Football Wins Independence Bowl; Becomes First 12-win Team in School History

Saturday, December 28

Shreveport, La.

9:15 PM

Army West Point

12-2 , 8-0

Louisiana Tech

5-8 , 4-4

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Louisiana Tech

Army West Point

Photo by: Danny Wild-Imagn Images

Football Wins Independence Bowl; Becomes First 12-win Team in School History

December 29, 2024 | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

Shreveport, La. -- The #19 AP-ranked Army Black Knights (11-2, 9-0 AAC) played in the postseason for the first time since 2021, defeating the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl, 27-6, its 12th win of the season, the most wins in a season in school history.

QB Bryson Daily rushed for 127 yards and three touchdowns on 27 carries, with the third score breaking the record for most rushing touchdowns from a quarterback in FBS history with 32. Daily was named Independence Bowl Offensive MVP for his performance.

As the feature back for the first time this season, RB Hayden Reed ran 20 times for 114 (5.7 avg.) yards and a touchdown.

Army's offense held the ball for 40:08 of game time while converting on four-of-five fourth-down conversions.

LB Kalib Fortner was named Independence Bowl Defensive MVP with a team-high seven tackles including a third down sack and pass breakup.

LA Tech won the toss and chose to receive the ball, and Army forced a punt after DL Trey Sofia forced a pressure and rushed throw on the game's opening drive.

Army's offense wasted no time on its first possession as RB Hayden Reed broke off a run up the middle for 15 yards and slot back Noah Short got loose on the edge for 17 yards. QB Bryson Daily capped off the drive with his NCAA-leading 30th rushing touchdown of the season, from 15 yards out for the Black Knights to take a 7-0 lead. It was an eight-play, 80-yard drive for Army.

The Bulldogs converted one first down on the ensuing drive before punting into the end zone for a touchback.

Daily then plunged forward on a fourth-and-short from Army's own 29-yard line to keep an eventual touchdown drive alive. Aided by a 16-yard rush from RB Tyrell Robinson, the drive was capped by a 12-yard touchdown run by RB Hayden Reed to make it 14-0 in the first quarter, his first rushing score of the season.

Louisiana Tech responded to Army's 14 unanswered points by converting on a 27-yard field goal by K Drew Henderson. The field goal was set up by an Evan Bullock 27-yard pass to Eli Finley.

Army drove down for its third consecutive touchdown drive to begin the game, chewing up 12:21 of game clock as Daily converted a pair of fourth downs on the ground to continue to move the chains. He capped the drive with an eight-yard touchdown run to match the FBS record for rushing touchdowns from a quarterback in a season.

Army got a stop on defense to end the half with DL Deshontez Gray and LB Kalib Fortner getting home for sacks as the Black Knights took a 21-3 lead into halftime.

Army scored a touchdown on all three of its drives in the first half.

The Bulldogs got three more points, as Henderson connected from 44 yards out, to cut the deficit to 15 points, 21-6.

Early in the fourth quarter, Daily found the end zone for the third time on the night, his 32nd of the season, breaking the NCAA record for most rushing touchdowns in a season by a quarterback, formerly held by Keenan Reynolds (Navy, 31). The score was set up on a 52-yard reception by TE David Crossan, the first reception of his career. On the play, Daily eclipsed 1,000 passing yards on the season, the second Army QB to have 1,000 rushing and passing yards in a season (Kelvin Hopkins Jr., 2018).

With the score 27-6 after a failed two-point conversion for Army, the Bulldogs drove down into the red zone for the third time, having a first-and-goal from the two-yard line. After getting three consecutive stops, CB Jaydan Mayes intercepted Bullock's pass on fourth down.

Louisiana Tech got the ball back twice in the final ten minutes as Army ran the clock out, as the Bulldogs turned the ball over on downs each time.

Army finished with 325 yards rushing while allowing just 60 yards on the ground.

GAME NOTES:

Carrying the Flag: Senior WR Casey Reynolds led the team out with the Black Flag.

DIVISION OF THE GAME: Army honored the United States Army Special Operations Command. The United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) is the command charged with overseeing the various special operations forces of the United States Army. Headquartered at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, it is the largest component of the United States Special Operations Command. It is an Army Service Component Command. Its mission is to organize, train, educate, man, equip, fund, administer, mobilize, deploy and sustain Army special operations forces to successfully conduct worldwide special operations.

With the win, Army captured its 12th victory of the season, the most ever in a single season in program history and tied for the most wins in a season by a service academy with Air Force (1985 and 1998).
Army is one of six FBS teams this season have reached 12 wins so far, with three teams still having a chance to obtain a 12th victory (Ohio State, Georgia, and Arizona State).
Only 39 teams have achieved 12 wins in a season since 2019.
Army is 16-2 in its last 18 games dating back to last season.
Jeff Monken is 5-1 in bowl games at Army. Army's last bowl game before tonight was a 24-22 win over Missouri in the 2021 Armed Forces Bowl.
Army is 8-3 all-time in bowl games.
Army has once before played in the Independence Bowl in 1996, a 32-29 loss to Auburn.
Army is now 4-0 in bowl games following a loss to service academy rival, Navy (1985, 2010, 2021).
The American Athletic Conference improves to 6-1 in bowl games this season with Army's win.
QB Bryson Daily's 32 rushing touchdowns are the most in the FBS, now ahead of Boise State's Ashton Jeanty (29).
QB Bryson Daily scored his 30th rushing touchdown of the season in the first quarter. Daily is the sixth player in NCAA history to total 30+ rushing touchdowns in a season.
- Barry Sanders, 37, 1988 - Oklahoma State
- Montee Ball, 33, 2011 - Wisconsin
- Bryson Daily (QB), 32, 2024 - Army
- Devin Singletary, 32, 2017 - Florida Atlantic
- Kapri Bibbs, 31, 2013 - Colorado State
- Keenan Reynolds (QB), 31, 2013 - Navy
Daily rushed for 127 yards, his 11th 100-yard rushing performance of the season.
Daily finished the season with 1,659 rushing yards and 1,007 passing yards becoming only the second Army QB to have 1,000 rushing and passing yards in the same season joining only Kelvin Hopkins Jr., who did so in 2018.
Daily tallied his sixth game this season, scoring 3+ rushing touchdowns tied with Jeanty for the most 3+ touchdown games this season.
RB Hayden Reed scored his first rushing touchdown since Oct. 7, 2023 (vs. Boston College) on a 12-yard rush in the first quarter. Reed has now scored in back-to-back games, scoring on a receiving touchdown in the Army-Navy Game.
With Daily and Reed each reaching over 100 yards rushing in the game, it marked the sixth time this season in which Army had multiple rushers over the century mark.
OL Connor Finucane will start in his 51st consecutive game on the Army line, a program record. Finucane will have started in 52 career games and played in 61.
K Trey Gronotte finished his career a perfect 57-for-57 on PATs, the third-longest PAT streak in program history. Gronotte holds the record for most PATs in a single season in program history with 54, breaking the previous mark of 47 (Dick Walterhouse, 1944 and Blake Wilson, 2017).
DL Deshontez Gray recorded his first career sack to go along with four tackles.
LB Kalib Fortner logged a team-best seven tackles and a sack to earn Defensive MVP honors.
CB Jaydan Mayes recorded his fourth interception of the season with a fourth quarter pick in the end zone.
Army's 21 plays on its second quarter touchdown drive marked the most plays in a scoring drive in Independence Bowl history.
The Independence Bowl was established in 1976 during the nation's bicentennial celebration. The Independence Bowl is the 11th-oldest college football bowl game and is celebrating its 48th game in its 49th year (no game in 2020).
The Independence Bowl was broadcast on ESPN, the 32nd consecutive year the Independence Bowl will be broadcast on the ESPN network. Over the past six years, the TV broadcast of the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl has averaged 2.34 million viewers.
No. 19/22 (AP/CFP) Army was the seventh-ranked team to play in the Independence Bowl and first since No. 12/13 (AP/CFP) BYU in 2021. The last ranked team to win an Independence Bowl was No. 22 Virginia Tech in 1993, when they defeated No. 21 Indiana.
The Black Knights are the first conference champions to play in the Independence Bowl since McNeese State in 1980.
Army is 3-0 all-time vs. LA Tech, last meeting in 2013, a 35-16 win playing the game at the Cotton Bowl.