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The Army Black Knights have apparently inked a four-game deal with one of the top teams in college football from this past season.
According to a recent report from the Charleston Post & Courier, Jeff Monken’s team will face Coastal Carolina on the road in 2022 and 2026, and then host the Chants in West Point in 2023 and 2027.
Coastal Carolina finished 12th in the final College Football Playoff rankings in 2020 and 14th in the AP Poll after an 11-1 season. They lost their bowl game to former FCS rival Liberty in overtime, but notched impressive regular season wins over Louisiana, BYU and Appalachian State. They also thumped Les Miles’ Kansas team — but didn’t everyone?
Army went 9-3 this past season and lost its bowl game to West Virginia. Coastal and Army shared one common opponent in 2020 — Georgia Southern. The Chants beat the Eagles 28-14, while the Black Knights won 28-27.
In talking with the Post & Courier, Coastal athletic director Matt Hogue said the Chants and Black Knights agreed to the deal “because of personal relationships” between the two programs.
“Certainly, we have a lot of veterans and a lot of military personnel who are retired here or are maybe even still active duty, so it just seemed like a win-win and a great idea,” Hogue said. “Fortunately, through professional relationships, which a lot of times is what drives scheduling, we were able to something set up with them and I think it’ll be a great series through the four year that we play them.”
The series was agreed upon in 2017, according to MyrtleBeachOnline. Per that story, Coastal Carolina and Army will exchange $200,000 guarantees for each game.
According to FBSschedules.com, Coastal Carolina will be Army’s season-opener in 2022 on Sept. 3. Army will also play at Tennessee and at Wake Forest that season. The 2023 match-up at West Point is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 18. That season, Army is also set to face Syracuse, Boston College and LSU.