WEST POINT — Another dispiriting defeat on Saturday for Army presented the next unfortunate reality. After winning the Commander-In-Chief’s trophy in back-to-back years for the first time in program history, Army is now likely to fail at capturing its most coveted prize.

To add insult to the Black Knights’ injury-plagued season, military academy counterparts Air Force and Navy have combined for three losses this season, two fewer than Army. The San Jose State team that gave Army fits on Saturday? Air Force beat that same opponent 41-24 in September. That Tulane squad that Army head coach Jeff Monken said was the best team the Black Knights has faced all season? Navy crashed the Green Wave this past weekend.

As Army prepares to travel to Air Force this weekend, all signs point to a relinquishing of the Commander-In-Chief’s trophy by season’s end. Of all the demoralizing defeats Army has suffered thus far, the gut punch of losing to Air Force on Saturday and Navy at season’s end would be the most painful pills to swallow; especially since, at the start of the 2019 campaign, Army was the favorite to claim the prize.

Heading into this all-important week, the Black Knights are once again uncertain of who will start at the all-important quarterback position. For the second time this season, it could be one of three guys who wind up starting, a result of injuries to starter Kelvin Hopkins and backup Jabari Laws during the 34-29 stumble against San Jose State. The silver lining to the fusillade of physical ailments that have befallen this once promising program is that Army has tested young guys who might have otherwise been reduced to bench duty the entire season.

Christian Anderson, the team’s third-string signal caller, has already gotten extended playing time in two games, including against San Jose State where he led Army in rushing and crossed the goal line twice. If it were his number called versus Air Force, it wouldn’t be the worst thing. At times this past Saturday, he looked like the best quarterback on the Black Knights’ roster (his three fumbles notwithstanding).

The defense has unraveled the past two weeks, done in by injuries, sure, but also what looks at a distance like a lack of effort. The pressure on the quarterback has been nonexistent and receivers have been so wide open they have enough time to compete basic training at West Point by the time the ball reaches their hands. In between deriding his flailing defense, cornerback Elijah Riley said of his unit’s stinginess in the red zone against San Jose State, “We were winning our one-on-one matchups.” At least something was working.

It’s hard to argue that Army could be a Commander-In-Chief’s favorite even with its full arsenal of available bodies. From the first snap of the season, this team has been a mess, a poorly constructed science experiment all too capable of combusting at any moment. Navy and Air Force, by contrast, have taken the baton from the 2018 version of Army and are sprinting ahead of the floundering Black Knights.

Navy ranks first in the country with 350.7 yards per game, Air Force second with 322.5 yards per contest. Army is tied for fifth with 263.5 and has already been out-rushed in two games this season, hitting its nadir at Western Kentucky on Oct. 12 when it only managed 137 ground yards. The one thing Army generally does best has been exposed this season and that doesn’t bode well for each of the matchups with the service academy rivals. When Air Force and Navy met earlier this season in Annapolis, Md. (Navy won 34-25), the two teams limited each other to 321 combined rushing yards.

Even though Army claims it doesn’t need any extra motivation when it comes to playing these schools, there’s more on the line for the other military academies. Both Air Force and Navy are tacking towards bowl games, while Army’s current trajectory suggests that the Navy game in Philadelphia on Dec. 14 will be its season finale.

“Not that we take any other game lightly,” said linebacker Cole Christiansen of the upcoming battle with Air Force, “but this game takes a whole different meaning when you come out on top.”

Certainly, Army hasn’t been so putrid this year to suggest it doesn’t have a chance to three-peat as Commander-In-Chief’s champions. After all, in week two, Army took then-No. 7 Michigan to the brink of being upset. That same Michigan team blasted Notre Dame on Saturday 45-14.

Since that week two pinnacle in double overtime at Michigan Stadium, it has been a steady descent for the Black Knights. Wins against Air Force and Navy would salvage a season in which Army has come up short time and time again. Often in games like these, the saying goes, records are thrown out the window. But with each accumulating blunder, it’s getting harder to believe Army is capable of piecing together a performance that can topple the toughest opponents on its schedule.

“They get one experience playing college football,” a deflated Monken said after the San Jose State game. “I’d love for it to be a great, winning experience. So it’s disappointing for me to see that and it’s hard, but we’re all competitors and I don’t like to lose either.”

Amidst the discouragement of another missed opportunity, Christiansen offered up a guarantee for the gauntlet ahead.

“That trophy’s not leaving here,” the senior captain said. “We don’t want it to leave here.”

jfedich@th-record.com

Twitter: @jfedichTHR