NEW YORK -- Army has climbed to 19th in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, but more importantly, the Black Knights moved to the second-highest ranked Group of Five program behind No. 12 Boise State.
Undefeated and a double-digit winner in each of its first nine games, Army gets its stiffest test to date here Saturday inside Yankee Stadium against CFP No. 6 Notre Dame (9-1).
Jeff Monken, Army's second all-time winningest coach, singles out what he believes is the biggest difference between the Fighting Irish (9-1) and his Black Knights (9-0), who kick off against each other at 7 p.m. (NBC).
"I can thank my mentor and former head coach Paul Johnson, as he always said, 'They got 22 Parade All-Americans, and we've got 22 guys who have marched in a parade,'" said Monken, winner of 79 games at West Point. "So, the difference between them and us, it's a long way.
"We know the challenges that are going to be there, the defensive front that they have, but it's everybody, all 11 guys. Their secondary guys are athletic, fast; we don't much up physically. So, what we've got to do is execute at a really high level doing what we do and hope it will be good enough."
The Army-Notre Dame matchup is marking the 100-year anniversary of the legendary 'Four Horseman' game as chronicled by Grantland Rice and the year of Notre Dame's first consensus national championship.
The 'Shamrock Series' contest is designated a home game for the Irish, but Monken believes his players are eager for the challenge.
"For our players, the first time they ever put shoulder pads on and decided they were going to play football, I think they likely hoped they would have an opportunity to play in a game like this," Monken, who has nine seasons of eight or more wins in 15 years as an FBS head coach, said. "In this kind of venue, against one of the blue-blood football programs in the country. Notre Dame is college football. I mean, their history in this game is as far back as the game itself.
"Just a great opportunity and excited for our players, I know they are, too. It's a football game that we've got to prepare for and try to win.
"It's hard to go undefeated. If it was easy to go undefeated, there would be a lot more teams still undefeated. We've been fortunate; our guys have played well."