It was a perfect day for football in Buffalo, NY, as the Black Knights of Army West Point took on the challenge of snapping the 4-0 unbeaten season of the Buffalo Bills. The Black Knights were coming off a near historic upset of the mighty Sooners of Oklahoma, while the Bulls were relishing their first win ever against a Big Ten opponent, Rutgers.

Several of our readers were concerned that this would be a trap game for Army West Point coming off the big game in Oklahoma, but the Black Knights showed that they were not about to bask in the praise of their game against the Sooners, as they stymied the passing game of Tyree Jackson and ground out 5 classic touchdowns and added a scoop and score on a blocked field goal attempt to dominate the Bulls.

Given the final score, one might have expected more yardage from Army’s rushing game as the Black Knights ran for just 271 yards on the ground, but Kelvin Hopkins completed 4 of his 5 passing attempts for 91 yards and a touchdown to add some balance to the ground attack.

Buffalo received the opening kickoff and got off to a quick lead with an 81 yard touchdown drive in four plays. The key play of the game was a 53 yard run after catch by KJ Osborne on a pass to the flat by Tyree Jackson. It appeared that Cole Christiansen might have knocked him out of bounds, but a review of the play upheld the touchdown call on the field.

Army West Point’s first possession was equally unsuccessful. After picking up two quick first downs, Buffalo held the Black Knights to negative yardage on the next two running plays, and quarterback Kelvin Hopkins was intercepted on a 3d and 11 attempt to give the Bulls the ball on the Army 48.

The Black Knight defense gave up a first down before forcing Buffalo to punt from the 37. Army was called for roughing the kicker to give Buffalo another chance from the Army 26, but the defense thwarted 4 straight passing attempts by Jackson to take over on downs.

Army rebounded on their second possession, driving 74 yards in 11 plays with fullback Calen Holt carrying the ball into the end zone from 5 yards out to even the score at 7-7.

The Buffalo return man bobbled the kick off, and Riley dropped him at the UB 14. An illegal block call on the Bulls moved them back to the 7, and Army held them to a three-and-out to force another Buffalo punt that Mike Reynolds let roll free to the Army 23.

The Black Knight offense resumed where it had left off, marching 77 yards in 12 plays to take their first lead at 14-7, while running 6:55 off the clock. The key play of the drive was a beautifully executed 37 yard pass from Hopkins to wide receiver Cam Harrison that gave Army a first down on the UB 27, and the Black Knights took another 8 plays to score before fullback Connor Slomka punched it into the end zone from 3 yards out.

Buffalo stayed with a fairly conservative passing game to bring the Bulls to the Army 11 where the Black Knight defense held forcing a field goal attempt by Adam Mitchell. Defensive tackler Wunmi Oyetuga broke through to block the kick and Elijah Riley scooped up the loose ball and scampered 80 yards untouched to extend Army’s lead to 21-7.

The defense held Buffalo to a three-and-out on their next possession, forcing another punt which rolled all the way to the Army 8 with 2:40 left on the clock. The Black Knights went for the risky conversion on 4th and 1 to maintain control of the ball and run the clock out to end the half.

The second half started off as poorly as the first half as Buffalo held the Black Knight offense to three-and-out on their opening possession. Nick Schrage booted a 67 yard punt that rolled out at the UB 14, where the Bulls started their first possession of the half.

Tyree Jackson led the Bulls to a first and goal at the Army 3, but captain and inside linebacker Cole Christiansen stopped Reed at the 1 to bring up a second and goal. On the next play, slotback Elijah Riley dropped George Rushing for a 3 yard loss to the 4 and then Jeremiah Lowery, broke through to drop Reed for another 4 yard loss to bring up a 4th and 8. Knowing that three points wouldn’t help much, Buffalo went for the first down and the Bulls got a second chance when defensive back Jaylon McClinton was called for pass interference on the touchdown pass attempt. With first and goal at the 3, the Bulls took two plays to score and narrow the lead to 21-13 as Buffalo missed on the PAT attempt.

Army took a touchback to start their second possession of the half at the 25, and the Black Knight offense took the field to launch another long drive. The Bulls helped out with a 15 yard personal foul penalty, but the key play was the 25 yard scoring pass from Hopkins to slotback Jordan Asberry to increase Army’s lead to 28-13 with 2:44 left on the clock.

Buffalo returned the ball to their own 24, and the defense held Buffalo to another three-and-out to get the ball back on their own 19 as time ran out in the third quarter.

After a 6 yard gain to the 25, Army was called for a chop block that moved them back to their 13, but Hopkins threw a strike to wide receiver Kjetl Cline for a 7 yard gain and then ran for another 10 yards to pick up a big first down at the 30 as time ran out in the third period.

The wear and tear the Buffalo defense had been taking all game showed up on the first drive of the fourth quarter as Black Knight offensive line opened huge gaps in the Bull defense for big gains by the Army running backs as Army marched 81 yards in 13 plays for their 5th touchdown of the game to open the lead to 35-13 with 10 minutes left in the game.

Buffalo returned the kickoff to their 33, but the defense stopped the Bulls for negative yards, and Monken sent out the reserve offense to finish out the game.

Facing a 3d and 6 at the 27 Luke Langdon took advantage of a huge block by Jeff Panara to scamper into the end zone and put the frosting on the victory cake 42-13.

With time running out, Buffalo was unable to move the ball against the Black Knight defense once again, forcing a punt to the Army 35.

Cam Thomas came in at quarterback for the Black Knights’ final possession and led the team to 30 yards in 5 plays to run out the clock.

- Army West Point gained 281 yards rushing led by Hopkins with 89 yards.

- Kelvin Hopkins completed 4 of 5 pass attempts for 91 yards and a touchdown with 1 interception for an efficiency rating of 258.88. In a post game interview Hopkins confirmed that his goal was efficiency rather than yardage.

- The defense held Buffalo to 255 total yards and 13 points, which were season lows for both.

- Cole Christiansen led the team in total tackles with 7.

- The Black Knights ran 69 total plays and controlled the clock for 37 minutes and 34 seconds.

- Attendance for the game was 23,671 - fifth highest in UB stadium history

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