With Temple facing fourth-and-3 inside Army's 25 in the final minute Friday night, cornerback Jaydan Mayes knocked away Ajani Sheppard's pass intended for Jayce Freeman, turning the Owls over on downs and finishing a 21-17 Army road win. In the moments that decided the game, a unit nobody was sure about made the plays.
Everything around those moments was messier. Defensive end Dillon Stowers had Army's only sack, an 8-yard loss, and neither team recorded an interception. One sack and no interceptions is not a pass rush that changes games. It is a defense surviving them. Jeff Monken said it plainly afterward. "We were very fortunate to find a way to win tonight. Our guys earned it on the last two drives." Temple still moved the ball for 459 yards, and an Army-focused review called the young unit's night marked improvement while flagging busted coverages and blown contain that nearly decided the game the other way.
That is the piece still missing. Army lost eight primary defensive starters from last season and returns Jack Bousum, Kody Harris-Miller and Jaydan Mayes as the experienced core, and it is doing that rebuild under a new voice, Daryl Dixon was promoted to defensive coordinator, with Scot Sloan as co-defensive coordinator, while Cody Worley stayed put on offense. The most accomplished returner is the one whose role nobody can pin down. Bousum tied for Army's team lead in 2025 with 8.0 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks, and then Cael Newton made his first career start in Bousum's place against South Florida in Week 2, with no reason given; Newton recorded one solo tackle, and Bousum participated but had no credited defensive statistic.
The offense, meanwhile, answered its own question. Trailing 17-14 with 7:38 left, running back Carson Smith touched the ball six times, including a 14-yard run and two third-down carries, to spearhead the go-ahead drive. Cale Hellums carried 22 times for 104 yards and three touchdowns, 15, 12 and 3 yards, the last one putting Army up 21-17 with 1:41 to play, and he threw just three completions on six attempts for 36 yards. That is the offense Army has always been. Last year it led the country with 10 drives of at least 15 plays and had five possessions longer than nine minutes. Nothing about the Temple win suggests the passing game is coming. Everything about it suggests Army can still close a tight one on the ground.
Ruston, 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday, ESPN+
Army is at Louisiana Tech, and the win at Temple was described as a much-needed in-conference victory. This one is nonconference, so it does nothing to the league table directly. The model gives Army a 59% chance to win, and winning nudges Army's conference title-game odds to about 17% while a loss drops them near 12%. The league table does not move, but the simulations reweight how strong Army looks for the eight conference games that follow, and a loss in Ruston would drag that estimate down.
The reason to circle it is this. Louisiana Tech coach Sonny Cumbie, coming off a bye, called starting quarterback Blake Baker questionable with a hand injury, with Trey Kukuk the presumptive starter if Baker can't go. Tech has already struggled to finish drives. Six red-zone trips at Baylor produced three touchdowns, a missed field goal, an interception and a fumble, with kicker Kaegan Kent missing from 37 and 34 and still without a field goal this season. A shorthanded offense that stalls inside the 20 is exactly the opponent against which a rebuilding defense can bank real evidence, such as sacks, an interception or a clean night on contain. If Army's front finally gets home and someone clearly owns the end spot, that is worth more to the next two months than the final margin.
Temper it a little anyway. ESPN lists Army as only a 3.5-point favorite with a 46.5-point total and its predictor at 51-49, and Army has won all three previous meetings, 14-7 in 2008, 35-16 in Dallas in 2013 and 27-6 in the 2024 Independence Bowl, with this the series' fourth all-time meeting. Perfect series record, close line.
Two American games worth a glance
Army's 19-8 record since the start of 2024 and 12-4 mark in American regular-season play is the real baseline here, and the league's top two teams in its single-division standings play for the title. That table is why the other results this week matter to you at all.
Temple at South Florida: root for Temple
This result carries a 7.0 percentage-point impact on Army's conference-title-game probability.
Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPNU. Temple is the preferred side and has roughly a 10% chance of winning at South Florida. Army's title-game odds land near 22% if Temple wins and near 15% if South Florida holds serve. A seven-percentage-point swing on a result that probably won't happen.
North Texas at Tulsa: root for Tulsa
This result carries a 6.5 percentage-point impact on Army's conference-title-game probability.
Thursday, 9:00 p.m. ET on ESPN. Tulsa wins about 12% of the time at home here, and the appeal is the same mechanism. North Texas is a live contender for a top-two spot, and every league loss it absorbs thins the field above Army. A Tulsa win puts Army around 21% to reach the title game; a North Texas win leaves Army near 14%. Army also visits Tulsa in late October, so a Golden Hurricane team playing well is a mixed blessing, but in September, the standings effect is the bigger one.
Neither of those is something to reorganize an evening around. Both are free upside on a week when the game that actually matters is in Louisiana.
Full matchup detail is in the interactive guide, and the forecasting approach is explained in the methodology.