On December 8th, the Black Knights of Army West Point completed one of the most successful seasons for Army football in modern times, with their third straight win over arch rival Navy to claim their second straight Commander-in-Chief’s trophy. The back-to-back win in the CiC competition was a first for Army since the trophy was first awarded in 1972, and it was the 9th time Army has captured the trophy that signifies supremacy in service academy football.

The Black Knights still have one game left this year as they take on a slightly hobbled Houston Cougar team in the Armed Forces Bowl on December 22d. However we at GBK would like to review the accomplishments of the team ahead of that game and offer our choices for Offensive, Defensive, and Special Teams MVPs and Breakout Player of the Year.

Army West Point started the season on a down note with a disappointing but not unexpected loss to Duke in Durham, NC. With a new starting quarterback at the helm for Army, the Blue Devils, well accustomed to playing against the triple option, held the Black Knights to 168 yards rushing, Army’s lowest production for the season. Army fumbled the ball 5 times resulting in 2 turnovers. Those two numbers accounted for half the fumbles and half the turnovers resulting from fumbles for the entire season.

The needle pointed up from that point on.

The Black Knights went on to win 10 of their 11 games after the debacle at Duke, with the only loss coming in overtime against Oklahoma, a team that will be playing for the national championship in January. In that game against the Sooners, he Black Knights controlled the ball for 45 minutes, and they were driving for what would likely have been the winning touchdown when Oklahoma came up with two of their best defensive plays of the day to stop the drive and force the game into overtime. If you believe in moral victories, that was the moral victory of the year in the FBS, and sportscasters continued to discuss Army’s near upset of the Sooners throughout the rest of the season.

Army won all 6 home games again this year, extending their home winning streak to 13 games. The sweetest win at home came against Army’s other arch rival, Air Force, the last opponent to have won in Michie Stadium. Apparently, the win didn’t do much to diminish the Falcon’s belief in their natural superiority, as their sophomore quarterback, DJ Hammond vowed that Air Force would never lose another game to Army while he was quarterback. No doubt that quote will grace the Army bulletin board next season as the Black Knights prepare for a trip to Colorado Springs.

The crowning achievement of the season, once again, was the third straight win over Navy in Philadelphia. The Black Knights dominated the Midshipmen for 3 quarters only to have Navy turn it into a contest in the final quarter. Then Kenneth Brinson sealed their fate with a forced fumble and recovery that set the stage for the clinching touchdown in the closing minutes of the game.

No one would argue that Army West Point had the toughest schedule in the FBS this season. Far from it, but neither was it the bunch of cupcakes that some detractors argued. Six of the 12 teams that Army played arrived at their game with Army undefeated, and only two, Duke and Oklahoma remained undefeated after playing the Black Knights. Eight of the 12 teams Army West Point played finished the season with winning records. The Black Knights beat the #1 and #3 team in the MAC East and #2 team in the MAC West division. They also beat the #2 team in the MWC West. Only San Jose State and Lafayette could be considered easy wins. Even Liberty finished their inaugural FBS season with a 6-6 record, with 2 of their losses coming at the hands of Power 5 teams, Auburn and Virginia.

Oddly enough the Navy fans who were among those pointing to Army’s weak schedule failed to take into account that having Navy on the schedule contributed to the low SOS rating, rather than improving it. Navy was ranked just one notch above Colgate in the Sagarin ratings at 106. Only 5 of the 12 teams on Army’s schedule this season were ranked lower than Navy and one of those that was rated lower, Hawaii, beat Navy soundly at the beginning of the season.

The statistic most commonly mentioned by sportscasters is Army’s Rushing Offense, and the Black Knights finished the season #2 in Rushing with an average of 296.3 yards per game despite playing three of the top defenses against the triple option in Duke, Air Force, and Navy as well as the best defensive team in the FCS, Colgate.

Army West Point generated some equally impressive statistics in the 2018 regular season, and we have listed those that made the Top 25 in the NCAA in our list below:

- #9 in Winning Percentage - perhaps the most meaningful statistic of all.

- #1 in Time of Possession with an average of 39 minutes per game, 4 minutes better than their nearest competitor, Texas A&M. Their 45 minute TOP against Oklahoma turned out to be a frequent topic in media discussions this season.

- #1 in Third Down Conversions with a 55.6% conversion rate.

- #1 in Fourth Down Conversions with an incredible 31 conversions in 36 attempts (86.1%). This was another statistic that caught the attention of the media who covered Army football.

- #1 in Passing Yards per Completion at 19.92, just ahead of Georgia Tech (19.84), Navy (17.54) and Air Force (16.95). This is one of the goals Brent Davis has for the passing game.

- #1 in Sacks Allowed (3) - an accomplishment that was bit more impressive this season than last when Army didn’t pass near as often. Hopkins was sacked less than half as many times as #2 ranked Air Force quarterbacks (7) this year, and 15% as often as Navy quarterbacks (20).

- #1 in Tackles for Loss Allowed (3.17 per game) - a statistic that is, admittedly, a derivative of the small number of Sacks allowed, but still well ahead of AFA at #22 and Navy at #57.

- #23 in Team Passing Efficiency with a rating of 151.17. Passing efficiency was light years better than recent years but still leaves some room for improvement.

- #3 in Third Down Conversion Defense (26.7% conversion percent allowed)

- #3 in First Downs Defense (total number allowed)

- #2 in Turnovers Lost (7)

- #3 in Passes Had Intercepted (3) second only to Georgia Southern another team that doesn’t believe in passing the ball. Navy and AFA tied for 9th with 5 interceptions each.

- #6 in Fumbles Lost (4) - a truly impressive statistic considering the number of rushing attempts that Army has in a season.

- #17 in Fumbles Recovered (Opponent fumbles only). The Black Knight defense recovered all 11 of the opponent fumbles, while the offense recovered 6 of their 10 fumbles which are not included in the NCAA count.

- #12 in Turnover Margin (plus .75 per game).

- #9 in Total Defense (293.5 yards per game).

- #12 in Rushing Defense (108.2 yards per game) a significant feat considering Army played AFA and Navy as well as Oklahoma with the top offense in the country this year.

- #20 in Passing Yards Allowed (185.3 per game). All the defensive numbers were influenced by Army’s domination of TOP as well as the stout defense.

- #16 in Fewest Penalties per Game, a statistic that was effected in the early part of the season by the new cut block rule. This is the only statistical area in which Navy outdid Army this season and we fully expect Army to be near the top of the rankings every year in this area.

- #22 in Punt Returns with an average return of 12.73 yards

- #3 in fewest number of punts, a statistic that the NCAA doesn’t actually track, but probably should. We would argue that punting less often is more meaninful than Punting Yards or Net Punting Yards, which are often constrained by the distance to the goal line on each punt attempt.

While it is customary to select an MVP each season, we do so with the caveat that football is a team sport, and no player achieves greatness without considerable assistance from his teammates. Our selection this year, has made that point clear throughout the season.

Our Choice for 2018 Offensive MVP: is Kelvin Hopkin’s Jr. a choice that should come as no surprise to anyone. We will be the first to admit that we had our concerns about whether any quarterback would be able to fill the shoes of Ahmad Bradshaw, who broke the service academy record for rushing by a quarterback last season. But Hopkins brought his own unique set of skills to the job. While Bradshaw will be remembered as one of the greatest running quarterbacks in Army history, Hopkins is likely to be remembered as one of the best dual threat quarterbacks. He added an efficient passing game to Army’s potent running game that kept the chains moving at critical points throughout the season, and his passing threat kept opponent defenses from stacking against the run. His 847 yards rushing was second only to Darnell Woolfolk and his 956 yards passing gives him at team leading 1,803 yards in Total Offense. With 1 game remaining, he still has a chance to top the 2,000 yard mark in Total Offense.

Our choice for Runner Up: is a name that teammates frequently mention as their choice for MVP, senior center Bryce Holland. Holland’s election to team captain recognized the leadership that he provided to the offensive line and the team as whole this year, starting even before spring training. A two-time candidate for the Rimington Award, Holland was the center on 822 snaps this season, and one indicator of his importance is the fact that the only muffed snap between center and quarterback came when he was out for part of a game with an injury. Holland received the highest season rating from Professional Football Focus among all offensive players for Army with a plus 18.8.

Honorable Mention: At the risk of overlooking several highly deserving players, we would like to acknowledge the major contribution of the other senior captain, Darnell Woolfolk, who finished the regular season as Army’s leading rusher. He is the de facto representative of the fullbacks who were the heart and soul of the Army rushing offense. Also included in our group of honorable mentions are senior, Jordan Asberry who led the team in Receiving with 197 yards and fellow slotback Kell Walker, who finished second in Receiving Yardage and third in Rushing Yardage.

Picking an MVP for the defense is an even harder task than it is for the offense, because Jay Bateman’s defense succeeds when each and every player executes his assigned role on a play.

Our Choice for 2018 Defensive MVP: is team captain Cole Christiansen. In addition to being the captain of the defense, Christiansen was second in Total Tackles with 71 and led the team in Tackles For Loss (TFLs) with 12.0. Christiansen also had two passes defended, 2 QB Hurries, and a Forced Fumble.

Runner Up: We’re going to call this a tie between senior linebacker James Nachtical, who led the team in Tackles with 81, and Sacks with 5, and junior Elijah Riley, who finished third in Total Tackles with 53, second in TFLs with 7.5 and led the team in Passes Defended with 9.

Honorable Mention: Academic All-American Kenneth Brinson, who was a finalist for the Campbell Award this year deserves an honorable mention. While Brinson did not generate the best statistics on defense, he made several big plays, including the decisive play of the game against Navy this year. We would also like to acknowledge the collective performance of the entire defensive backfield.

Most fans think special teams is limited to kickers and return specialists, but there are many players on the different squads whose contributions are usually undervalued.

Our Choice for 2018 MVP Special Teams: is senior place kicker John Abercrombie, who rescued the kicking game from mediocrity by converting 8 of 9 Field Goals and all 36 of his attempted PATs. He finished the season third in scoring despite getting off to a late start. He seemed unflappable in tense situations, including the uncalled for 4 minute delay waiting to kick a field goal against Navy.

Honorable Mention: Senior Mike Reynolds was a steady performer returning punts this season with 9 returns for 98 yards without a single miscue.

At the beginning of the season, we attempt to identify breakout players for the coming season, and we frequently miss the mark. It’s always difficult to see who is going to rise from relative obscurity to become a major contributor. While we might have considered Kelvin Hopkins for this award, we ruled him out since he was already our choice for Offensive MVP and was not an unknown quantity coming into the season. We certainly didn’t anticipate our choice when making predictions at the beginning of the season.

Our Choice for 2018 Breakout Player of the Year: is Junior Christian Hayes, who played in 6 games prior to this season without making it into the team statistics. He was third in receptions this year with 7 catches for 152 yards (21.7 yards per catch) and 1 touchdown.

Honorable Mention: Several players qualify for honorable mention in this category including sophomore cornerback Jahvari Bordeau, who moved up from special teams to become a regular in the defensive backfield; senior Chandler Ramirez, who took over the starting spot at SAM linebacker; and sophomore Edriece Patterson, who earned a starting role on the defensive line.

**To chat with other Army fans about this article and more, please visit The 12th Knight message board**