LEHIGH AT ARMY 8/30/2024: Game Preview And Fearless Prediction: The Excitement Playing an FBS Opponent (Again) Has Finally Arrived

BETHLEHEM, PA – I’ve been a Lehigh football fan now for a very long time, and I would like to lead this preview to simply say that this weekend, Mountain Hawk fans will be experiencing something they haven’t experienced since 2002.

I don’t mean “play a service academy.” On September 15th, 2018, Lehigh played Navy, losing 51-21 but providing some amazing moments for the members of that team, like an electric 75 yard TD run by RB Rashawn Allen that had Lehigh Nation jumping up and down.

I don’t mean “play an FBS team.” On October 4th, 2003, Lehigh travelled to Storrs, CT to take on UConn in a game they lost 35-17. The Mountain Hawk defense kept Huskies QB Dan Orlovsky in check for most of the first half, but Lehigh was unable to recover from three turnovers.

In 2002, though, Lehigh had a season opener against an FBS team in the month of August. That team was the University of Buffalo, whom Lehigh beat 37-26.

I remember that game distinctively not only because of the outcome, but how I found myself able to watch it on TV.

Before a world of ESPN+, CBS Sports Network and streaming everywhere, regional TV games were impossible to watch unless you were physically in a home which broadcast the right station. It was a rare Thurdsday night game for Lehigh, and while I couldn’t head up to Buffalo to watch the game, I did the next best thing – we visited my in-laws in Bucks County, which carried WFMZ 69, Allentown.

Buffalo had very recently moved to FBS, and in 2002 Lehigh was a national powerhouse with national title ambitions. They were in the Top 10 of the USA Today FCS poll (the gold standard of polls at that time) and was only a year removed from their first FCS home playoff win (vs. Hofstra) and were riding a historic regular season winning streak.

I’m not sure how interested people were in that game around the country, but I sure was. It felt like a challenge, but a very winnable game, too. This wasn’t peak Notre Dame here. So much so I was willing to go on a trip from New Jersey to Pennsylvania to watch it.

Although we got to their place for a late dinner, and I missed Lehigh getting out to a very slow start, I got to see Lehigh claw their way back into the game, and I got to watch the late pick six by CB Lawrence Williams to clinch the victory. (I think I have the VCR tape of part of all of the game somewhere – maybe. I know we were recording it on the VCR at the time.) It was incredibly thrilling.

“We did not look like a veteran team in terms of what the scoreboard looked like a few minutes into the game,” Pete Lembo said at the time. “I think where the composure and not getting rattled being down two scores, I think that’s where the experience paid off.”

This is Lehigh’s first time opening against an FBS opponent on opening weekend – on a Friday, no less – and while obviously Lehigh Nation would be over the moon with a win, it’s been a long time since Mountain Hawk fans have been able to be thrilled – and the team tested – with an entire offseason to look forward to any sort of FBS matchup.

When Army made the decision to join the American Athletic Conference for the 2024 season, folks, including yours truly, was very worried that Army would end the commitment to play the game.

“We had a commitment with Army and they went into a conference and their whole middle of their schedule got changed,” Cahill said. “We were supposed to play them in Week 5 or 6, and they asked us to move to Week Zero.” He mentioned that they were grateful for Army to keep the game on the schedule when they easily could have bought Lehigh out.

In a strange twist of fate, this Thursday, Pete Lembo is now the head coach of Buffalo, and their homecoming opponent is none other than… Lafayette. Many people have this circled as a potential for an FCS over FBS upset, but all I can say for sure is Pete Lembo, of all human beings on this planet, knows what sort of threat the Leopards pose to his Bulls on opening night.

LEHIGH MOUNTAIN HAWKS (0-0. 0-0 PL) AT ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS (0-0, 0-0 AAC)
WHERE: Michie Stadium/West Point, NY, Friday, August 30th, 6PM
TV: CBS Sports Network, Stream Through Your TV Provider
TV CREW: PxP – Dave Ryan; Analyst – Adam Breneman; Sideline – Tina Cervasio
RADIO: BROADCAST (Fox Sports Lehigh Valley 94.7 FM/1230 AM; LVFoxSports.com):
RADIO CREW: PxP – Matt Kerr; Analyst – Matt Markus

Lafayette/Buffalo Highlights:

The Lehigh/Army “Rivalry”

Lehigh and Army are two historic football programs whose origins date from the late 1800s. Like Navy, Army (known then as “West Point Cadets”) played against Lehigh from time to time from 1893 to 1911, then as now, always at West Point, New York.

After winning the first-ever matchup 18-0 in 1893, “West Point” dominated Lehigh, allowing only six points in their next five games against them. (“The team speak in high terms of the hospitality shown them while at West Point, but the great difference in weight of the two teams made it a very hard game to play,” The Brown and White reported after their 48-6 defeat.)

In the modern era when college football was splitting into divisions and subdivisions, Lehigh found themselves on Army’s schedule three times between 1970 and 1980, a time when Army was looking to get wins on its independent schedule and Lehigh was slowly raising their profile from a “College Division” program to a Division I school.

1980’s matchup was an incredible 24-24 tie, with Army PK Dave Aucoin nailing a then-record 52 yard FG as time expired to deny the Engineers the victory. Lehigh, who was ranked 3rd in I-AA at the time, used a powerful running game with QB Larry Michalski, RB Steve Plucinsky and RB Joe Rabuck to secure the three point lead before Aucoin’s game-tying score. That year, Lehigh would qualify as an independent in the East for the I-AA playoffs, losing to then-power Eastern Kentucky after an amazing season.

In 1983 Lehigh experienced their only win over Army in the modern era, a 13-12 win led by one of Lehigh’s great quarterbacks, QB Marty Horn. “Horn scored the winning touchdown on a broken play,” The Brown and White explained, “when he turned left while everyone else was going right. Daylight stared Horn in the face as he turned the corner and crossed the goal line, sending the Engineer fans into delirium, and giving the Engineers the lead that they never gave up.”

LFN’s Drink of the Week

This one is way too easy – a classic drink associated with a classic and iconic college football Rivalry. Of course, I’m taking about the Army-Navy cocktail, made with gin, lemon juice, and an almond syrup named Orgeat that you can make at home. You can find the recipe here!

Lehigh Game Notes and Season Preview

You can find Lehigh’s game preview and game notes here, and since I already posted a 2024 Lehigh season preview, you can find it here as well.

Scouting Army

In a way, scouting Army is easy. Anyone who follows college football closely knows what the Black Knights are: an option team with a huge offensive line that doesn’t exactly make it a secret that they are going to run the ball. They’re not going to be an air raid offense – they’re going to have fullbacks, slotbacks, misdirections, lots of subbing in and out, and lots of precision blocking on offense, because that’s what they do.

However, playing Army is always a challenge, because they are so unique. Preparation for Army’s schemes won’t help against Wagner, Princeton, or Yale. (What’s a slotback, I hear some of you asking?) And even though you know what’s coming, you might not be able to stop it – especially if you’re not disciplined and don’t hit your gaps and give up big plays.

The centerpiece of the offense is their star QB of last season, QB Bryson Daily. A team captain, he’s only the second Army quarterback ever to both pass and rush for more than 900 yards in a season, and with seven other offensive starters back from last season with him, Army brings back a lot of experience, too, including two outstanding large backs in 220 lb sophomore RB Kanye Udoh and 215 lb junior RB Hayden Reed. You know they’ll be running the ball a lot, rotating their backs in and out, you know the defensive line and linebackers are going to get a workout, and you know it’s going to be physical and grueling. Oh, yeah, and you’ll need to guard against the occasional pass when you start to lean too far into stopping the run.

In regards to their defense: “When the Army running game is working and controlling the clock, the defense gets a break, stays fresh, and it does enough to hold serve. When the O isn’t rolling – and it wasn’t last year – the D has problems,” College Football News mentions in their Army preview.

Army struggled against the run at times in 2023, and boast a 3-4 defense according to their game notes. They do, however, have a lot of experience returning, with S Max DiDomenico, and DL Kyle Lewis, and still will be a formidable challenge, especially up front in the trenches.

Army started out 2-6, but won their last four games, including wins over Air Force and Navy to win the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy last season, by definition making the season a success after a rough start. This year, their first in the AAC, they were picked in the preseason to finish 5th.

DL Cody Winokur‘s story, another captain on the Army football team, is really what college football should be all about. “He appeared in eight games for the Black Knights in 2019 and 2020,” the game notes said, “before serving on active duty as a Cannon Crew member with Charlie Battery 2-15 Field Artillery Regiment in Fort Drum, New York in 2021 and 2022. He attained the rank of SGT [sergeant] and earned an Expert Soldier Badge and attended Air Assault School. Winokur rejoined the team with two years of eligibility left prior to the 2023 season, playing in six games.”

LFN’s Keys to the Game

1. Be Lehigh. This preseason, I saw a young, talented team practice at Murray Goodman Stadium that was trying to find out who they are and what their identity is as football players. Starting against Army is the first step of this team discovering what they are, and it’s exciting. They don’t have to be anyone other than Lehigh, which should be the main takeway from this game.
2. Minimizing Mistakes. Mistakes are almost never good in a football game, but mistakes against a Service Academy, who values discipline above all, can be magnified. Any possible shot at an upset will require a remarkably clean, unsloppy game from the Mountain Hawks.
3. Can The Offense Make Noise? Lehigh’s offensive woes over the last few years have been tough to watch at times, but this Friday offers a perfect opportunity to recast and reinvent the Mountain Hawk offense. Army may not know what is coming on offense, and any possible chance at an upset requires Lehigh playing to a level that will surprise them.

Fearless Prediction

You won’t see me quote betting odds on this page very often, but ESPN lists Lehigh as a 33 point underdog with a point total of 47 points.

That seems to point to the algorithms thinking that Lehigh will lose this game 40-7.

Could Lehigh spring an upset? Sure. Could they put a major scare into Army, like the 1980 squad did, or actually beat the Black Knights, like they did in 1983? Unlikelier things have happened.

It all will boil down to this team, and how they come out. How disciplined they are, how clean they operate, and how the offense might be able to exploit Army’s defense. Sustained drives and moving the sticks on 3rd down will be key, for 3-and-outs will only play into Army’s strengths.

Beating Army would be tough any time of year, and it feels the team will need a few games under their belt before they reveal who they are. But I’m hoping that they will start this Friday.

Army 34, Lehigh 17