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In our July 11th article, we discussed one of GBK goals for the team in 2018; to win all 6 home games. In this article we look at the complementary side of the W/L equation, games played on the road.

Winning on the road is tough in any sport. Of the 129 teams in the FBS, only 43 posted winning records in Away games last season, with another 16 breaking even in road games. That meant that a lot of teams who got bowl bids relied on their winning records at home to gain eligibility. While this was not one of the goals of the 2017 team, we think it’s a worthwhile goal for any team that wants to develop a consistent winning culture. Championship teams find a way to win on the road.

According to the NCAA, Army West Point was one of the 16 teams with a .500 record in Away games in 2017, but the NCAA included the game against Navy in Philadelphia as an Away game; so purists might argue that Army was actually 2-3 in true Away games, and that’s the record posted at Go Army West Point. We’ll let you decide which record you choose to claim.

Only a raving optimist would have predicted a win on the road against 8th ranked Ohio State, and the 37-7 outcome ran true to form, as the Black Knights started their road season at 0-1.

Army fans had more reason for optimism the following week when the Black Knights traveled to New Orleans to take on Tulane from the AAC, but Tulane had the advantage of having played Navy earlier to go along with home field advantage while the Black Knights were slightly depleted by injuries at Ohio State. The Green Wave got out to a 14-7 lead at the half and held on to win 21-17 to drop Army to 0-2 in road games.

Even during the Rich Ellerson era, Army West Point had better than average success playing in Texas, and that proved to be the case against Rice as the Black Knights dominated the Owls by a score of 49-13 to improve to 1-2 on the road.

A lot of fans were anticipating a loss at mile-high Falcon Stadium as Army took on Air Force in their first leg of the CiC Trophy pursuit. The game turned out to be a win of historic proportions for the Black Knights as they shutout the Falcons 21-0 to even their road record at 2-2.

The final road game of the 2017 season was another trip to Texas to take on North Texas, and most fans thought this one would go Army’s way. It turned out to be a barn burner with the offenses of both teams outplaying the defense in another game that was settled in the final minutes. North Texas came away with the 52-49 win and Army finished their road season with a record of 2-3.

Army West Point posted a winning record on the road in 2016 starting with a major upset of Temple and capping the road season with another major win over Wake Forest to finish with a 3-2 record in Away games. That was a major improvement over 2015 when the Black Knights were 1-4 on the road and far better than the 0-5 road record that Monken had in his first season as head coach.

During the Ellerson years, the team built a reputation for not being able to win on the road, even to teams they were favored to beat. The only exception was the 2010 team which went 4-2 in Away games, while posting a 2-4 record at home. That team also won their bowl game against SMU playing in the Mustang’s home stadium; so one could argue the team was actually 5-2 in Away games.

There’s a sports adage that says defense travels, and at the start of the 2016 season, we predicted a better season on the road due to a greatly improved defense, and that prediction held true. At the time, we drew comparisons between the 2010 team which won games on defense and the 2016 team led by Andrew King and Jeremy Timpf that we thought would do the same. At the start of the 2017 season, we thought that last year’s defense would be comparable, but injuries early in the season made a big difference against Tulane, and that tipped the road record toward the loss column.

Despite the loss of three key players from last year’s team, this year’s defensive unit appears to be deep and talented, and defensive coordinator Jay Bateman has proven to be a defensive guru. We would hope that a strong defense will once again tip the balance toward the winning side on the road.

In our previous goal article on winning at home, we noted that the 2018 home schedule would not be as challenging as the 2017 schedule was. Unfortunately, that is not the case for this years road schedule, with two Power 5 teams that made bowl appearances last year among the 5 teams Army will face in Away games. Both Duke and Oklahoma are ranked in the top 40 by a couple of polls.

Getting past Duke will be the first challenge, and we will have more to say about that game as the season approaches. Suffice it to say that Duke had a winning season last year and are returning most of their starters; so it will be an uphill struggle for Army to win its first game of the season in Durham.

If Duke doesn’t impress you as a tough challenge, Oklahoma certainly should. The Sooners are likely to be a Top 20 team this year, and the only advantage Army is likely to bring into the game is that Oklahoma hasn’t seen much of triple option football since they made the wishbone offense famous.

After two Power 5 opponents, the rest of the road season will seem a lot easier, but wins will still come tough as Army takes on two strong teams from the MAC. Several of our readers have expressed the concern that Buffalo will be a trap game, and that’s a reasonable concern. Buffalo gave Army a tough time last year before bowing in the second half, and the Bulls will be out for revenge in 2018. Most of the early prognostications suggest that this should be another close contest.

San Jose State is not expected to produce a power house this season and Army should be heavily favored, but it’s a long trip to the west coast, and it comes right in the heart of the semester; so it will be a test of Army’s ability to balance academic requirements with football.

The final road contest of the season comes against a team that nearly pulled an upset in Michie last year. Eastern Michigan came up a yard short of beating Army in the waning seconds of last year’s game, and we have no doubt that they will be looking to reverse that outcome in Ypsilanti. Army has played some horrible games in Ryerson in recent years, and EMU has improved since then; so it should be a real test of the improved road warrior ethic at Army West Point.

What are your predictions of the record on the road for Army West Point this season?

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