The undefeated Army Black Knights found themselves in good standing when the first College Football Playoff rankings were revealed Tuesday night.
Attempting to keep climbing Saturday afternoon against North Texas is the focus in the American Athletic Conference matchup in Denton, Texas.
Army (8-0, 6-0) was No. 25 in the CFP standings, grabbing the final spot in the rankings used to determine the field for the inaugural 12-team playoff.
The Black Knights stayed unbeaten with a defensive-minded 20-3 victory over rival Air Force last weekend to extend the country’s longest active winning streak to 12 games.
The 17-point margin of victory equaled Army’s smallest this year. The Black Knights also defeated East Carolina (45-28) and Florida Atlantic (24-7) by that margin on Oct. 19 and Sept. 7, respectively.
The Black Knights have not trailed during their dozen-game winning streak.
Since 2003, the only school with a longer winning streak without trailing is Alabama, which went 14 games from 2020 to 2021.
Army also is one of only five unbeaten schools in FBS competition, joining Miami, BYU, Indiana and Oregon.
Army’s triple-option threat usually leads the way, but coach Jeff Monken said the defense was at its best in the 20-3 win over Air Force.
“I don’t know if our defense could have been asked to do more than they did,” Monken replied when asked if it was the unit’s best performance of 2024.
“Obviously, there were some plays there, like I said, it was first-and-25 at one point. They converted and got a field goal out of that drive. We had them in a fourth-and-11. They scrambled. We had a pass down our sideline on fourth down that they converted and got a down there and into scoring territory.
“But … we found a way to get them off the field and came up with three big interceptions, and that was great.”
Defensive back Chance Keith led the Black Knights with eight tackles.
After a promising 5-1 start to the season, the Mean Green (5-3, 2-2) have dropped two straight contests — to Memphis (by a score of 52-44) and Tulane (45-37) — and have had to rest on that skid with a bye last weekend.
Facing Army will present opposite styles of football: The Black Knights rely on a disciplined triple-option attack, while North Texas slings the ball all over the field in the Air Raid assault.
Mean Green coach Eric Morris said Tuesday that defending Army’s triple option will be incredibly challenging.
“People have played three down (linemen) and four down against the triple option,” Morris said. “It’s so unique. You have to have the discipline of reading your keys, and when it’s executed the right way, it’s an art form out there. It’s always intrigued me.
“(Legendary coach) Mike Leach used to talk about the triple option being similar to the Air Raid in getting the ball to many spaces on the field and making (defenses) cover every space on the field.”
North Texas’ Chandler Morris has passed for 2,873 yards and 26 touchdowns by going 224 of 349 through eight games. The junior has reached at least 400 yards in four games, including a season-high 449 in the home loss to Tulane two weeks ago.