Army West Point football took Blaik Field at Michie Stadium Friday night with a purpose. For the first time in school history, the Black Knights were both playing in, and hosting, a conference championship. 

Like they have done all season, Army turned to quarterback Bryson Daily and the offensive line to pound their way to 335 rushing yards en route to 35-14 win over Tulane to capture the American Athletic Conference championship in their inaugural season in the league. 

“The line of scrimmage was getting moved two to three yards, and then by the fourth quarter, [it was] four to five yards,” said Daily, talking about the performance by the offensive line. “They played awesome, just like they had all year. But they really stepped it up today.”

During the pregame, several Tulane players took the field warming up shirtless in an attempt to indict that, despite temperatures in the 20s, it wasn’t going to bother the team from New Orleans. But right off the bat, the Green Waves missed a field goal. That was followed by another missed field goal, a kick return fumble, and an interception from Tulane QB Darian Mensah that was picked off by junior linebacker Andon Thomas. 

“It's surreal being able to make the play. I'm really blessed, to be in the right place at the right time,” said Thomas, who led the team with eight tackles. “But once again, credit to the [defensive line]. They had a great rush, forced the quarterback to get the ball out of his hands and I just happened to be in the right spot.”

The Black Knights took advantage of those early errors with three rushing touchdowns from Daily in the first half to build a 21-7 lead at halftime. With no answers defensively from the Green Wave, Army continue its ground attack in the second half. 

Daily ran for 126 yards and added a fourth touchdown, while sophomore running back Kanye Udoh finished the night with 158 rushing yards and a touchdown.

“It was huge, like, earlier in the game, [to] break loose and the hole that the [offensive line] created for me just to have a big play,” Udoh said. 

As the final seconds ticked off, the Corps of Cadets rushed the field to celebrate with the team that just completed an undefeated season in the AAC, and 11-1 overall. Daily was named the game’s MVP and head coach Jeff Monken made his case on why his quarterback should be at the Heisman Trophy Ceremony next week. 

"There's a lot of great football players in the country, but there's not one who means more to his team than that guy sitting right down there," said Monken, pointing to Daily. "And so it's the MVP of college football. Who's most valuable to their team? I'd argue there's not a guy in America more valuable to their team than Bryson Daily."

This is the first of potentially three trophies for the Black Knights. There’s the Commander-in-Chief trophy at stake next week in the Army-Navy game. And then the bowl game afterward, unless Army gets into the college football playoffs. Monken believes his team should in it. 

“This team played 11 regular season games. They've beaten everybody they put in front of us, except for the No. 4 team in the country, and they beat the pants off us and I get it,” Monken said. “But we’ve beaten everybody else. Just beat another bowl team tonight. And who in college football, who around America, wouldn't be excited to see the Army Black Knights in the playoff. I think everybody would.”

As Army waits for the decision from the College Football Playoff Committee, the focus is now on Navy as the Black Knights look to sing second for the third straight season.