Army football defeats Temple to remain undefeated

Army football has found the right mix to get off to a perfect start.

Quarterback Bryson Daily rushed for three touchdowns for the second week in a row, guiding the Black Knights to 489 yards on offense – 417 on the ground – and a 42-14 victory over Temple at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

“I’m so glad we we’re able to get out of there,” said Army coach Jeff Monken, especially after Temple pulled within 28-14 early in the fourth quarter. “We’re a work in progress. There’s some good things going on and some things we’ve got to correct.”

Army’s stout defense held Temple to negative-5 yards rushing – the result of seven sacks of quarterback Evan Simon – and 219 yards overall.

“Domination, the whole game,” Daily said of the play of his offensive line. “They’re moving guys up front, creating lanes for me, Kanye (Udoh), all of us to run. They’re making it really easy on us right now.”

Udoh had 14 carries for 128 yards and one score. On his 28-yard scoring burst in the third quarter, Udoh fended off the shove of one defender and raced the final 20 yards for the score and 28-0 lead. Udoh, the 6-foot-, 215-pound sophomore, has 37 carries for 297 yards and four touchdowns.

“It’s huge,” Daily said of Udoh’s contributions. “He is a special athlete, a special running back, and we’ve got to get him going if we’re going to gain the success we want later on. So it was awesome to see him get going today.”

Seven Army defenders recorded one sack apiece of Simon, the first of the season for the Black Knights. It was the most Army sacks since the 2018 Armed Forces Bowl win over Houston.

“(Defensive coordinator) Nate (Woody) did a nice job of putting some pressure on them,” Monken said. “We kept taking cracks at it. They hit some passes but we were doing such a good job stopping the run and had a big enough lead that they had to throw it, so it gave us some chances to chase after him and get after him. What I was really impressed with was not just the D-line but the outside linebackers, the inside linebackers, the guys who were blitzing … They beat some blocks late to get (Simon) on the ground.”

Simon was starting his second game of the season. He completed 19 of 30 throws for 224 yards and threw one interception to Jayden Mayes, who made a great toe drag on the sideline for the turnover.

Once again Noah Short showed off his sprinter’s speed, taking a first-quarter pitch and rolling 61 yards for a 7-0 lead. The senior has 344 yards on 25 carries and two scores.

Daily, the senior quarterback, scored on runs of 8, 9 and 12 yards, a week after rushing for three scores and passing for two more in a win over Rice. Averaging close to six yards per carry, Daily has 82 carries for 492 yards and eight touchdowns.

Backup quarterback Dewayne Coleman played the final six-plus minutes, connecting with Cam Schurr on an 18-yard scoring play with 1:54 to play. Sophomore QB Cale Hellums ran 5 yards on the final snap of the game.

With the win, Army has tied Missouri with the nation’s longest active win streak at eight, dating back nearly a year. Army’s 4-0 start is the third in the last 28 seasons, including 1996 and 2021.

This was the first meeting between the schools since October 2017 and 14th overall, all since 1943 – Army has forged a 7-7 series tie, winning the last three outings.

Army was listed as a 12.5-point favorite with an over-under at 46.5 points. Army last played on a Thursday night since 1999 when the Black Knights outlasted Louisville 59-53 in double overtime at Michie Stadium.

Army headed into the contest ranked No. 2 in the nation in rushing (356 yards), trailing only Central Florida (375.7). With Thursday’s efforts, Army is averaging 371.25 yards per contest.

Army was coming off wins over Lehigh, Florida Atlantic and Rice.

Army remains on top of AAC

Army is the first American Athletic team to play three league contests – eight schools have yet to play a conference matchup. The Black Knights will play at Tulsa on October 5 in a noon ET kickoff on ESPNU. The only other matchup between these schools was Nov. 17, 2007, when Tulsa won 49-39 at Michie Stadium.

“We’re playing well,” Daily said. “The culture is really good right now. The guys are believing in each other, playing really hard, but just keeping it a 1-0 mentality every week is what we’re going to have to do to keep the success going.”

“As the season goes on, other teams are going to continue to improve,” Monken said. “We’ve got to continue to improve, so that’s going to be our focus. But I’m proud of the guys … I’m glad we won. We get back to work (Friday) and try to get better to make the trip down to Tulsa.”

Temple travels to Storrs to take on Connecticut on October 5 in a 3:30 p.m. kickoff on CBS Sports Network. The Owls have a bye week after the UConn game.

More:College football TV, radio, web schedules for 2024

Unranked, but for how long?

Monken said during his weekly press conference that he doesn’t believe his team was worthy of gaining a spot in the AP Top 25 rankings. His opinion may change by next week.

Army joined 13 other Division I schools with a 4-0 start: Duke, Miami, Pitt, BYU, Utah, Illinois, Indiana, Liberty, Washington State, Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi and Texas.

At 3-0 are Louisville, Navy, Central Florida, Iowa State, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Rutgers, UNLV, Georgia, Alabama and James Madison.

kmcmillan@th-record.com

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