Emotions

[monkensminion]

I will be the first to admit that I am an emotional and sometimes irrational Army fan. During the last Ellerson year I sat in a Philadelphia bar at 9:00 pm with my classmates huddled around me after a blowout loss to Navy drafting an email to the Superintendent (Caslen) pleading with him to fire Ellerson and change the program. Caslen wrote me back (I still have the email) and fired Ellerson two weeks later. I realize I had nothing to do with the decision.

All that aside, I think this Army team could rival 2018. I realize we have not played the upper echelon of college football, but we are 4-0 and we have beaten the living shit out of everyone we’ve played. I don’t remember that ever happening since I was a plebe in 1991.

I saw something on twitter or X or whatever that this is only the third time in 30 years that we have been 4-0 and that if Navy wins on Saturday, it will be the first time since 1945 that both Army and Navy started 4-0. As much as I hate Navy— that’s awesome.

Bryson Daily is the key to all of this. He is the best quarterback for this offense in the past 40 years. He’s better than Bradshaw, Steelman or McAda. He needs to stay healthy. If he does, great things could happen.

[wpgrad]

I will be the first to admit that I am an emotional and sometimes irrational Army fan. During the last Ellerson year I sat in a Philadelphia bar at 9:00 pm with my classmates huddled around me after a blowout loss to Navy drafting an email to the Superintendent (Caslen) pleading with him to fire Ellerson and change the program. Caslen wrote me back (I still have the email) and fired Ellerson two weeks later. I realize I had nothing to do with the decision.

All that aside, I think this Army team could rival 2018. I realize we have not played the upper echelon of college football, but we are 4-0 and we have beaten the living shit out of everyone we’ve played. I don’t remember that ever happening since I was a plebe in 1991.

I saw something on twitter or X or whatever that this is only the third time in 30 years that we have been 4-0 and that if Navy wins on Saturday, it will be the first time since 1945 that both Army and Navy started 4-0. As much as I hate Navy— that’s awesome.

Bryson Daily is the key to all of this. He is the best quarterback for this offense in the past 40 years. He’s better than Bradshaw, Steelman or McAda. He needs to stay healthy. If he does, great things could happen.

In 1991 we lost to the citadel and beat Harvard by 1. Who exactly were we beating the shit out of? Daly is as critical as any about we’ve had. Must stay healthy and this is special year

[neumanna1]

I think he was saying he’s been following the team since 1991 and it’s the first time it’s happened, not that it last happened in 1991.

[Oliphant]

Man, I wish Daily had started all four years.

[PrideandDream]

Daily is really good. His numbers are very close to Mcada's though I'm not certain he's a better passer than Mcada.

Our O Line is playing better for sure but, at least this year so far, we just haven't played anyone. So we will see what happens once we play a team worth a damn. Temple, FAU, and Rice are now a combined 3-10 so far. Those 3 wins are vs FIU, Texas Southern, and Utah State and those 3 teams are a combined 3-8. We are somewhere close to last in Strength of Schedule.

The good news is we are winning and doing so without a ton of mistakes we look pretty good on both penalties and turnovers. Last night we made some mistakes with the ball but got lucky the punt, the "pass" and the bad pitch. But those 3 could easily turn a game.

The best analog I know of is 1996. We had a soft schedule and had 3 FBS opponents and one FCS. We played Ohio, Duke, North Texas and then Yale (FCS). Ohio Duke and N Texas were a combined 3-9 after after we had played them all. So very close to what this year's schedule looks like. We outscored those 4 opponents 138-60. The 2024 team has outscored the first 4 teams 143-42. So pretty darn close in terms of points and quality of opponents. Defense, surprsingly this year has gotten better and better I believe. Outside the blown coverage last night they were fantastic especially against the run!

So I believe the marker for this team is to continue to win and do so convincingly amongst a soft schedule. The question will be how do these guys respond against tougher opponents and what do they do when their backs are against the wall. That's what made the '95 and '96 teams special. The ability to come back after being down and fight like hell to try and get a win. See Washington '95, Notre Dame '95, Navy '96, and Auburn '96.

Man I would love to see this team run the table. More importantly I'd love to see us beat Notre Dame. However we are going to have to get better. That 2nd quarter last night was atrocious. We need to learn to score on every drive offensively against some of these weaker opponents and have the defense continue to get better each week. Navy is looking good and Notre Dame has a ton of talent. We can only win them one at a time and next up is Tulsa on the Road. Our next 3 opponents, Tulsa, UAB, and ECU are a combined 5-6. They are definitely better teams than the last 3 we've played so we will need to keep improving. We could be 7-0 headed into Air Force. But will have two see.

Things definitely lining up to be a good year and the good news is we have more than just Daily. Udoh, Rendina, Short, Reynolds, Stewart, etc. Lots of guys in the mix making plays so far. And great to see Coleman have some success last night too!

GO ARMY!

PD

[wpgrad]

I think he was saying he’s been following the team since 1991 and it’s the first time it’s happened, not that it last happened in 1991.

I'd argue we beat the crap out of alot of teams in 2017 and 2018. Heck we beat Houston 70-14 so badly they fired their coach