Army Football Preview: First Look at 2019 and Beyond

I got interested in Army Football's future schedule construction last year, after the Athletic Association released the 2017 & 2018 schedule's simultaneously.  At the time, I thought that this coming season would be Army's breakout year because a) Coach Monken's first full recruiting class will be firsties in 2018, and those guys have been key contributors for three years already, and b) this year's schedule looks quite a bit easier than last year's did, at least on paper.

But the Black Knights got ahead of me.  They won ten games in 2017 behind record-breaking QB Ahmad Bradshaw, so what do I know?

In any event, this may be the most unnecessary post of the year.  If it's worth talking about, it's worth talking about the way the schedules are constructed.  Ideally, you'd like to do what the team did last year, start with an FCS game and slowly ramp up the difficulty as the team builds chemistry and confidence.  That's not going to happen in 2018, but as Army gets better and more organized, maybe we can see a more traditional approach to scheduling.

2019 is an interesting case because, honestly, we have no idea who Army's going to play or when.  Beat writer Sal Interdonato has one set of schedules on his blog Army Football Insider.

Screenshot from Army Football Insider

Interdonato lists ten FBS games with no FCS games and provides an additional note about scheduling.  Since Army is playing at Hawaii, they apparently have the option to schedule a thirteenth game at home.  But who would they play?

Well...

Screenshot from FBSchedules.Com

Here we have twelve listed games including two FCS games at Michie Stadium.  Michigan is the same to start, but FBSchedules has Morgan State where Interdonato has Rice, plus Tulane and San Jose State, but they're missing Air Force and UMass.  They then add VMI, and both agree on Hawaii and Navy.

Maybe Wikipedia can help?

2019 Army Football Schedule, via Wikipedia.

Okay, so now we have Morgan State as the opener, and between you and me, that makes the most sense.  Next comes Michigan, on which everyone agrees.  September 14th at North Texas isn't impossible on any of the other schedules; it's an open date.  Interdonato and Wikipedia have Rice on the next weekend; I think that's probably right, especially if we open with Morgan State.  Everyone then has an open date on September 28th.  FBSchedules and Wikipedia agree that we have Tulane on October 5th, and everyone agrees that Western Kentucky is next.  But then Wikipedia is the only one who believes SJSU in on October 19th; everyone else has Georgia State.  Wikipedia then has SJSU the next weekend while FBSchedules has Temple.  Interdonato then has Air Force on November 2nd, and that's probably right because it's an open date on the other calendars.  Everyone has UMass next, with VMI the next weekend according to everyone but Interdonto.  Finally, we have Thanksgiving open everywhere, followed by Hawaii and Navy.

Former Independence quarterback Kevin Hopkins, a rising junior at West Point, has been named the starting quarterback for the Army Black Knights football team for the upcoming season... click the photo to learn more... https://t.co/OvpdfViyOl

— The Mint Hill Times (@minthilltimes) May 30, 2018

So.  If I had to guess, I would guess that the Wikipedia page is the most correct, that it's been updated by someone in the Athletic Department, and that the Air Force game will wind up on November 2nd.  That makes sense because we'd then have the optional thirteenth game, including two FCS games, and an interesting progression overall.

I like that we open with Morgan State at home as a get-right game.  It's tough to then travel to Michigan and to take on North Texas on the road immediately thereafter, but after that we settle into a nice mix of challenging but winnable games, with Western Kentucky, Temple, and Air Force among others.  If Hawaii improves over the course of this season, this could be a legitimately compelling schedule.

For what it's worth, we don't see the same kind of confusion in 2020.  Again, Wikipedia's is the most complete, but there aren't any outright disagreements anywhere, either.

Army Football's 2020 Schedule, per Wikipedia.

This schedule is actively great.  Open with Bucknell, then Rice, then Tulane, then Oklahoma at home.  That's excellent.  Four games in increasing order of difficulty, with arguably the toughest of the season at Michie Stadium.  After that, it's kind of a typical slate for the Black Knights.  I like it.

Hey @ArmyWP_Football guess who we ran into on our flight to Raleigh? HINT: he made one of the greatest tackles in @ArmyNavyGame history! #1993 #GoArmy pic.twitter.com/deDHS8Yrzo

— Army WP Baseball (@ArmyWP_Baseball) May 30, 2018

Oh of course we remember #45 Pat Work coming off the edge and his trip to force a FG, which Navy missed in the final seconds.

Army 16, Navy 14.#GoArmy #BeatNavy pic.twitter.com/o1rHBSYlpo

— Army WP Football (@ArmyWP_Football) May 30, 2018

And that's all I've got.

Go Army!