Black Knights look to snap skid vs. VMI - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Black Knights look to snap skid vs. VMI

WEST POINT, N.Y. — VMI coach Sparky Woods has never been to Michie Stadium. It’s a cinch the Army Black Knights will be more than happy to welcome him and his Keydets.

Army has lost three straight games and 13 in a row played after the month of October, and if recent history is any barometer that slide should come to an end when the teams meet at noon on Saturday.

For these Black Knights (3-6), their 62-7 victory over VMI at West Point in 2006 — Army’s highest-scoring game in 48 years — is ancient history.

“VMI is going to come out with a lot to prove,” sophomore linebacker Steve Erzinger said. “We are not going to take them lightly. It’s another service academy and it should be a lot of fun. We are looking to fix some things.”

So is VMI (2-7). The Keydets will be out to prove they can hold on to the football. A week ago they gained 335 yards of offense to Liberty’s 334, scored the game’s first touchdown, and were beaten 54-14 because they committed eight turnovers, including six lost fumbles, that led to 30 Liberty points.

The Keydets rank last among 118 teams in the Football Championship Subdivision in turnover margin, with 32 turnovers to just 11 takeaways, and have lost the most fumbles (24).

“If you’re running with the ball out, you’re asking for bad things to happen and usually they do,” Woods said. “The good news, I believe, is this is a fixable thing.”

Army is coming off a disappointing 35-7 loss at Air Force, a game that was tied 7-7 at halftime.

“We need to rebound from a disappointment, there’s no doubt,” Army coach Rich Ellerson said. “We were excited to play last week. We prepared two weeks for that game and it’s heartbreaking. But regardless, win, lose, or draw we have to close the door and look forward to another opportunity to play on Saturday.”

The game will feature a pair of option offenses. Army is ranked 13th in the Football Bowl Subdivision with 216 rushing yards per game, while the Keydets are the FCS’s second-most prolific rushing offense with an average of nearly 255 yards.

“We need to play as well as we can play, because they will,” Ellerson said. “We anticipate that [VMI] will be as excited to play as they have ever been, and they have some talented guys. They do good things. They have turned the ball over a remarkable number of times in some of these games, so they have been their own worst enemy.”

Army has scored first in seven of its nine games this season, including touchdowns on four of its nine initial possessions.

Despite that early success, points have been tough to come by for the Black Knights in recent games. Army has not scored more than 16 points in any of the last six, the first time the Black Knights have gone six straight games in the same season without scoring at least 17 points since the 1979 squad had a seven-game stretch. And Army has scored only one touchdown in each of those games.

This is Army’s final home game of the season, and that always represents a poignant moment for the seniors, who rarely get the chance to continue playing the game they love once they graduate.

“You don’t get to do this very often. It should be starting to come home,” Ellerson said. “Our seniors are playing their last game in Michie Stadium. If they stop for a minute and reflect on that they might say whoa, because it’s the last time most of them will play the game. When we are done this year, our seniors are not going to play this game again.

“This game has meant so much to us,” Ellerson said. “It’s who we are, it’s how we value ourselves, it’s how we’ve developed. These are precious moments coming up. They have been all along, and if that doesn’t come home now it never will.”

“It’s coming to an end,” senior defensive end Brad Marren said. “I am playing as hard as I can on every play. I’m trying not to even sit on the bench and remember everything, offense, defense, special teams. I don’t want to forget any of these games.”

NOTES: Army DE Josh McNary leads the nation with 2.11 tackles for loss per game. ... The Black Knights lead the all-time series with the Keydets, 12-1. VMI’s only victory was a 14-7 win at Michie Stadium in 1981.