It’s the final week of the 2025 College Football regular season, and Army has one goal on its mind: beat UTSA and become bowl eligible. The Black Knights have this one last opportunity this season after suffering another late-game collapse against Tulsa on Senior Day at Michie Stadium last weekend.
This will be the team’s sixth all-time meeting, with the Black Knights owning a 4-0-1 record against UTSA. Army is also undefeated against the Roadrunners in San Antonio.
Army head coach Jeff Monken was disappointed with the result, but is now focused on the team’s next opponent, the University of Texas San Antonio Roadrunners, a team Army has had success playing in the past.
“I had a chance to talk to everybody on Saturday after the game, and obviously it was disappointing, that outcome. But all we can do is set our sights now on the next game, and we certainly have a formidable opponent in UTSA. They got a great football team, super talented, well coached.”
Last season, on the final day of the regular season, a 9-1 Army team led by Bryson Daily walked away with a 29-24 victory at West Point to clinch a spot in the American Athletic Conference championship, which the Black Knights went on to win. Can the cadets get a repeat performance 364 days later?
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UTSA Scouting Report: The Offense
UTSA has had an up-and-down season compared to their standards the past couple of seasons. But the Roadrunners have won three out of the last four, with wins over Tulane at the end of October and East Carolina this weekend in the Alamodome.
UTSA is a middle-of-the-pack when it comes to yards per game (416.1, 8th), passing (241.3, 7th), and rushing (174.8, 8th). But the Roadrunners know how to get the ball into the endzone, averaging 34.6 points per game, the third most in the American. Jeff Monken was very complimentary of this UTSA attack.
“If you look at the East Carolina game, that was incredibly impressive. ECU’s got a great defense. Going into the game, they were top 10 defense in the country, and UTSA went up and down the field on them. They’re a team that’s got a lot of weapons. They do a lot of really great things on offense. To see what they do and just they’re imaginative and it’s fun to watch and it’s not fun to defend. It’s going to be a challenge. But Coach [Nate] Woody’s an outstanding coach and our guys are going to play hard. They’re going to work hard this week at recognizing what’s going on in the play in front of them and reacting, hopefully getting off blocks, getting people to the ground when they tackle, covering routes and playing the gaps they’re supposed to be in; just playing sound defense. And that’s how you do it. If anybody’s going to have success against them, it’s going to be because they’re doing those things.”
The Roadrunners are led by quarterback Owen McCown, son of NFL quarterback Josh McCown. Last season at Michie Stadium, McCown was 17/28 (60.7%), for 207 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. It was one of his worst games of 2024.
This season McCown has thrown for 2,186 yards, 20 TD, and 6 INT while throwing to four different targets, with Devin McCuin his favorite target of the bunch with 52 catches, 567 yards, and 7 scores in 2025. In the backfield, UTSA boasts a two-headed monster with Robert Henry Jr and Will Henderson III combining for 1,613 and 13 touchdowns while averaging 7.0+ yards a carry.
On paper, this UTSA offense looks very impressive. But with the same skill position players last season, except for receiver AJ Wilson, Army held the Roadrunners to 324 total yards and forced three turnovers. They’ll need to replicate that performance on Saturday if they want to come out of the Alamodome with a victory.
UTSA Scouting Report: The Defense
The Roadrunners love to get into shootouts. They have a bottom-third scoring defense in the American, giving up 29.8 points per game. UTSA has allowed its opponents to average close to 400 yards per game (240.8 passing, 148.5 rushing) in 2025.
UTSA is led on defense by its two inside linebackers, Shad Banks and Kendrick Blackshire. They combined for 123 total tackles, two sacks, four interceptions, and two touchdowns. Army offensive coordinator Cody Worley pointed those two players out in his pre-game media availability.
“You know, overall, I would say they’re either up there or the most gifted defense we’ve played all year from a talent standpoint. You know, both are inside backers are power four guys. #9 [Blackshire], was a top 10 recruit in the country. But across the board, the thing that stands out the most is their overall team speed. Every guy on the field can run, they’ve been very active and, you know, hopefully we can take advantage of that in some areas. But getting on blocks, sustaining blocks, and winning one-on-one battles will be a challenge against this unit all across the board.
One aspect UTSA’s defense excels in is forcing turnovers. The Roadrunners are tied for 35th in all of College Football with 16 forced turnovers (9 interceptions & 7 fumble recoveries) in 2025.
However, this defense can be had. If the Cale Hellums that showed up against Kansas State, Air Force, and in the first half against Tulsa is on the field against UTSA, Army will be in a good position to win. Talking about how his junior quarterback’s game is progressing, here’s what Jeff Monken had to say.
“We do ask a lot of him [Hellums]. We ask him to carry the ball a good bit. He does a good job with it, you know, taking care of the ball when he’s being tackled and not putting it on the ground. You know, obviously, the interception [against Tulsa] is disappointing, and, you know, he had the ball in his hands on fourth down, and he’d like to have that one back. He didn’t make a great run, you know, really where we kind of designed it, but he made a lot of plays along the way and a lot of plays that put us in that position to win. So he’s a tough kid, a great competitor and, you know, he’s playing really, really hard.
This year, a bowl game is on the line for Army as they look to become bowl eligible in back-to-back years for just the third time in the Jeff Monken era.
Army hasn’t made things easy on itself this season. The Black Knights could realistically be sitting at 8-2 heading into this critical game.
Led 24-10 against FCS Tarleton State with 8:14 in the 3Q (Loss in 2OT)
Led 17-10 against Tulane with 5:54 in the 4Q (Loss 24-17)
Led 25-14 against Tulsa with 8:55 in the 4Q (Loss 26-25)
They have owned leads in every single one of those games, but would end up finding a way to lose when the clock struck triple zeros.
“I don’t know if we forget about the past. That’s hard to do,” Jeff Monken said. “There’s the human element, whether it’s a victory and being proud of a victory and letting that stand in the way or defeat and disappointment, letting that stand in the way. And really, the expectation has to be the same every week, is to let bygones be bygones and get on to the next opportunity. I think that this place, West Point, what these guys endure while they’re here, from the time they show up, forges a toughness and a resiliency in them just as people. And I think their classmates in the Corps of Cadets share that. And so perhaps that’s it. I think our guys, they care about each other and they want to perform their best. And so certainly in those times where there’s disappointment, as we’re feeling right now from the game on Saturday, there’s a sense of urgency that they feel to really play their best or compelled, I think, to do that for each other.”
The Black Knights are +7-5 road underdogs against the Roadrunners. Asked if there was any added pressure Saturday with bowl eligibility on the line, here’s what Jeff Monken had to say.
“I don’t know that there’s added pressure. Everybody can do the math. I mean it’s one of the reasons we’re so disappointed about this past Saturday. We were knocking on the doorstep of being bowl eligible, and we blew it you know? We let it get away from us unfortunately. Certainly, we don’t put up goals and we want to accomplish these things. We say this is gonna be a successful season if we accomplish these things, and it’s not gonna be a successful season if we don’t. But, you know, the byproduct of our work and our investment, there are these milestones and opportunities that certainly we’d like to be a part of, and playing in the postseason is one of those. So where we’re at now, we are just desperate to get a win and to respond from Saturday [against Tulsa]. Hopefully, we can find a way to put ourselves in the game and have a chance to win. It would certainly be nice to be able to become bowl eligible and have another game added to our season. But right now, it’s really our guys just rallying for each other and playing for this brotherhood, excuse me, playing for the brotherhood and trying to play better than we did on Saturday.”
All that negativity that comes with a disappointing loss to Tulsa will dissipate if they beat UTSA on Saturday afternoon. After starting the season 1-3, it all comes down to one last game to become bowl eligible. It’s “win, and you’re in” for this Army team in 2025.
Some fun facts for you. An Army win against UTSA would mean the team would play in a bowl game for the seventh time in the Jeff Monken era (2014-2025). It would also mark Monken’s ninth season winning 6+ games at West Point.
Keys to Victory
Photo Credit: Army Athletics
For Army to become bowl eligible after this weekend, here’s what will need to happen:
1. Tackling and Defensive Discipline: This was Coach Monken’s biggest emphasis in his pre-game presser. Army missed 20 tackles in their previous loss to Tulsa, allowing the opponent to move the ball freely. UTSA has several athletic playmakers, so Army defenders must wrap up immediately and not allow slip-ups that turn short gains into explosive plays.
2. Control the Clock (The Army Way): UTSA has a high-powered offense (averaging nearly 35 points per game) led by quarterback Owen McCown. In the second half of the last game, Army struggled to move the chains. They need to stay consistently ahead of the chains to avoid 3rd-and-long situations. Army’s best defense will be its offense. By sustaining long drives and dominating time of possession, they can keep McCown and the explosive UTSA offense on the sideline.
3. Re-establish their Run Game Dominance: Jeff Monken noted a significant drop-off in rushing production in the second half of last week’s game. As coach Monken likes to say, Army must average “4 yards and a cloud of dust” on first down to make second and third downs manageable. Last week Army struggled to get its outside run going. So the perimeter blocking from the tight ends, wide receivers and other slot backs must improve against. If Army rushes for 300+ yards, they’ll be in a good spot to win this game.
4. Handle the “Alamodome” Environment: As Monken said multiple times in his media availability, UTSA has one of the best home conference records in the nation (11-0 since joining the American Conference in 2023). Army is 3-0 in the Alamodome, but they must handle the noise and energy of a team that plays significantly better at home.
Final Score Predictions
With all that being said, here are Bad Dawg Sports’ score predictions. Kickoff between the Army Black Knights (5-5, 3-4 American Conference) and the UTSA Roadrunners (6-5, 4-3 American Conference) is scheduled for 3:30 pm.
JJ Pavlick: UTSA 25 – Army 28
Daniel Rebain: UTSA 27 – Army 31
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Freelance Content Producer, Sports Analyst, Podcaster and Writer. Covering the New Jersey Devils for Bad Dawg Sports and the New York Red Bulls for Area Sports Network.
