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We will not play Syracuse as originally planned.

Our "big game" is kansas state at Kansas State to open season it appears

Our FCS game is Marist

We add 2 new AAC opponents in Tulane and Charlotte but the rest are the same.

Sort of a "meh" schedule and opening with K State away is a rough way to get going

Kansas State is ranked above us in the CFP poll so there is a solid chance they could be pre season AP top 25. IMO Tulane is the 2nd best team in the AAC so that’s a good add. We don’t have the marquis name like Notre Dame but I would say our SOS might be a little better next year.

Why play another NYS div 1 school when you can open against Kansas St on the road. Forgot we get to play Marist. With a game after turkey gay the schedule is becoming less and less attractive. And a championship game on a december friday night, a tough reach. I think I am getting OLD like Rabble.

Why play another NYS div 1 school when you can open against Kansas St on the road. Forgot we get to play Marist. With a game after turkey gay the schedule is becoming less and less attractive. And a championship game on a december friday night, a tough reach. I think I am getting OLD like Rabble.

Thanks for posting...interesting. We had such an easy 1st year conference schedule, a nice welcome gift for sure, but I was wondering if there would be a pendulum swing to a more challenging 2nd year slate. Especially with how well Army has done this year in conference.

Comparing this year's schedule with next year:

We trade Notre Dame for Kansas State. A step down in brand quality, but still a quality P4 opponent that is likely to finish ranked this season and could be a preseason top 25 or certainly very close. Good chance for a P4 win next season, which as we are seeing this year is an important resume builder in the eyes of pollsters and CFP committee members.

Swap Lehigh for Marist. WIsh this was week 1 as a tuneup, but otherwise nothing major here...a winnable FCS game, which is what we want.

Conference slate: we trade FAU and Rice for Tulane and Charlotte. Tulane will likely be our toughest conference game, so this is a step up in difficulty in our conference slate. The road games next season will likely be a tougher test than the road games this year.

With AF on the road next season, this looks like it will only give us 5 home games, with 6 road games and Navy at a neutral site. Would have been nice to get K-State at home...but best we could hope for is a home-home agreement to get them at home in a future season.

Overall, a decent schedule all things considered.

This won’t be popular and I get it but if we are held back this year by SOS and we want to fix it why don’t we drop the FCS opponent? I know even the SEC schools schedule one but they have a built in higher SOS because of their conference. If we dropped our FCS opponent we don’t have to play a Top 25 team, just a solid FBS school.

I'm fine with only 5 home games next year due to the ongoing construction at Michie, but I'd hope it's not the case every odd numbered year.

Also, probably safe to assume the Marist game gets moved up to Labor Day weekend?

USMAPAFAN wrote: ↑Fri Nov 15, 2024 10:59 am This won’t be popular and I get it but if we are held back this year by SOS and we want to fix it why don’t we drop the FCS opponent? I know even the SEC schools schedule one but they have a built in higher SOS because of their conference. If we dropped our FCS opponent we don’t have to play a Top 25 team, just a solid FBS school.

Couldn't agree with you more. Having Marist on the schedule is brutal, they are awful.
There has to be some FBS team they can substitute with, or at least a FCS school that
has a decent football program.

Definitely in the disagree category. There's not really a downside for 1 FCS game a season that I can see. It counts towards bowl eligibility and provides a game that can be useful as either an early season "tune-up" to get players valuable game experience, or a mid/late season respite if some starters need a breather.

In terms of SOS, that will take care of itself through the rest of the season. Assuming Army keeps scheduling one stretch game with a quality P4 opponent...that balances the FCS game. I'd rather see us make Navy a conference game and open up that slot for another non-conference game to provide another P4 opponent than to give up the FCS game each season which should typically give Army 1 of the needed 6 wins for bowl eligibility.

Marist is a non-scholarship Pioneer League school.

Do they even count toward bowl eligibility?