It’s not often that an undefeated team is listed as the underdog in the back half of November.
However, that is the situation No. 19 Army finds itself in as it prepares to face No. 6 Notre Dame on Saturday evening at Yankee Stadium in New York.
Warriors coach Jeff Monken said he understands his team’s underdog situation. The Black Knights (9-0) have more players from Texas than any other state, he said, and zero of those players received a scholarship to play at North Texas.
Now, compare North Texas to Notre Dame (9-1), a blue-blood program loaded with four- and five-star recruits. Monken said it’s easy to see the difference in terms of pure talent.
“It’s really hard to win a college football game, and it’s really hard at Army to win a football game,” Monken said. “So our guys have to accept the fact that we have to do our assignments and our fundamentals at the highest level and try to do that better than anybody else. …
“We have to practice and play with absolute precision because if we don’t we’re going to be disappointed. That’s who we are. I accept that. That doesn’t mean we don’t have talent. We have talented players on our team. But are they more talented than Notre Dame, collectively as a football team?
In terms of basics, the Army has always been stellar. The Black Knights are one of three undefeated FBS teams left, and the No. 1 Oregon and No. 5 Indiana, and they have the longest winning streak in the nation at 13 games scheduled last season.
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman believes Army’s success has been hard-earned.
“I told the coaching staff, I think it’s our toughest challenge yet,” said Freeman.
The Fighting Irish have won eight straight in prime-time, including a 35-14 win against Virginia last week. They have outscored opponents 380-114 this season.
Riley Leonard leads Notre Dame with 1,789 passing yards and 12 touchdowns to go along with 641 rushing yards and 13 scores on the ground. Jeremiah Love has 720 rushing yards and 12 scores, while Beaux Collins has 30 catches for 390 yards and two TDs.
Freeman praised his team for their determination, as the Fighting Irish did not trail in the second half.
“It’s like, is this the most important game in the game?” Freeman said. “And that’s the idea. Don’t worry about the score — don’t worry about the score. You can be up, you can be down, it doesn’t matter. This game is the most important game of the game. , and that takes effort and focus to do, right?
“It’s not natural. It’s natural to give up. It’s natural to say, ‘Okay, here are the points, it’s not serious. This game doesn’t matter.’ But the boys on the field must have confidence that this game is very important so that we can get the result we want in the game.”
The Warriors are led by Bryson Daily, who has thrown for 644 yards and seven touchdowns and has rushed for 1,062 yards and 21 TDs. Kanye Udoh is the leading rusher with 856 yards and nine scores.
Notre Dame is 39-8-4 in the all-time series against Army, having won the last 15 meetings. The teams have met 23 times at Yankee Stadium, 22 of those in the original ballpark (1925-29, 1931-46, 1969) and one in the current stadium (2010).
–Field Level Media
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