By Erik Evenson, Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl Director of Communications
The conference championship was Army’s first conference title in the program’s 134-year history, as the program has been Independent for most of that time. The conference title victory gave Army its 11th victory of the season, only Army’s second 11-win season in school history, the other coming in 2018, also under Head Coach Jeff Monken. Monken, in his 11th season leading the Black Knights holds an 81-56 overall record at West Point.
Army has maintained a spot in the AP Top 25 for nine consecutive weeks, the longest stretch since being ranked each week of the 1958 season. In the final AP Poll before the College Football Playoffs (December 8), Army climbed five spots to No. 19 following its conference title win.
Army has been led by senior quarterback Bryson Daily whose 29 rushing touchdowns are tied for the FBS lead with Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty, despite playing in two fewer games than Jeanty. Daily has broken several school and conference records this season including, the most rushing touchdowns in a season in AAC history, the most rushing touchdowns in a season in school history, the most touchdowns responsible for in a season in school history and tied the Army program record for most rushing touchdowns in a game with five.
Head Coach Jeff Monken was tabbed the AAC Coach of the Year and Daily was selected as the AAC Offensive Player of the Year.
This is Army’s second appearance in the Independence Bowl and first since 1996. There are a lot of parallels between this year’s Army team and 1996. The Black Knights started 9-0 for the first time since 1996 this season. This season also marked the fourth time in the last 30 years that Army appeared in the national ranking polls (2024, 2020, 2018 and 1996).
This year’s Army team will be just the seventh ranked team to play in the Independence Bowl. The last ranked team to play in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl was BYU in 2021 – ranked No. 12 in the AP Top 25 and No. 13 in the College Football Playoff Rankings. Prior to the 2021 BYU team, Army’s 1996 was the last ranked team to play in Shreveport, as they were ranked No. 24 in the AP Poll coming into that game.
The Thundering Herd and Black Knights will also be the first conference champions to play in the Independence Bowl since McNeese State in 1980. Five previous conference champions have played in the Independence Bowl – all between the bowl’s inception in 1976 and 1980. The Independence Bowl received the Southland Conference champion for the first four years of the bowl’s history and also received the Missouri Valley Conference champion, Tulsa, in the first edition of the Independence Bowl in 1976. It is the first matchup of two conference champions since that 1976 matchup.
The Sun Belt has appeared twice in Independence Bowl history – Louisiana in 2022 and UL Monroe in 2012. This will be the American Athletic Conference’s fourth appearance in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl. The conference holds a 1-2 record in their three previous games.
Tickets to Shreveport’s annual bowl game start at $20 and are on sale at RadianceTechnologiesIndependen
For information on Independence Stadium rules and the clear bag policy, please visit RadianceTechnologiesIndependen