Army: making America great on the ground... still And if you don’t like it, pass-happy college football fans, get the hell out.
The service academy entered today’s game against fellow service academy Air Force second in the nation in rushing, averaging nearly 315 yards per game. That ground prowess was on full display in the first quarter as Black Knights took the opening kickoff and drove it 75 yards to take an early 7-0 lead.
The best part of the drive? It took 21 plays. An even better part? They chopped a staggering 12:55 off the first-quarter clock.
Oh, and, thanks to penalties, they actually gained 119 yards on that opening drive.
Five Black Knights carried the ball on that march: Darnell Woolfolk (nine carries, 32 yards), Kelvin Hopkins Jr. (5-29), Andy Davidson (3-19), Connor Slomka (1-3) and Kell Walker (1-2). Hopkins completed both of his passes for 34 yards -- he came in averaging just over 80 yards passing per game -- on the drive, capped off by Woolfolk’s one-yard touchdown run.
UPDATED 2:26 P.M. ET: For the reader who asked, the longest posession in college football history, as recognized by the NCAA, is a 26-play drive by Navy that took 14:26 off the clock in the 2004 Emerald Bowl against New Mexico.