Five things to know about Army matchup in Week 8

LSU and Army will meet for the second time in the history of their respective programs on Saturday night.

The first meeting came all the way back in 1931. College football looked a lot different back then and Army won the game 20-0. Now almost 100 years later, the two meet again.

LSU is a heavy favorite and looking to extend its win streak to three as it heads into the bye week before the game with Alabama.

The Tigers will likely be without key players up front as Emery Jones and Mekhi Wingo get healthy. Meanwhile, Jayden Daniels and the passing attack will look to stay hot.

Here are five things you should know about Army prior to the game on Saturday night.

How Army got here

Entering the year, Jeff Monken had won eight games or more in six of the last seven seasons. That includes two years where the program reached double-digit wins and two more where it hit nine.

It will be a struggle to get back to that mark this year, partly due to a schedule that features three Power 5 opponents.

The Black Knights are just 2-4 and in the midst of a three-game losing streak. They dropped one at Syracuse before losing a close one at home to Boston College. Last week, Army was shutout by a good Troy team.

The only bad loss on this schedule came in week one when Army lost 17-13 at ULM.

The most impressive win to date is a 37-29 victory over UTSA.

Solid against the pass

It hasn’t been a great year for the Army defense as a whole, but the unit’s defended the pass well at times.

The Black Knights rank 17th in the Group of Five in PFF pass coverage grade and Army is better than the FBS average in EPA/pass allowed.

The secondary is led by cornerback Cameron Jones. The senior has six interceptions and five pass breakups in his career.

LSU’s talent should be able to win out here, but Army is coming off back-to-back games where it kept opponents completion percentage under 50%.

Offensive changes

When you think of Army, you might think of the triple-option. The offense is synonymous with service academy football.

But Monken decided to go in a different direction. As Brian Kelly pointed out this week, the option is still present in this offense, but it resembles something closer to a traditional scheme.

You’re going to see Army lineup in the shotgun and throw it more than the occasional shot you’d get from the triple-option offense.

Army’s thrown the ball at least 12 times in every game this year. For reference, they only did that four times last year.

Paul Dietzel connection

LSU once turned to an Army assistant in hopes of turning its football program around.

The Tigers hired Paul Dietzel, the Black Knight’s offensive line coach to take over the program in Baton Rouge.

It took a few years, but Dietzel turned LSU into a national title-winning program, its first in school history. He also coached some of the greatest players in LSU history, including backs Billy Cannon and Jimmy Taylor.

Dietzel’s tenure at LSU ended when he went back to Army to take the head coaching job there.

Players to know

Other than Jones, who we talked about with the secondary, here are some guys to keep an eye on.

CBs Jabari Moore and Bo Nicolas-Paul

Jones isn’t the only corner to keep an eye on. He’s joined by Moore and Nicolas-Paul. Moore leads the team with four pass breakups while Nicolas-Paul’s allowed just 10 catches on the year.

QB Bryson Daily

Daily is the QB leading the offensive change. As expected anytime an offense makes a drastic change, there have been struggles. He’s completing just 53.9% of his passes, but when he does find his receivers, he’s averaging 17 yards per completion. Daily is the team’s leading rusher too, with 412 yards and three touchdowns.

WR Isaiah Alston

Alston has just nine catches, but outside of Daily, he’s Army’s leading in scrimmage yards. He’s averaging a whopping 29.6 yards per catch. When Army needs a play, they’re going to look for Alston.

Story originally appeared on LSU Tigers Wire