Army's first game in a rebuilt Michie Stadium wasn't much of a contest — the Black Knights scored 21 points before Bryant found the scoreboard at all.
Army brought back Cale Hellums at quarterback off a 7-6 season that ended with a bowl win over UConn, while Bryant countered with Brennan Myer, the QB who authored the program's only FBS win a year ago. On paper it read like a game between two returning starters. On the field, it turned into batting practice for the home team from the opening series.
+Coming off a 7-6 season capped by a bowl win over UConn
+Returning starting QB Cale Hellums
+Monken enters year 13 with an 89-63 record at Army
−100% turnover at linebacker over the offseason
−Coach committed to playing backups regardless of score
−First live look at a completely new defensive room
The Black Knights had questions to answer up front, too — the linebacker room turned over completely this offseason, the only position group on the roster that did, and Jeff Monken had already said before kickoff that backups Bryson Luter and Ethan Washington would see the field regardless of score. Bryant, for its part, had shown some life a week earlier, handling Stonehill comfortably to open its own season. None of it mattered once Army's offense got rolling.
Army led 21-0 before the first quarter ended and never let up, tacking on 10 more before half and 14 apiece in the third and fourth quarters. Bryant's only points came on a field goal in the second, and that was the extent of the resistance an FCS club moving up two levels in class could offer on a 77-degree, partly sunny afternoon at Michie.
It's worth remembering what Bryant is working with here: a program that went 3-9 in CAA play a season ago and had never beaten an FBS opponent until squeaking past UMass by a single point last year. That's the roster Myer and company brought into West Point, and it showed against an Army team that simply had more speed, more size and more depth at every level.
The linebacker turnover Monken flagged as a question mark never surfaced as one — the defense that took the field looked plenty capable of shutting down an outmanned FCS attack, and the backup-QB plan he'd promised played out exactly as advertised once the game got out of hand early. It was as clean a season-opening trial run as a coaching staff could ask for, held in front of a newly renovated East Stands crowd seeing the venue's upgrades for the first time.
Games like this exist to shake out rust and get backups reps, and Army got both without ever being seriously tested. The real evaluation for both programs starts once the schedule turns toward more competitive week-to-week football.
