YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) -Rich Ellerson has Army playing option football again and the initial results were promising.
Kingsley Ehie ran for two touchdowns and Army beat Eastern Michigan 27-14 on Saturday night as the new Black Knights' coach became the first to win his debut with the academy in 18 years.
The Black Knights rushed for 308 yards as Patrick Mealy, who rushed for 109 yards on five carries, and Jameson Carter also had touchdowns runs.
"No doubt, we're a triple option team and that's where it starts for us," Ellerson said.
The last Golden Knights' coach to win in his first contest on their sidelines was Bob Sutton in 1991.
The Eagles were also debuting a new coach in Ron English, who was the defensive coordinator at Louisville last season after spending the previous five years at Michigan.
"The thing about (defending) the triple option," English said, "If you stay out there long enough, they're going to figure out what you're doing."
Andy Schmitt's 20-yard TD pass to Trey Hunter for EMU cut the lead to 13-7 with 13:58 left in the fourth quarter.
But Army came right back with an seven-play, 79-yard drive that culminated in Ehie's 10-yard touchdown run with 10:22 left in the fourth quarter. Ehie carried the last four plays for 42 yards. Ian Smith ran it in for the 2-point conversion to make it 21-7.
On the Black Knights' next possession, Mealy's 74-yard run set up Ehie's 5-yard TD run with 6:53 remaining. The extra point was no good.
"This is the ultimate team game," Mealy said. "This was my week and next week it could be one of the other slot's week."
Ehie had 75 yards on 12 carries.
Ellerson said his team had not played well early in the second half, but was happy about the way the Black Knights' responded to the Eagles' touchdown.
"I'm most pleased by the way we righted ourselves at the end," he said.
Eastern Michigan's Dwayne Priest ran a yard for a score with 3:31 left.
The Army defensive line pressured Schmitt all game long, tackling him behind the line of scrimmage seven times for 53 yards in losses. Victor Ugenyi and Josh McNary each had 2 1/2 sacks. The Black Knights limited the Eagles to 40 yards rushing on 29 carries.
"One of the things we do as a football team is play well on the defensive line," Ellerson said.
Army led 13-0 at halftime.
The Black Knights opened the scoring with 6:12 left in the first quarter on Mealy's 6-yard run around right end. Kicker Matthew Campbell missed the extra point.
Army capitalized on a botched exchange between EMU center Eric Davis and Schmitt inside the Eagles' 10 as Andrew Rodriguez recovered on the 7 for the Black Knights.
After a false start penalty and a run for no gain, Carter took a pitch from quarterback Trent Steelman and scampered into the end zone untouched for a 12-yard touchdown run with 5:56 left in the half. Campbell hit the extra point for the 13-0 lead.
