Army West Point Now Knows Where They Will Play Conference Title Game

The wait is over.

The Army West Point Black Knights now know where they will play their first conference championship game for football.

The Black Knights (10-1, 8-0) beat UTSA on Saturday, which means they will host the American Athletic Conference championship game against Tulane (9-3, 7-1) on Friday, Dec. 6.

The game is set for 8 p.m. eastern with the contest set to be broadcasted on ABC.

Army clinched the berth by finishing with a better league record than Tulane. The Green Wave were undefeated before falling to Memphis on Thursday. Tulane had hosted the last two title games.

Army started its football program in 1891 and it has primarily been an independent program, with the exception of 1998-04 when it was a member of Conference USA.

The Black Knights exited that short stint with C-USA with a final record of 13-67 and a conference record of 9-41. Army never won more than two league games in any season.

Army moved back to being an independent program in 2005 but joined the American this year as an affiliate member for football, which allowed it to be in the same conference as Navy.

As part of the deal, Army and Navy agreed that its annual rivalry game would not be a conference game, which is why the two teams are playing on their traditional mid-December window.

The Black Knights are in the midst of a historic season, even with the loss to Notre Dame last weekend.

Army hasn’t won 10 or more games in a season since 2018 and has never won 12 games in a season. That is still in play as Army has three games left. Along with the American title game and the Navy game, the Black Knights will play in a bowl game in December.

As for the bowl game, Sports Illustrated projected that Army will play West Virginia in the Independence Bowl on Dec. 28.  

Army hasn’t played in a bowl games since 2021 when it played in the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas. In fact, the Black Knights have played five of their last six bowl games in the Dallas-Fort Worth area — four appearances in the Armed Forces Bowl and another in the Heart of Dallas Bowl (now the First Responder Bowl).

Both games have tie-ins with the American this year.