TAMPA – South Florida Coach Brian Hartline doesn’t want his team to be like Mike. He wants it to be like Army. And no, we’re not talking about going to the wishbone or some version of it. “We have a lot of respect for the way they operate,” Hartline said Tuesday before heading for West Point, N.Y. and Saturday’s game against the Black Knights.
“It kind of feeds into everything I believe in.”
Army doesn’t have a lot of size. It doesn’t have a lot of speed. It struggles against teams with superior talent, especially when it steps outside the Group of 6. And even in the Group of 6, specifically the American Conference, it often doesn’t measure up physically. What it does have is a lot of heart, a lot of pride and a no-quit attitude regardless of the circumstances.
“It’s not about your talent level,” Hartline said. “It’s about your skill and discipline level, your ability to develop skill based on the technique, based on the fundamentals you need to do your job and then your ability to develop the discipline to do it consistently, prepare for it the right way, execute the right way on game day. That’s what it’s about.”
Ever since he arrived on the South Florida scene, Hartline has preached those things to his team. He believes that when you get your mind focused on playing well and then go out and play well, when you stay within yourself and do what you’re supposed to do, the wins will come.
“There’s talent, there’s skill and there’s discipline,” Hartline continued. “Talent is kind of what God’s blessed you with and your job is to maximize that. Your skill and discipline development is purely on you. They kind of embody that,” Hartline said of Army.
“They maximize their skill and talent,” Hartline said. “They maximize from a discipline standpoint. They know what they’re supposed to do on each job and they know their job description. So, you know, I have a lot of respect for the way they operate.”
The big thing Army has going for it, especially in the wild, wild West that college football has become, is stability. Jeff Monken, its coach, is in his 13th year. Only four coaches in the college game have longer tenure. Because it is a service academy, Army doesn’t have to deal with the transfer portal, NIL or collectives.
Players come to Army because that’s where they want to be. Monken has a chance to develop them, integrate them into his system. And it shows. Army is always troublesome, sometimes good and occasionally very good, like when it won the American in 2024. The Black Knights haven’t had a losing season since 2015. Primarily, that’s because they run a jazzed-up version of the wishbone, an offense which is almost extinct.
Army’s opener against Bryant is a case in point. Army won, 59-3. Okay, you say, who cares? For heaven’s sake, it’s Bryant. But the story here is not that Army beat Bryant, it’s how they did it. Army gained 569 yards rushing with 16 different players carrying the ball. Everybody that suited up for the game played.
More importantly, Army was virtually mistake free. It ran 70 offensive plays, including 57 runs, and NEVER HAD A TURNOVER OR A SINGLE NEGATIVE PLAY. Let me repeat that, not one turnover or a single negative play. It had only one offensive penalty, for holding, and only one on defense, giving it two for the entire game. And that’s not unusual. In 2025, Army was the least penalized team in college football. It also led the country in time of possession.
“Why is it hard to play them? Probably because it’s aways difficult to go against somebody that’s pretty consistent,” Hartline commented. “They show up the right way. They do things the right way. They hold themselves accountable.
“Those are the kind of people you – frankly – probably don’t want to compete against and so I have a lot of respect for, you know, how they operate, what they do and the way they go about their business. So a great opportunity for us,” Hartline added.
“For them it’s not about what other people do, it’s about what they do. I have a lot of respect for that,” Hartline repeated. “And, you know, they’re expert at it. So they’re going to do a good job maximizing every drive, maximizing their skill set and what they’re best at.”
What Army wants to do is grind you up and spit you out. It’s what Army does. At Michie Stadium, there is a bronze plaque that every player touches before every home game. On it is inscribed a quote attributed to General George C. Marshall, Army Chief of Staff during World War II, although there is some question as to whether he actually said it. Doesn’t matter, because it embodies the essence of Army football.
“I want an officer for a secret and dangerous mission. I want an Army football player,” the plaque reads. And so Saturday, if USF is to win, it will, to borrow a slogan from the Army, have to be all it can be, because Army does what Army does, and nobody does it better.
