Army’s three-game win streak came to a screeching halt on September with a 23-20 overtime loss to Buffalo. The Black Knights hope that a long layoff will help them resurrect their winning ways as they travel to Durham this Saturday.
The Black Knights were on their way to winning the Buffalo game until they allowed the Bulls to score two touchdowns in the final nine minutes of the contest. Army’s defense definitely messed up late in the game but that’s just a minor stain on the body of work the team’s stop unit has put up this season. In fact, the Black Knights are 13th in the nation in scoring defense with opponents managing just 16.0 points per game.
Duke will also have its hands full containing Army’s rushing game. The Black Knights are tops in the FBS with 374.8 rushing yards per game.
They’re going to be spearheaded by the backfield combo of running back Andy Davidson (paces the team with 414 rushing yards and six touchdowns) and dual-threat quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw (280 rushing yards, two rushing TD’s). Bradshaw was stellar on the ground against Buffalo, as he picked up 126 rushing yards with a touchdown on 22 carries.
Did the Blue Devils party a bit too much following their huge 38-35 takedown of Notre Dame back in Week 4? We don’t know but it appears as though they did, as Duke played like they’re hung over, committing six turnovers in a forgettable 34-20 loss to Virginia last week.
Quarterback Daniel Jones was a hot mess against the Cavaliers. While he threw for 324 yards with a touchdown on 33 of 54 completions, he did commit five interceptions to erase anything positive the Blue Devils managed in the game.
Taking better care of the football against the tough D of the Black Knights is high on the priority list of Duke.
Over at the other side of the ball, Duke looks to bottle up—or at least limit—the production of Army’s Davidson. The Black Knights quarterback will facing Duke’s defense that is one of the only three teams that has managed to record at least three sacks in each game thus far this season.
Duke beat Army last season, 44-3, in a game where the Blue Devils limited their opponent to a mere 168 total yards.
