2011 Army Black Knights football team The 2011 Army Black Knights football team represented the United States Military Academy in the 2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season . The Black Knights were led by third - year head coach Rich Ellerson and played their home games at Michie Stadium . They competed as an independent . They finished the season 3 – 9 . Game notes . Northern Illinois . Northern Illinois quarterback Chandler Harnish threw three touchdowns in the first eighteen minutes of the game and would have five passing TD ' s on the day and one rushing as the Huskies downed Army in the season opener for both teams . The game marked the head coaching debut for NIU ' s Dave Doeren . Notable performances included Northern Illinois running back Jasmin Hopkins ' 138 yards rushing . Army was led by slotback Malcom Brown with 92 yards rushing and a touchdown on 9 carries . The win for NIU was their first ever over a service academy in four tries . The Huskies had previously been defeated by the Black Knights in 1992 and suffered losses to Navy in 2007 and 2008 . Scoring summary " 1st quarter " " 2nd quarter " " 3rd quarter " " 4th quarter " San Diego State . Ronnie Hillman rushed for 117 yards and two touchdowns as San Diego State held on to defeat Army 23 – 20 . Army dominated the game in terms of total yards ( 446 – 292 ) , rushing yards ( 403 – 146 ) and time of possession ( 42 : 11 – 17 : 49 ) but the Black Knights committed eight fumbles , losing three of them , allowing SDSU to come away with the victory . Army quarterback Trent Steelman led the Black Knights potent rushing attack with a career - high 157 yards and scored three rusing touchdowns . The game was the first time since 1980 that a team from California played at West Point . Despite the close score , the Aztecs never trailed in the game . Army missed an extra point kick for the second time in two games . Last season the Black Knights only missed one PAT the entire year . Scoring summary " 1st quarter " " 2nd quarter " " 3rd quarter " " 4th quarter " Northwestern . For the second straight week Army quarterback Trent Steelman rushed for three touchdowns to lead the Black Knights to their first victory of the season . Steelman led Army in rushing for a second straight week with 108 yards on the ground . The win for the Black Knights marked the third season in a row that they have defeated a team from an AQ conference ( Vanderbilt 2009 and Duke 2010 ) . Jeremy Ebert was the leading gainer on offense for the Wildcats , posting 108 yards receiving and two touchdown grabs . Once again Army dominated the time of possession battle , doubling up Northwestern at 40 : 19 – 19 : 41 . Army ' s defense held strong all game , as the Wildcats only converted 3 of 12 third downs after averaging 50 percent their first two games . Ball State . Ball State marched down the field and scored a touchdown on their opening possession and never looked back . The Cardinals took a commanding 31 – 0 lead by halftime and went on to defeat the Black Knights 48 – 21 . Ball State quarterback Keith Wenning was nearly perfect on the day going 24 – 30 with a career high 324 yards , three touchdown passes and no interceptions . Wideout , Willie Snead added 10 catches for 180 yards and a touchdown . Raymond Maples and Jared Hassin paced Army with 125 yards and 111 yards respectively . Army quarterbacks did not complete a pass to a Black Knights receiver throughout the course of the game . Ball State improved their record to 3 – 1 , 1995 was the last time they started a season with a 3 – 1 record . For the first time in the 2011 season Army did not win the time of possession battle , losing that statistic by a time of 31 : 12 – 28 : 48 . Scoring summary " 1st quarter " " 2nd quarter " " 3rd quarter " " 4th quarter " Tulane . Tulane only needed three plays to score its first points of the game , however those would be the only six points they scored all day as Army scored the next 45 points to defeat the Green Wave 45 – 6 . Army quarterback Trent Steelman threw for 70 yards and a touchdown and then ran for another 54 yards and two rushing touchdowns . Army ' s defense held Tulane to just 199 yards of total offense , their lowest output of the season . Raymond Maples rushed for a career high 141 yards and a touchdown for the Black Knights . Tulane was led by Orleans Darkwa who rushed for 138 yards and their only touchdown . Army ' s win evened the all - time series between the one - time Conference USA rivals at 9 – 9 – 1 . Scoring summary " 1st quarter " " 2nd quarter " " 3rd quarter " " 4th quarter " Miami ( Ohio ) . Miami Quarterback Zac Dysert threw for 342 yards and four touchdowns , while Nick Harwell caught ten of his passes for 186 yards including two of the TD ' s as Miami ( Ohio ) won their first game of the season 35 – 28 over Army . Harwell ' s 186 yards in a game was the third highest total in a single game in school history . Trailing 28 – 14 late in the third quarter , the RedHawks scored three straight touchdowns and then stopped Army in the red - zone with less than a minute left in the contest to preserve the victory . Army Quarterback Trent Steelman posted another solid game with 99 yards rushing and two TD runs . He also was a perfect eight for eight passing for 124 yards and a touchdown pass . Raymond Maples rushed for 111 yards and a touchdown as well to pace the Black Knights potent rushing attack . The victory was the first head coaching win for Don Treadwell . Scoring summary " 1st quarter " " 2nd quarter " " 3rd quarter " " 4th quarter " Vanderbilt . Zac Stacy had a career high 198 yards rushing and three touchdowns as Vanderbilt scored a 44 – 21 victory over Army in Nashville . Vanderbilt Quarterback , and brother to NFL star Aaron Rodgers , Jordan Rodgers passed for 186 yards and a touchdown and ran for 96 as well as a rushing touchdown . The Commodores controlled the rushing game and time of possession battle . The game marked the first time in the season that the Black Knights were out - rushed ( 344 – 270 yards ) . Army came into the matchup with the Number 1 rushing offense in the NCAA FBS . Army was led on the ground by Larry Dixon who finished with 92 yards rushing . Scoring summary " 1st quarter " " 2nd quarter " " 3rd quarter " " 4th quarter " Fordham . Backup Quarterback Max Jenkins rushed for two touchdowns and threw for one more as Army shut out Fordham in a rare October snow storm at West Point . Raymond Maples , despite only playing in the first half rushed for 159 yards on 10 carries to lead the Black Knight rushing attack , which gained 514 yards on the ground . Army held Fordham ' s offense to just 86 yards , and the Black Knights defense also scored a touchdown on a fumble recovery by Nate Combs . Fordham was shut out for the first time in six years and allowed 50 points for the first time in more than decade . The game was just the 3rd meeting with Army winning all three games . The first Army win was a historic win in 1891 , a 10 – 6 victory , which was the first one in the program ' s history . The last meeting between the two squads was in 1949 , a legendary chippy game . Air Force . Air Force came from behind to defeat Army and secure their second straight Commander - in - Chief ' s Trophy . The Black Knights went up 14 – 0 early and looked like they would run away with the game . However , a controversial replay call nullified a potential touchdown run by Quarterback Max Jenkins , and later Army looked to score another touchdown but Scott Williams lost a fumble on the 1 yard line . Air Force Quarterback Tim Jefferson led the comeback with two touchdown runs and kicker Parker Herrington booted three field goals to secure the win . Jefferson finished the day passing for 122 yards and rushing for 66 more . Army was led by Raymond Maples who ran for 132 yards . Scoring summary " 1st quarter " " 2nd quarter " " 3rd quarter " " 4th quarter " Rutgers . Rutgers used a 13 catch , 129 yard receiving day from Mohamed Sanu to knock off Army 27 - 12 in a game played at Yankee Stadium . Sanu ' s 13 catches put him into sole possession of first place on the career high list for receptions in the Big East Conference with 93 total . He broke the previous record of 92 set by Larry Fitzgerald in 2003 . Rutgers Quarterback Chas Dodd threw for 196 yards and two touchdowns , however , his two interceptions kept Army in the game . The Black Knights were paced on the ground by Larry Dixon who rushed for 93 yards and a score . However , the nation ' s leading rushing attack of Army was held to just 228 yards . Former Rutgers player Eric LeGrand , who was paralyzed in last season ' s contest between the two teams appeared prior to the game to perform the honorary coin toss . Scoring summary " 1st quarter " " 2nd quarter " " 3rd quarter " " 4th quarter " Temple . Temple ' s high powered rushing attack gained 335 yards and the Owls scored 42 points en route to crushing Army 42 - 14 . The Owls were paced by Bernard Pierce and Matt Brown who rushed for 157 yards and 133 yards respectively . Pierce scored three touchdowns on the day while Brown added two more of his own . Raymond Maples led the Army rushing attack with 93 yards on the ground . Scoring summary " 1st quarter " " 2nd quarter " " 3rd quarter " " 4th quarter " Navy .