Army Black Knights Out of College Football Playoffs Contention Despite First AAC Championship Win Ever

The Army Black Knights celebrated their first ever conference Championship win in their 134 year history after beating favorite Tulane 35-14 Friday night. Army walked away with the AAC title. 

Bryson Daily rushed for four touchdowns to tie the American Athletic Conference championship game record, and No. 24 Army completed a perfect first season in the league by beating Tulane 35-14 on Friday night.
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Kanye Udoh rushed for 158 yards, including a 72-yarder to set up a Daily touchdown, and a score. Daily added 126 yards on the ground for the Black Knights (11-1), who overwhelmed AAC opponents with their bruising, clock-eating rushing attack during their first time around the league then ran it to perfection in the championship game.

Army was a +4.5 underdog with most bookies faring well as the action tended to lean towards Tulane 55/45.

Sadly for Army, the Black Knights will not be playing in this year's College Football Playoffs.  There is certainly an argument to be had they deserve to be in there.

This is, after alll, an Army team that dominated in nearly every game with the lone exception of a bad loss to Notre Dame.

EssentuallySports.com's Khosalu Puro explains the complexity involved when it comes to certain schools qualifying for a playoffs spot. 

Some of the winners of this weekend’s conference championship game will receive an automatic playoff. The four Power Four conference winners and one Group of Five winner playing this weekend will be the lucky ones. And the teams with the top four seeds will receive a first-round bye and advance to face the winners of the first round. But even after their dominating conference title win, the Army is in a different situation.

In another scenario, Army would’ve been in the mix for the playoffs with their record and the way they won the AAC Championship game. But a Mountain West school is already in contention for the playoffs as the Group of Five team, which is No. 10 Boise State. Since they’re ranked far ahead of the Black Knights who sit at No. 23, they’re the unrivaled contenders.

The Black Knights have one game left in the regular season, and it's the one they want most: against Navy next Saturday in Landover, Maryland, for the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy.

"Now we've got the biggest game of the year coming up in eight days, and we're looking forward to that," Army head coach Jeff Monken said.

With this year's Army-Navy game being played a half hour from Anapolis, Navy should enjoy some home field advantage.  Technically, this is a neutral field whereby the line would have Army as a -2.5 favorite.