CONTINUED FROM PART 1, in CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, The Top 10 Army Football Teams of the Past 50 Years:
3. 1984 – 8-3-1 – Head Coach: Jim Young
It’s a legend I’ve heard many times over the years.
Coach Jim Young (who previously rebuilt programs at Arizona and Purdue), after posting an ugly 2-9 record in his first season at Army, scrapped his pro-style offense in favor of the Wishbone, moved safety Nate Sassaman to QB, and promoted walk-on intramural fullback Doug Black to first string.
And a juggernaut was born.
Not only did Army earn their first ever Bowl berth and Bowl win, not only did they win the CIC for the first time in 7 years, but they made some big noise early in the season by going down to Knoxville and earning a massive Tie (“Army Beats Tennessee 24-24” anyone?).
At season’s end, they beat Michigan State in the inaugural Cherry Bowl (which only got played one more year; I can’t imagine why teams wouldn’t want to go to Detroit in late December [not that I don’t love Detroit]), but my favorite note of the season comes about a month earlier.
In a game called the Mirage Bowl, played in Tokyo, Japan, Army tied an NCAA record against Montana with 4 100-yard rushers in a single game (Doug Black, 183; Nate Sassaman, 155; Clarence Jones, 130; Jarvis Hollingsworth, 124). My ultimate dream of dreams would be for Army to break this record and stand alone with 5 (because 4 has happened at least 6 times in recorded history), but I doubt it’ll ever come true. However, Jim Young’s Army team wasn’t done yet…
2. 1985 – 9-3 – Head Coach: Jim Young
It’s hard to imagine an Army team reaching 9 wins without beating Air Force or Navy, but starting 5-0, pounding Boston College, and being the first Army team in 23 years to earn an AP ranking (even if it was only for a week, but we’ll come back to that) isn’t a terrible consolation prize (also, going undefeated at Michie Stadium for a second straight season is nice as well). Not to mention this team has the most style points so far, averaging a two-touchdown point margin per game.
To be fair, I have no idea what happened against Navy, Army was clearly the better team on the season, but 1985 for Air Force was literally their best team ever, so I can let that slide.
However, Army did beat Illinois in the Peach Bowl, which, given that the Peach Bowl is now in the College Football Playoff rotation, I’m going to say that it’s Army’s most prestigious Bowl berth and win. In fact, it’s the most prestigious Bowl berth for any Service Academy team in the past 50 years.
More to the point however, although Jim Young never reached the 10-win mountain, for my money, the 1984-1985 run is still the best two-year span for Army in the modern era. No, they didn’t win back-to-back CICs, as a later coach would, but back-to-back Bowl victories against Big Ten opponents says quite a lot.
Lastly, as previously mentioned, the 1985 team was #19 in the AP poll for a week, and did not finish in the final AP poll, but, what you must understand is that, at the time, it was only a 20-team poll. Hypothetically, had it been a 25-team poll in 1984 and 1985, Army would have finished at #23 in the final poll in back-to-back years, and we’d look back on these teams with even more fondness and respect than we already do.