2016 Opponent Spring Preview: Lafayette (Free)
GoBlackKnights.com continues our early look at the Army Black Knights' opponents in the 2016 season, with a preview of the 5th opponent on the schedule as they return home to face their first FCS level opponent of the season, the Lafayette Leopards from Easton, Pa.
When: Saturday, October 15th at West Point (Michie Stadium)
Series Record: Army West Point has an overwhelming 17-1 lead in the series, which dates back to 1893. The only year that Army lost to Lafayette was 1940 when the Leopards had an undefeated untied season. Lafayette was a regular feature on the schedule in the Jim Young era with 9 meetings between 1986 and 1997, but this will be Lafayette’s first meeting with an FBS opponent since that time.
Lafayette’s 2015 Record
0-6 in Patriot League 1-10 overall
Season Summary: Lafayette started the 2015 season with a 34-7 home field loss to #12 William & Mary; lost 19-9 to Delaware in Newark; and lost another home game to Princeton 40-0 before capturing their only win of the season against Wagner 35-24.
The Leopards started their Patriot League campaign with a 35-17 loss to #19 Fordham followed by a 38-7 road loss to Georgetown. They returned home to face #20 Harvard and lost 42-0 before returning home to PL competition with a 35-24 loss to Bucknell and a 28-19 loss to #13 Colgate. They finished the season by traveling to Bethlehem to take on their arch rival Lehigh in the 150th meeting of the two teams, losing the game 49-35.
LAFAYETTE’S RECRUITING
Neither Rivals nor any of the other recruiting services rates team recruiting in the FCS; so we cannot provide any rankings for any year. As is the case with all FCS teams, Lafayette is limited by the NCAA to 65 scholarships, which can be divided into partial scholarships. Until recently, the Patriot League did not allow any scholarships, but changed their rules to allow each team to offer the equivalent of 15 scholarships per year starting in 2013 with a maximum of 60 scholarship equivalents in any year. This will be the fourth season that Lafayette has been able to offer scholarships to incoming recruits.
We ran their lists of recruits through the Rivals database and found 1 three-star and a handful of two-star recruits between 2013 and 2015. Unlike many FCS schools, Lafayette does not appear to take in transfers from JUCOS or FBS programs.
STARTERS RETURNING
As might be expected, Lafayette doesn’t receive the same level of media coverage that FBS teams receive. Lafayette didn’t publish a spring prospectus and information about returning starters is a bit thin, but these are our best estimates of where Lafayette stands.
Offense: Returns 7 of 11 starters: Senior Quarterback Drew Reed (Rivals 2-star) returns to guide the Leopard offense. Reed completed an impressive 199 of 308 passing attempts (64.6%) for 2008 yards and 11 TDs with 10 interceptions for an efficiency rating of 124.7. Junior tailback, Deshaun Brown returns after leading the Leopards in rushing with 580 yards in 154 attempts to earn the teams MVP for running backs. He will be joined by the #2 running back CJ Amill (Rivals 3-star), who also returned kicks for Lafayette.
The Leopards lost two tight ends and a wide receiver, but will return Junior Matt Mrazek, who had 44 receptions for 495 yards (11.2 ave) and 2 TDs to earn the team’s MVP award for receivers last year. The offensive line returns 3 of its 5 starters from last season.
Defense: Returns 7 of 11 starters, led by team MVP Brandon Bryant, a junior WLB with 114 tackles including 6.5 for a loss last year. They return all 4 starters on the DL but lose their #3 tackler, LB Mark Dodd along with most of their defensive backfield.
2016 SEASON OUTLOOK
Lafayette has one of the oldest football programs in the country, celebrating their 135th year of football in 2016. They have won 3 national championships and 7 Patriot League championships. Head coach, Frank Tavini begins his 16th season at the helm of the Lafayette program and 29th year overall at Lafayette. He was granted a contract extension through the 2016 season after winning the Patriot League championship in 2013, but finished with a 3-3 record in the PL in 2014 and an overall record of 5-6. They were picked to finish 4th in the PL in 2015, but obviously that didn’t happen. The Leopards were unfortunate in facing 4 teams ranked in the Top 25 of the FCS last season, and Colgate and Fordham are both picked to finish in the top 25 of the FCS again this year, which doesn’t bode well for Lafayette. They have a lot of young players returning; so they should expect to improve on their 1-10 record of last year but are unlikely to finish any higher than 3d in the conference.
EARLY VIEW OF THE GAME
This is an absolute must win game for the Black Knights. Lafayette ranked near the bottom of the FCS last year and will most likely be in the bottom half again this season. The main concern we have is that Army West Point will be coming off a road game against Duke and will have to avoid shrugging off the game against Lafayette. At the same time, as long as Army doesn’t get careless, this is a good game to play right after playing Duke. If Black Knights’ head coach Jeff Monken gets the team up for the game, they should win handily. Most likely, this will be the easiest game on the schedule.
Stay-tuned as GBK continues remains in Army football spring practice coverage mode as we bring you our Daily Spring Articles, analysis and even our Football Spring Central updates on the 12th Knight message board.
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