's sack leader with 5.5 total sacks in 2021. Despite the sack, the RedHawks put together a 13-play, 69-yard drive that ended in a field goal and trimmed Army's lead down to 7-3.

Anderson responded immediately by finding a gap on another 70-plus touchdown run, where the career-setting 75-yard rush was his 13th rushing TD as a Black Knight and extended the lead to 14-3.

After an exchange of stalled drives on both sidelines, WR Reikan Donaldson broke up the back-and-forth action with a blocked punt. S Quindrelin Hammonds made the recovery, allowing the Black Knights to take over at Miami's 14-yard line. Tailing off a goal-line push at the two yard-line, K Cole Talley delivered a 21-yard field goal to push the score to 17-3.

Miami (OH) tried to gain some momentum on its next drive, but the tandem of DL Nolan Cockrill and LB Jaylen Jacobs took the wind out of their sails with another Black Knight sack. For the fourth-straight game, the Black Knights went into the halftime break with the lead.

After punting to open up the second half, the defense stayed strong and came up with a huge stop at fourth-and-one thanks to the duo of S Cedrick Cunningham Jr. and S Marquel Broughton, who stopped an attempted run on the ensuing third down.

Army took over the ball at its own one-yard line and began to charge down the field. The drive was nearly thwarted when the RedHawks came up with a sack, but Anderson broke free from three defenders on the next play to record another explosive play with a 42-yard run near the quarter's end. At the top of the fourth quarter, the Black Knights picked right back up where they left off when RB Anthony Adkins made a four-yard strike. The touchdown capped off a 99-yard drive for Army that took nearly 11 minutes to complete and moved the advantage to 23-3.

The RedHawks responded by logging their first touchdown of the day on an 80-yard pass down the sideline. With the lead trimmed down to 23-10, the teams traded possessions before Army was able to run the clock down and secure its fourth win of the season.

NOTES

Today's game was the third of Anderson's career with 100+ rushing yards and his second this season after recording 119 against Western Kentucky (Sept. 11).
Adkins has scored on the team's past two 99-yard drives, the last occurring in the 2020 season-opener against Middle Tennessee (Sept. 5, 2020).
The Black Knights have outscored opponents 35-0 in first quarters this season.
Zach Harding's punt in the opening 15 minutes was his first in nine quarters. Throughout the day, he punted five times with a career-long of 63 yards to pin the RedHawks inside the five yard-line.
LB Spencer Jones and Broughton led the defense with six tackles apiece.
Army recorded all 384 offensive yards on the ground, while the RedHawks were split between 204 yards in the air and held to only 28 rushing.
The Cadets were 3-3 in fourth-down efficiency and limited Miami to a mark of 8-18.
The last time Army has won three-consecutive home games was in 2020, when the Black Knights defeated Georgia State, Navy and Air Force.

QUOTABLE

Jeff Monken, Army West Point Head Coach

[Ref. The victory over Miami (OH)]

"First, credit to Miami Ohio and Coach Chuck Martin. He's done a great job with that program, building a tough and physical team that we had to battle to win that football game today. It felt like it was going to be a fight all the way to the very end. We had some big runs to get some scores but beyond that we had to earn every single inch. [Miami (OH)] did as good a job defending us as anyone has all year so credit to them but I am proud of our team for getting the win."

[Ref. The strong play of Christian Anderson]

"The guys in front of him did a great job. Coach Davis and his staff did an excellent job of creating some windows for him on those couple of big plays. We went back to it a few different times throughout the game but credit to Miami, they stopped us, but that was all due to the great blocks and his breakaway speed. To have a performance like that made a huge impact on the game. We needed a guy to make some plays and he did."

RB Anthony Adkins
[Ref. Team blocking that led to 384 Army rush yards]
"Everybody just did their job. We came into this game with the mindset that we were going to be the tougher team and today we had to figure out who the tougher team was going to be. Today that was us. Everybody did their job today and when everybody does their job good things happen for us."

DL Nolan Cockrill
[Ref. The goal line stand]
"As a team we emphasize winning in the red zone. The offense does a great job in [the red zone] and for the defense, everytime we get down there the intensity is heightened. It's always great to be able to give the ball back to our offense and keep points off their side of the board. Everybody did a great job and it was exciting to get those stops."

WHAT'S NEXT
The Black Knights will leave the friendly confines of Michie Stadium and hit the road for a contest at Ball State on Saturday, Oct. 2. Kick-off against the Cardinals is slated for a 5 p.m. start and the action will be streamed on ESPN+.

FOLLOW ALONG
For complete coverage of Army West Point football, follow the Black Knights on Twitter and Instagram at @ArmyWP_Football and online at www.goarmywestpoint.com.