56 points, three touchdown passes, 420 rushing yards, 253 pushups by the Army cheerleaders and top brass to celebrate the eight Black Knight touchdowns.
Just reading those numbers and one would think that the Black Knights beat 16-ranked Wake Forest in a meltdown.
By here are some other numbers for Wake Forest:
70 points.
458 passing yards.
No punts
5 touchdown passes.
Amazingly averaging a touchdown every 1:40 that they controlled the ball.
The result, of course, was a wild and crazy 70-56 victory for the Demon Deacons at Michie Stadium on a beautiful fall afternoon that saw the first sellout in a few years. It was the first time that a ranked opponent played at Michie since 2013 when Stanford visited West Point.
The bottom line, of course, is that Army’s defense, apparently, so good against Wisconsin last week, was nowhere to be found this week. Army, smaller and slower than the Wake offensive line, put zero pressure on WF quarterback Sam Hartman, giving him all day to find open receivers. But Hartman and his receiving corps were so much better than the Black Knights that he probably did not need much time to hit open receivers for big plays, time and time and time again.
Still, this was a classic college football shootout. And, amazingly, Army was down just seven at the half with the Black Knights getting the ball to start the second half. A quick score early in the third quarter tied the score, but Wake responded with its own fast touchdown to regain the seven-point edge.
Coach Jeff Monken decided to go for a field goal on the next series after an Army drive stalled around the 30-yard line. But, inexplicably, Monken decided to forego the kick and instead had the placekicking unit attempt a pass. It did result in a touchdown…..for Wake Forest, after the poorly thrown ball was intercepted and returned nearly 80 yards for a touchdown.
Army never got closer than seven points again and started to fade in the fourth quarter, with some chances but no way to stop the Wake offensive machine.
Some observations:
*Traffic was the worst in years, with some fans saying they had to wait two to three hours to get onto the base and many missing much of the first half.
- A seemingly bad pass interference call on Army on a third and long situation kept a Wake drive going. It was clear to many that the pass was both well over the receiver’s grasps and there was little or no contact.
- Army appeared to make few halftime adjustments on defense and the Black Knights seemed to have no answers for the Wake offense.
- A week off before Air Force in Texas. The big question is what Army team is going to show up. The offensive machine of this week or the defensive machine that played against Wisconsin? Or both? Or neither?
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