USF heads to West Point for early-season battle with Army

When the South Florida Bulls (1-0) head to West Point for their clash against the Army Black Knights (1-0), they will be entering uncharted territory.

Saturday’s game will be the earliest in the season the Bulls have ever played an American conference game. New coach Brian Hartline is looking to become just the second USF head football coach to win his road opener (Charlie Strong at San Jose State in 2017).

In order to get that win, the Bulls will have to outlast the cadets in a 60-minute war on the field.

Both teams won their season openers but in far different fashions.

USF slugged out a 19-9 win over in-state foe Florida International of Conference USA. The Bulls struggled on offense, totaling just 208 yards.

Army, on the other hand, ran all over Bryant of the Coastal Athletic Association Football Conference in the FCS. The Black Knights exploded for 59 points. They had 648 total yards and 569 rushing yards, both the fourth-largest outputs in school history.

This is Army coach Jeff Monken’s 13th season leading the team. He brings a 126-79 record into the game.

The Black Knights have compiled eight or more wins in six of Monken’s seasons. Their 19-8 record over the course of the 2024 and 2025 seasons was the 20th-best combined record in the country. Army has won seven of its last 10 games dating back to its 1-3 start to the 2025 season.

“We have a lot of respect for the way they operate. Frankly, it feeds into everything I believe in. It’s not about your talent level, it’s about your skill and discipline level,” Hartline said about the Black Knights program on Tuesday.

Army’s football program is synonymous with its triple-option offensive attack. Last season, Army had 784 rushing attempts and just 127 passing attempts. Last week, the Black Knights ran the ball 57 times and averaged 10 yards per carry. Sixteen different Army players recorded a rushing attempt.

The Black Knights offense is led by senior quarterback Cade Hellums. He began his second season as Army’s starter last Saturday. Last year, he had 694 passing yards, 18 passing touchdowns, 1,223 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns. Hellums had 20 or more rushing attempts in nine of his 13 games last season.

Defensively, the Black Knights don’t have as much continuity. Army lost each of its top seven tacklers from last season. However, the Black Knights got good news this week with Monken saying he expects first-team All-American Conference junior defensive lineman Jack Bousum to play on Saturday despite leaving last week’s game with a lower-body injury.

Service academies have been a struggle for USF over the years. The Bulls have a 1-1 all-time record against Army, those matchups took place in 2003 and 2004.

However, USF has played Navy six times in a 10-season span from 2015 to 2025. The Bulls went 2-4 in those games and allowed an average of 34.7 points per game during that stretch. Most recently, USF suffered a season-derailing 41-38 loss last year in November to Navy, where they allowed 338 rushing yards.

But this offseason, the Bulls might have brought in some secret weapons to help them stop the triple-option this Saturday.

New Bulls defensive coordinator Josh Aldridge has been labeled as a triple-option stopper by some.

Last season, with Aldridge leading their defense, East Carolina handed Army its largest loss of the season, 28-6. The Black Knights’ offense was stifled by Aldridge’s defense and specifically Hellums, who only mustered 47 rushing yards.

Aldridge has plenty of experience against triple-option offenses. His first season as a defensive coordinator was in 2018 with Division II Lenoir-Rhyne University. The Bears have run the triple-option offense for years, and Aldridge lined up against it every day at practice. Aldridge also played defensive end for Harding University, and during his time there, he faced off against a triple-option offense every day in practice.

In August, when Aldridge was asked about his history with triple-option offenses, he said that he feels like he’s “grown up” in a triple-option offense. He also said the key to stopping a triple-option offense is for a defense to play fast despite the change of scheme.

Another storyline to watch for USF’s defense is that current safeties coach Danny Verpeale spent the last four seasons as the Black Knights’ safeties coach.

“He knows us very well with our schemes, our personnel, our special teams, all of it. That presents a unique challenge,” Monken said on Army’s midweek radio show. He also mentioned that Army will be conscious of its signals, terminology and formations they use on Saturday, knowing Verpeale is on the other sideline.

USF’s defense is coming off a strong performance against FIU. They held the Panthers to 3.2 yards per rush, 5 of 17 on third down and 3 of 7 on fourth down. The Bulls also recorded five tackles for loss and forced three turnovers in the game.

One of USF’s standout defenders was sophomore linebacker Sam Robinson. He made his second career start on Saturday and recorded four tackles. Robinson was the highest-graded Bull on defense to play at least 40 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus.

Offense was more of a struggle for the Bulls last Saturday. The Bulls’ 208 yards were their fewest since September 2024 against Tulane. USF only averaged 3.7 yards per play on Saturday, putting them in the fourth percentile among teams. The Bulls’ longest play on Saturday night was 14 yards, and they didn’t record a drive over 40 yards.

“Explosive plays happen when everyone does their job at a high level,” Hartline said about the offense’s lack of big plays. “We always want to be more explosive. We always want to put more points on the board for the defense and make sure we keep them off the field. There’s a lot of things we can get cleaned up, but it comes down to our routine plays routinely, the big plays will come to us. We’re not chasing them.”

Saturday will be junior quarterback Michael Van Buren’s second start with the Bulls. He completed 11 of his 18 passing attempts for 100 yards against FIU. PFF rated Van Buren with the second-highest grade on USF’s offense.

Junior Purdue transfer Arhmad Branch led the Bulls with a career-high five catches for 47 yards against the Panthers. Branch only had 14 catches in three seasons with the Boilermakers heading into the game.

The Bulls will head to the home of many future armed forces members on Sept. 12, the day after the 25th anniversary of the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001.

“I think the best way to show respect is to leave it all out on the field and leave nothing to chance,” Hartline said on Tuesday.

It will be the second game in Michie Stadium following a two-year preservation project that rebuilt the stadium’s east stands. The stadium is almost 102 years old.

Both teams are in desperate need of a win on Saturday to jumpstart contention for the American Conference championship game.

For Army, it’s a chance to reaffirm that its rugged style and players can compete with the conference’s best teams, like they did in 2024.

For USF, it’s a chance to put their money where their mouth is. An early-season opportunity to set the tone for Hartline’s season and USF tenure.

Which statement will be made? We will find out on Saturday afternoon. The game is slated to kick off at noon on CBS Sports Network.