Bryson Daily scored four rushing touchdowns to lead No. 24 Army to a 35-14 win over visiting Tulane in Friday’s American Athletic Conference title game in West Point, N.Y.
In the Black Knights’ first season in the AAC, Daily set a new league record for rushing touchdowns in a season (29). However, the Army quarterback (126 yards) was hardly alone in his rushing prowess, as teammate Kanye Udoh accumulated 158 yards and a touchdown. As a team, Army rushed for 335 yards.
Army (11-1) will ride plenty of momentum into next Saturday’s annual showdown with Navy in Landover, Md.
Meanwhile, Tulane (9-4) will await its bowl fate after its second straight lopsided defeat. Darian Mensah threw for 209 yards and two touchdowns for the Green Wave, who could not overcome a variety of miscues on special teams.
Tulane drove inside the red zone on the game’s opening possession, but Brice Busch failed to get the hold down on a field-goal attempt, leading to a big loss on fourth down. Eleven plays later, Army got into the end zone on Daily’s 5-yard TD run.
The Green Wave once again had a chance to dent the scoreboard on their next possession, but Mensah was sacked on third down and Patrick Durkin missed a 38-yard field goal.
Two plays later, Udoh uncorked a 72-yard run that set up Daily’s 3-yard TD plunge for a 14-0 lead.
Tulane fumbled the ensuing kickoff, as Army kicker Trey Gronotte forced a fumble by Rayshawn Pleasant that was recovered by Tommy Zitiello. The Black Knights couldn’t cash in on that possession, but Mensah was intercepted by Andon Thomas shortly thereafter, giving Army another short field.
This time, the Black Knights made them pay as Daily’s 4-yard TD run made it 21-0.
Tulane finally got on the board with 44 seconds left in the half as Mensah found Mario Williams for a 42-yard touchdown pass.
However, any potential momentum from that late score ended when Army took the first possession of the second half 75 yards for a touchdown. Daily provided the exclamation point with a 7-yard TD run.
Udoh’s 1-yard TD run with 6:29 left in the contest pushed the lead to 35-7 before Tulane got into the end zone with 70 seconds to play.
