Inconsistency vs. Identity: Army Braces for JUGGERNAUT Battle Against Tulane

By: J.J. Pavlick | Elmont, NY | October 9, 2026 |

The margin between what is and what could have been has never felt thinner at West Point. Today at 12 noon, the Army West Point Black Knights return to the historic grounds of Michie Stadium to host the Tulane Green Wave in what shapes up to be an absolute gridiron juggernaut.

The Black Knights enter the weekend with a 2-2 record—a statistical upgrade from last season’s sluggish 1-3 start. Yet, if everyone in the locker room is being completely honest, this is an Army team that should be sitting at a perfect 4-0. Instead, they are returning home after dropping another absolute heartbreaker on the road, falling 31-29 to Louisiana Tech. Both defeats on the young season have followed an identical, frustrating script: sluggish execution early in the game compounded by massive, self-inflicted errors on both sides of the ball. If the Black Knights want to walk off the field victorious on Saturday, those mistakes must be left in the past.

Head coach Jeff Monken remains confident in the fundamental makeup of his squad, describing them a third of the way through the season as “tough and gritty, very competitive.” Monken praised his team’s built-in resilience, pointing out how they rebounded from a difficult home loss against South Florida earlier in the year by travelling to Temple and putting together a commanding victory. He expects that exact same bounce-back attitude to flash on Saturday.

The betting markets reflect just how much this matchup has tightened up over the last few days. While oddsmakers initially opened the week favoring Army by a commanding 6.5 points, significant action has flooded in on the Green Wave, slashing the line nearly in half.

• Point Spread: Army Black Knights -3.5, Tulane Green Wave +3.5
• Moneyline: Army Black Knights -161 to -164, Tulane Green Wave +134 to +140
• Over/Under Total: 48.5 points

Monken Demands Execution Over Emotion

Reflecting on the first third of the regular season, head coach Jeff Monken defined his team as tough, gritty, highly competitive, and remarkably resilient.

Yet, when balancing the mental aspects against the physical X’s and O’s required to secure a victory on Saturday, Monken made it clear that baseline feelings won’t sway the scoreboard.

A primary hurdle in execution has been defensive finishing. Addressing questions regarding modern practice restrictions—where teams limit full, live tackling to protect players from injuries—Monken detailed the fine line his staff walks. While they simulate lateral, chase, positive, and negative angle tackles daily against live bodies in controlled settings, closing vast ground against dynamic ball carriers who change direction at the last second remains incredibly difficult without live scrimmaging. To bridge the gap, Monken confirmed that the defense continues to incorporate high-stakes, live-tackling scrimmages into their weekly practice rotation to simulate game speed.

Adapting the Triple-Option Philosophy

When analyzing the execution drops against Louisiana Tech, Monken provided an analytical view of his modern triple-option offense. Louisiana Tech clearly sold out its scheme to halt the fullback dive between the tackles and squeeze the quarterback keeper elements. While that defensive focus limited success up the middle, it allowed the Black Knights to unleash an explosive perimeter attack in the pitch game.

“I see it as yards are yards,” Monken explained regarding the schematic shift. “It doesn’t matter how they’re gained, whether it’s handing it off to the B-back, or the quarterback runs on an option, or it’s a designed carry for the quarterback, or we pitched the ball and it became a perimeter game. We hit some big plays out there. It wasn’t that they completely took it away; we were just having more success on the perimeter.”

Monken acknowledged that truly elite, aggressive, and well-coached defenses can occasionally choke out all three phases of the option by defeating offensive linemen off the snap and tracking down perimeter blocks out of the box. To counteract that against Tulane’s stout front, the Black Knights intend to attack the edges early. “We really do have a desire to use the entire field, not just the box,” Monken added. “And if the box doesn’t work, then we get it to the perimeter. I think we’re always best if we think about the perimeter first and then work back toward the middle.”

Erasing the Explosive Defensive Misassignments

For Defensive Coordinator Darryl Dixon, preparing for Tulane hasn’t been about reinventing the wheel. It has been about brutal honesty in the film room. When addressing his unit early in the week, Dixon laid out a staggering metric that separates his defense from elite status.

“You’re six points away from being 4-0,” Dixon told his players. “Briefly put, eight of our 10 touchdowns that we’ve given up this year have been due to misassignment. So you can’t take those back. You can’t take those misassignments back and you can’t take the points back.”

The big, explosive plays have been an anchor on an otherwise capable unit. Dixon noted that while there have been plenty of excellent moments of football over the first four weeks, the timing and frequency of the defensive breakdowns have been flatly detrimental. The primary focus on the practice field this week has been reinforcing accountability and demanding that every single player focuses purely on their “1/11th” on any given snap.

Stabilizing a Leaky Run Defense Against a Dynamic Wave

The fundamental identity of tomorrow’s game is no secret. Tulane brings a massive, highly physical offensive front to West Point that is engineered to break a defense’s will on the ground. Dixon noted that the Green Wave runs a highly disciplined system designed to manipulate over-aggressive defenders, using a stable of physical running backs to establish the run before utilizing heavy play-action to push the ball vertically to their explosive wideouts. Monken reinforced this scouting report, noting that the Green Wave is absolutely stacked with talent.

Under new head coach Will Hall, whom Monken praised as an outstanding “coach’s kid” with deep programmatic roots in the Southeast, Tulane will remain utterly committed to stopping and running the football. Hall, who previously served as Willie Fritz’s offensive coordinator at Tulane, famously spent a few days visiting West Point and talking football with Monken’s staff years ago after a stint at Southern Miss.

Tomorrow, the Black Knights expect to see Tulane quarterback Caden Simoza, a veteran Ball State transfer who sat behind seasoned players last season before taking the starting reins. Simoza is exceptionally dynamic on his feet, with Coach Hall utilizing a “plus-one” running system that incorporates the quarterback heavily into the ground game. To make matters more difficult, Simoza is flanked by an incredibly strong, veteran running back stable anchored by Maurice Turner and Javlon Lucas, alongside an explosive wide receiver corps.

For an Army defense that sets a strict internal goal of holding opponents to 2.0 yards per carry, stopping the bleeding on the ground is paramount.

“It can’t be leaky,” Dixon emphasized regarding his run defense. “It can’t be you stop people for 2.9 a rush, and then one rush is 75, or one rush is 65, or one rush is 40. It’s got to be consistent. Right now it’s inconsistent.”

Engineering Defensive Havoc and Managing the Passing Lanes

Beyond alignment stability, the major statistical area of concern for the Black Knights has been a lack of turnovers, sacks, and consistent quarterback pressures. When pushed on the balance of dialling up backfield pressure versus remaining disciplined, Monken provided a masterclass on defensive risk management.

“At times we were aggressive [against Louisiana Tech], and I don’t know that we got burned on a big play because of that,” Monken analyzed. “We didn’t send seven guys on a blitz and play zero coverage and have it thrown over our head. We got hurt in some zone coverages. When you play zone coverage, you’ve got a protection over the top. Typically, it’s a three-man drop where you’ve got a guy covering thirds or you’ve got a two-man deep shield—which is a version of cover two in layman’s terms—and everybody else plays underneath. And there are times when we just allowed some seams underneath and probably could have had guys positioned better to play those routes and to be in the throwing lanes.”

Monken explained that while bringing a seven-man pressure package can put severe stress on a protection scheme and generate quick sacks, it simultaneously isolates defenders in vulnerable one-on-one coverage out in space. If a talented offense picks up the blitz, a gifted quarterback will have all the time he needs to pick a secondary apart with zero help over the top. The focus against Simoza will be calculated situational pressure while flooding the passing lanes underneath.

Monken admitted openly that the defensive depth chart is noticeably less experienced than it was a year ago, which has occasionally caused positioning errors. He described the team’s tackling execution at times down in Louisiana as “frankly at times atrocious,” backed up by an internal coaching review that tracked 18 missed tackles—a strict contrast to the standard analytics companies that only recorded 12, as Army’s coaches penalize bad pursuit angles and layout dives even if no physical contact is made.

However, structural reinforcement is arriving in the form of rising freshman linebacker Deion Miller. Even in limited snaps, Miller has generated elite Pro Football Focus (PFF) grades in tackling and overall efficiency. While freshman errors in assignments and pre-snap eye placement are a natural developmental hurdle, Monken is incredibly high on Miller’s physical tools and capability to physically shed blocks.

“I think Deion’s going to be a really good player for us,” Monken noted. “He’s young, and he makes some freshman errors. His ability to play the game just physically, to beat blocks, and to get people to the ground—I’m really excited about the potential that he’s got. But it’s very difficult as a freshman to become a complete player. You hear the cliche that the more you play, the more the game slows down, and that’s absolutely true. They get more comfortable, they put their eyes where they’re supposed to be, and they become more reactionary. So that’s all going to come for him.”

Second-Level Standouts and Injury Updates

If there is a bright spot fueling optimism inside the football facility, it is the rapid development of the linebacker corps. Inside linebacker Joe Walton has evolved into an absolute staple for the defense, coming off a monster 11-tackle performance against Louisiana Tech.

Dixon labeled Walton a pure “football junkie” who is constantly living in the facility, studying film on his iPad, and maximizing his practice reps to improve on a daily basis. Beside him, Zane Tallman is coming off his finest game as a Black Knight, logging six tackles and forcing a heads-up turnover against a highly touted group of tight ends last week. Furthermore, Monken singled out senior defensive lineman Dillon Stowers for praise, noting that Stowers played incredibly hard and tough against Louisiana Tech, putting together a stellar defensive front performance that needs to be replicated against Tulane.

Army is also keeping a close eye on the imminent debut of highly talented freshman defensive back Phillip Goodrich. The St. Thomas Aquinas (FL) product arrived at West Point with championship pedigree but was set back by a preseason injury that cost him crucial developmental reps. Dixon noted that Goodrich has been surging in practice over the last two weeks, earning more reps by the day, and confirmed that fans can expect to see him contributing on the field very soon.

In terms of personnel health, Monken gave an encouraging update on Godfower, noting a vast improvement in his medical status over the course of the week. While Godfower is not expected to practice ahead of Friday afternoon’s meetings and remains a true game-time decision for the weekend, the staff is highly optimistic about his accelerated trajectory.

Eradicating the Offense’s Empty Possessions

The call for flawless execution isn’t just echoing in the defensive meeting rooms; it is the exact same mandate driving Offensive Coordinator Cody Worley. Reflecting on the tight loss to Louisiana Tech, Worley pointed to unforced errors and squandered opportunities as the primary catalyst for the defeat.

“What we’ve got to do a better job of is the empty possessions,” Worley stated. “And that’s going three and out, having the ball in plus territory twice and not coming away. We had a fourth down that we decided to go for, and we didn’t make the play that was there. And then, you know, we threw a pick on third and one. So those are things that are completely avoidable.”

Worley prioritized stability up the middle of the offensive alignment, echoing Paul Johnson’s foundational option theory that center, quarterback, and B-back performance dictate a team’s baseline ceiling. Monken credited starting center Brady Small for putting together a remarkably tough, highly physical game up the middle last weekend to keep the offense on schedule.

Yet, the baseline reality remains a tough pill to swallow for an experienced offense: Worley confirmed that Army finished the game against Louisiana Tech with seven missed assignments. While seven missed assignments across an entire game represents a solid foundation overall, Worley notes that the critical issue is how those specific errors get magnified into backbreaking, negative-yardage plays.

“We’re not built to have an eraser,” Worley explained frankly. “A lot of teams look at second-and-11 and they’re like, ‘All right, we’re good.’ We can’t live with negative-yardage plays and playing behind the chains. If you can avoid those two or three concepts and mistakes, you give yourself a better opportunity to win.”

Offensive Skill Pillars Emerging Under Pressure

To eliminate those mistakes, Worley will lean heavily on veteran leadership, particularly from standout back Samari Howard, whom he labeled a pure football player who replicates film flawlessly. Following the graduation of Noah Short, Howard has stepped seamlessly into an expanded role.

“I think he’s just a good football player,” Monken said. “He’s a complete player. He’s not rocket fast. He had a great run there to start the second half and kind of ran by those guys and was able to score. It was a great run. But he’s really an unselfish player. He spent most of his career here really as a blocker and a guy we could count on to do all the things without the football. Now he’s caught passes and he’s run the ball for us. Because of the change in personnel, he has the opportunity to get more of those carries and have the ball in his hands more often, but he continues to be a complete player at the slotback position.”

Monken paired his praise of Howard with a strong endorsement of Brady Anderson, who put together a highly impressive performance last weekend with four catches, coming agonizingly close to a fifth along the sideline. Monken labeled Anderson a ferocious competitor and an exceptionally tough football player who does everything asked of him at an elite level. “He’s a guy that’s not blazing fast, good route runner, gets open, and does a good job catching the ball when it comes to him,” Monken detailed. “When we ask him to block, he’s giving everything he’s got. When we ask him on a pass, he’s giving everything he’s got. I’m glad he’s on our team, and we’re going to continue to ask a lot of him.”

Furthermore, with Slotback GP currently sidelined, the interior ground game has received a major boost from Damani Stewart. Stepping into the rotation alongside veteran mainstays like Rendina and Carson Smith, Stewart has a sky-high potential ceiling that has the coaching staff incredibly excited. Every single rep the young back takes in practice has translated to rapid linear growth, making him a prime candidate to factor heavily into the physical interior yardage game against Tulane.

Today’s Sacred Midday Salute: Honoring Bob Novogratz

Beyond the intense programmatic stakes on the scoreboard, today’s game against Tulane marks a profoundly hallowed milestone in West Point’s storied sports history. During an on-field ceremony at Michie Stadium, the United States Military Academy will team up with the National Football Foundation (NFF) and College Hall of Fame to jointly bestow the NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute upon the late, great Bob Novogratz.

Novogratz, an extraordinary offensive guard who played for the Black Knights from 1957 to 1958, is an official electee of the prestigious 2026 NFF College Football Hall of Fame Class. A First Team All-American in 1958, Novogratz served as a foundational structural anchor on Army’s legendary undefeated 8-0-1 squad that finished the season ranked No. 3 nationally. Over his decorated two-year varsity career, he helped power Army to an incredible 15-2-1 record, blocking for fellow NFF Hall of Famers Bob Anderson and Heisman Trophy winner Pete Dawkins, while springing iconic “Lonely End” Bill Carpenter downfield.

Following his hallowed playing career, Novogratz exemplified the selfless identity of the academy, serving his country with distinction for 28 years in the military. As part of this sacred tradition, an official permanent plaque will be unveiled on the field to stay on permanent display at the institution, solidifying Novogratz as the 23rd Army West Point player to ever achieve Hall of Fame enshrinement. The formal induction will follow at the 68th NFF Annual Awards Dinner in Las Vegas on December 8, 2026. Out of nearly 5.7 million individuals to ever play college football, Novogratz stands in a rarefied elite, representing less than two one-hundredths of a percent (0.02%) to ever receive the game’s ultimate honor.

Cracking an Elite Green Wave Defense

When asked point-blank what Tulane does well defensively and how the Black Knights plan to counter it, Worley laughed, offering the ultimate respect to his opponent. “The better question is, what do they not do well?” Worley remarked.

Worley pointed out that while the American Athletic Conference is often defined by rapid roster turnover, Tulane has masterfully used the transfer portal to infiltrate and add elite talent while maintaining an incredible amount of internal continuity. They boast an experienced defense populated by veterans who have played and won a lot of high-stakes football games together.

“Their linebacking corps is as good of a linebacking corps that we’ll see all year,” Worley warned. “Their edge players are incredibly gifted and talented. Their interior players have played against this style of offense. They’re very stout and good against the run. They don’t give up a lot of explosive plays, and they rally to the football.”

Monken added an extra layer of structural challenge, noting that Tulane defensive staff member Nate Fuqua actually worked at West Point for a stretch under defensive coordinator Nate Woody. Fuqua subsequently ran the Wofford defense when Monken squared off against him in the Southern Conference, meaning the Green Wave coaching staff possesses deep, intimate familiarity with the schematic nuances of the Black Knights’ option attack.

Culture vs. Portal: The Uniqueness of West Point Football

When a reporter asked Monken if he ever takes time to reflect on his monumental victory over Tulane in the 2024 American Athletic Conference Championship game, the veteran head coach quickly shut down the nostalgia, exemplifying the laser-like focus required at this level of sports.

“Not much,” Monken shot back flatly. “There’s been a lot of good moments in my career, and I’ve been very fortunate. I’m more concerned about what’s next. If I spend time thinking about what’s behind us, I’m not going to be concentrating on what’s ahead of us, and that’s way more important than what’s behind us.”

Ultimately, Monken pulled back the curtain on the stark reality facing service academies in the modern landscape of collegiate athletics, drawing a sharp contrast to how opponents like Tulane operate.

“The uniqueness of college football today’s era with the open transfers and NIL, it certainly enticed some guys that have been in our program to go other places, and those are guys that we don’t have a chance to retain and develop,” Monken explained candidly. “The difference is, we can’t go out in the portal and grab another guy that’s the same age and that has experience and bring them in. So it’s really important for us to make sure those guys have a great experience and that we’re teaching them along the way, building that competitive edge and giving them the fundamentals that will allow them to have success as they go through their career here.”

Tuning Out the Macro: One Snap at a Time

With a hyper-balanced American Athletic Conference schedule swinging into full gear and standard margins separating contenders from longshots weekly across the league, the media pushed Monken on how the conference race factors into motivating his roster. True to form, the veteran coach shut down any macro-level discussions, steering the narrative purely back to execution.

“Frankly, talking about the conference and where we stand in the conference isn’t even in our dialogue,” Monken asserted cleanly. “We don’t talk about it. It’s not important at this point. Our focus has to be as good as we can be, as good as we’re capable of becoming, and we’re not there yet. We collectively want to play 11 guys on the field doing the best we can to execute at that time. If we focus on this being a conference game and it’s more important than the last game we played because it was a non-conference game… which games are okay to lose? None of them. You want to win all the games. We are preparing our team to play the best that they can. I’m confident if we do that, that’ll be good enough to have us right there in the mix at the end.”

Worley echoed that unwavering, tunnel-vision mindset, pointing out that their rigorous military environment shapes how the players attack adversity.

“This team, they never waver,” Worley concluded. “They come back ready to work. They know that there’s a task at hand, and that’s what this academy and being in the Army is all about—it’s about doing your job and doing it to the best of your ability, regardless of the circumstances. And that’s what you see out of our guys in the weight room, in the meeting room, and on the practice field.”

Tomorrow at noon, the talking stops. If Army can patch the leaks in the open-field tackling, deploy a wide perimeter options script, eliminate the costly negative-yardage mistakes, and play with the relentless consistency their veteran coaching staff demands, they have every tool necessary to defend home turf. If the unforced errors linger, Tulane is uniquely built to make them pay.

Our Prediction

This one will be an all-out war between two teams struggling to get above. 500 on the year, and one mistake will determine who walks out of Michie singing second and 3-2 on the season.

Army 38 – 35 Tulane