The current Army scheduling pattern makes a lot of sense. The Black Knights are tied into the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy matchups with Air Force and Navy, but as an independent the rest of the fixtures in any given year start as a blank slate.
Currently, Army seems to have one marquee matchup each season (Ohio State in 2017), one of two games against other Power Five programs, then a bunch of games that are winnable against low-end FBS and the occasional FCS squad.
With all that being said, here are five teams that it would be fun for Army to play in the (hopefully) near future:
Alabama
It was a similar list on an Alabama fan site that was the genesis for this idea. Alabama and Army have played exactly one time before, with the Crimson Tide beating the Black Knights 29-28 the 1988 Sun Bowl. The difficulty to prepare for Army offense would make this an unlikely matchup, but it would be cool to see Army taking on the preeminent program of the last decade.
Notre Dame
Army and Notre Dame played last season in a 44-6 win for the Irish, but the game is far from a regular occurrence. The two schools have played only three times this century and haven’t really played regularly since the 1970s. If Army could get a fun traveling series going with Notre Dame, or any other power school, it could become an event destination for fans.
Yale
This turned out badly when the two schools played in 2014 and Yale won, but a rivalry that dates back as far as football itself needs to be played more often.
Campbell
Campbell University is located just 23 miles from Fort Bragg and is the closest university to the Army base. The Camels are a building FCS program so there is no reason to think that this game will not happen.
Someone in SoCal
Army is doing a great job of hitting up prime recruiting locations with its schedule. In 2017 the Black Knights visit Houston (Rice), Dallas (UNT), Columbus, (Ohio State), and New Orleans (Tulane). The team also has a good presence in Florida, leaving the Southern California area as the only big recruiting spot missing. Adding a San Diego State or a Cal to the schedule would be ideal.
It’s Army Post, not Base.