No. 21 Army rides win streak into clash with struggling Air Force

When it comes to games against fellow military academies in the race for the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy, past achievements are irrelevant to Army coach Jeff Monken.Unbeaten through seven games for the third time since 1950, No. 21 Army attempts to remain perfect Saturday afternoon when it hosts Air Force in West Point, N.Y.Army (7-0) is attempting to win its first eight contests since starting the 1996 season with nine straight victories. The Cadets also are on an 11-game winning streak, the longest under Monken and the longest active streak in the FBS.The three military academics play an annual round-robin competition. The winning team visits the White House for a trophy presentation with the President of the United States.Air Force has won the trophy 21 times, Navy has 16 wins in the competition and Army has achieved victory 10 times.”We’ve managed to have some success this year,” Monken said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. “That’s all in the past. This game this week will be the hardest game we play all year and the intensity, the emotion that is part of these games makes it different from everything else.”So trying to focus through that and have our guys ready and able to do their job. That’s the most important thing, this game, not anything we’ve done before or anything that comes after. This is a one-game season right now.”The Cadets and Indiana are the only teams yet to fall behind in a game this season. Army has scored at least 40 points in four straight games for the first time since the 1945 team achieved the feat in five consecutive during its 9-0 season.The latest prolific showing occurred in a 45-28 win over East Carolina on Oct. 19, a game that featured a record-setting performance by Bryson Daily. The Army quarterback accounted for six touchdowns, including five on the ground.Daily carried 31 times for 171 yards for his sixth straight 100-yard game while becoming the first player to account for six touchdowns for Army since Elmer Oliphant in 1916. Daily has had a hand in 26 touchdowns (seven passing, 19 rushing) this year, eclipsing the previous Army mark of 23 shared by Leamon Hall (1977) and Kelvin Hopkins Jr. (2018).Additionally, Daily also set the school record for rushing TDs, breaking the mark of Carlton Jones (2004), Trent Steelman (2012) and Hopkins (2018).