Week 13 Data Preview: Notre Dame VS Army Black Knights

Some key data points about Army’s 9-0 season going into their Notre Dame matchup.

There are two games left in college football’s 2024 regular season and Army is next up on Notre Dame’s schedule. Army is having a historically good season and is sitting at #9 in the CFP rankings. This game will be their highest profile regular season matchup and also the decider of whether or not they can finish off this Cinderella run on a high note.

Season Summary

The Black Knights are 9-0 overall and 7-0 against American conference opponents. Their average point differential per game is +24.8. Its only two non-conference opponents were Lehigh (FCS) and Air Force (Mountain West). Army beat Lehigh 42-7 and Air Force 20-3. Over the course of the last three games the team’s point differentials have gotten slimmer and their scoring productivity has dropped. They were on a bye in Week 12 but pulled out their closest victory of the season, 14-3, against North Texas in Week 11.

Offensive Summary

Army is averaging 420 yards of total offense per game and did their best work in the middle of the season. They hit a season low of 255 yards against Air Force and only recorded 308 yards of total offense in their last game.

The service academy is sticking by the triple option. Their passing production has been sporadic and they tallied up a season high of 160 passing yards against Tulsa. Army’s passing floor was 15 yards in the North Texas game. A big detail here is that the team is only averaging 7.6 pass attempts per game.

The Black Knights are averaging 335 rushing yards per game but their efficiency on the ground has been consistently trending down since the Tulsa game.

Offensive Details

Army’s prolific offense has mostly been driven by a three-man show. Senior quarterback Bryson Daily leads the team with a combined 174 rush/pash plays from scrimmage. He’s sitting at 1,062 total yards and 21 touchdowns with three games left to play. Sophomore running back Kanye Udoh has had 129 plays from scrimmage and tallied up 859 yards with nine touchdowns. Junior running back Noah Short only has 52 plays from scrimmage but has earned 698 total yards and five touchdowns.

Defensive Summary

The Army defense is allowing an average of 274 yards per game. They gave up a season high of 369 yards to East Carolina. Opponents have had the most success throwing the ball. The academy is allowing an average of 191 yards through the air, compared with 83 yards on the ground. Their performances have been pretty sporadic in both areas, though.

Final Thoughts

I think we’ve got a case of the Navy game, 2024 installment. Another service academy who has been dominating American conference opponents but is going to be running up against their first big opponent. The triple option is always a concern, no matter how good the Irish’s defense is. And seeing as how the group’s young stars didn’t get a great showing by the Midshipmen I’d buckle up for some rough spots.

An I didn’t imagine I’d be saying this a few weeks ago but I think Notre Dame’s offense locks in for the win. Sure. Army’s defense has been stingy but even though Riley Leonard’s offense isn’t always the cleanest they’ve got decent enough motion to overcome what they’ll face this weekend in Yankee Stadium.

Cheers and Go Irish!!