Bronx, NY - November 23, 2024: In a storied matchup that dates back to 1913, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Army West Point Black Knights met for the 52nd time Saturday night at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx with the Fighting Irish defeating the Black Knights 49-17 in the “Shamrock Series” matchup.
The Fighting Irish and the Black Knights last met in 2016 in a game played at the Alamodome in San Antonio with the Fighting Irish winning that one as well 44-6. Notre Dame has now won the last 16 games. Army last defeated Notre Dame in 1958, in South Bend, by a score of 14-2. The series now stands at 40-8-4 in favor of Notre Dame.
The Black Knights of Army are having a great season. They entered the game at 8-0 and ranked #18 in the country. They came in to the game against Notre Dame riding a 13-game winning streak which dated back to the end of the 2023 season.
The #6 ranked Notre Dame came into the game with a 9-1 record and have played a more competitive schedule. Their only loss came on September 7th at home against Northern Illinois University (NIU) by a score of 16-14. The Fighting Irish are playing very good football right now and are in a prime position to be a key contender in the new 12-team playoff format. It’s likely they will host a playoff game in late December.
Coming into the game, Army’s one-two punch of QB Bryson Daily (13) and RB Kanye Udoh (6) have combined for 1,918 rushing yards so far this season (Daily=1,062, Udoh=856). In this game, which saw both teams primarily use the run, Daily carried the ball on quarterback keepers or the read option 39 times for 139 yards and 2 touchdowns. Udoh carried the ball 10 times for 35 yards.
Notre Dame has a duo of their own in QB Riley Leonard (13), who has rushed for 641 yards, and RB Jeremiyah Love (4), who has rushed for 720 yards coming into this game. Love ran for 130 yards tonight on 7 carries and scored twice. Love also broke one for 68 yards. Leonard in the air was 10 for 13, for 148 yards and 2 touchdowns, and he ran the ball 8 times for 38 yards. Notre Dame RB Jadarian Price (24) had 10 touches for 53 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Notre Dame offense had an impressive 462 yards of total offense compared to Army’s 233 yards.
Notre Dame was the home team for this game. They won the coin toss and deferred to the 2nd half so Army received the opening kickoff and went three and out.
Notre Dame scored on their first two possessions of the game. Leonard hit sophomore WR Jordan Faison (6) on a 28-yard pass for the first touchdown. This was a 5 play 68 yard drive to put Notre Dame up 7-0. On their next possession, after a blocked punt which gave Notre Dame the ball on the Army 7 yard line, Leonard threw to Love out of the backfield for a 6-yard touchdown reception and the Fighting Irish were up 14-0.
Army would settle in however and answer on their third possession of the game. They put together a 12 play, 75 yard drive which was capped off by a Daily 4-yard run, score 14-7 in favor of the Fighting Irish.
Notre Dame would score two touchdowns in the 2nd quarter. Love would run it in from 14-yards out and Price would score on a 2-yard run.
On three occasions in Army territory, the Army defense would stuff the Notre Dame offense, twice in the 2nd quarter, with one being at the 1-yard line, and a third time in the 3rd quarter. Notre Dame would turn the ball over on downs on one of those occasions, miss a field goal on another, and have a field goal blocked by Army. The score at the half was 28-7 Fighting Irish.
Notre Dame would go on to score three touchdowns in the 2nd half. Love would break a long one for 68 yards, Price would score on a 10-yard run, and freshman running back Aneyas Williams (20) would break another long run for 58-yards. The Irish were ahead 49-7 early in the 4th quarter. Daily of Army would score on a 1-yard run, his second of the game, with 22 seconds left in the game, the final 49-14.
On the defensive side, Notre Dame safety Adon Schuler (8) led all players with 8 tackles (4 solo and 4 assist) and linebacker Jaiden Ausberry (4) had 7 tackles (5 solo and 2 assist). Army linebacker Andon Thomas (51) led his team with 6 tackles (3 solo and 3 assist).
The game saw very few penalties, only two on the Fighting Irish, and there were no turnovers.
Notre Dame Head Coach Marcus Freeman said after the game that preparation is a key to a dominant win such as this and that his team had a very good week preparing for a very good football team in Army. Coach Freeman said they wanted to match Army’s gritty run game and the Notre Dame defense stepped up to help win that battle. Coach Freeman said his defense knew they had to stop a very good running team which has dominated this season.
Army Head Coach Jeff Monken gave a lot of credit to Notre Dame, saying they were very athletic and extremely well coached. Coach Monken felt his team was outclassed in every phase and his offense could not sustain blocks in the interior. Monken was proud of his team and thought they continued to fight, which they pride themselves on. Monken said his team is mature enough to not let this loss affect next week and he knows they are looking forward to getting this bad taste out of their mouth with a win next game.
