No. 24 Army wins AAC championship in first attempt as Daily runs for 4 TDs in 35-14 win over Tulane

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No. 24 Army wins AAC championship in first attempt as Daily runs for 4 TDs in 35-14 win over Tulane

2024-12-07 13:35 Last Updated At：13:40

WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) — The first conference championship celebration in Army history was underway at midfield and Bryson Daily made clear it would be a brief one.

The Black Knights are going after another trophy next week.

“Beat Navy,” Daily said.

He and the Black Knights ought to be a tough matchup for the Midshipmen — or just about anyone.

Daily rushed for four touchdowns to tie the American Athletic Conference championship game record, and No. 24 Army completed a perfect first season in the league by beating Tulane 35-14 on Friday night.

Kanye Udoh rushed for 158 yards, including a 72-yarder to set up a Daily TD, and a score. Daily added 126 yards on the ground for the Black Knights (11-1), who overwhelmed AAC opponents with their bruising, clock-eating rushing attack during their first around the league, then ran it to perfection in the championship game. Army won the first conference title in its 134-year history.

The Black Knights have one game left in the regular season and it's they one they want most: against Navy next Saturday for the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy.

“Now we've got the biggest game of the year coming up in eight days and we’re looking forward to that,” Army coach Jeff Monken said.

Daily had runs of 5, 3, 4 and 7 yards. The 221-pound quarterback's four rushing scores gave him 29 this season, breaking the AAC record of 25 set by Navy QB Will Worth in 2016. The conference player of the year has rushed for multiple TDs in 10 consecutive games.

Except for an unsuccessful stint in Conference USA from 1998-2004, the Black Knights had played as an independent since their program began in 1890. Monken said this week that Army felt that it needed to be in a conference to have a pathway to college football's expanded postseason.

As cadets poured out of the stands to join players in a midfield celebration, the Black Knights must have been loving the decision.

Darian Mensah threw two touchdown passes for Tulane (9-4), which was playing in its third straight AAC championship game and has lost the last two. The Green Wave had hopes of hosting before losing at home to Memphis on Thanksgiving night, ending their 17-game winning streak in conference games.

They were even shakier Friday, botching field goal attempts after their first two drives, then fumbling a kickoff and having a pass intercepted in their own territory on the next two.

Then Tulane could barely get its hands on the ball in the second half, when Army had TD drives of 11 and 16 plays.

“When you start slow the way we did, missing two field goals early, you don’t do yourselves any favors,” Tulane coach Jon Sumrall said, “because once they get a lead, a couple scores, it’s really, really hard to overcome.”

A temperature of 29 degrees to begin just the third December game in the 101-season history of Michie Stadium demanded a strong running attack, and nobody does it better than Army, which came in leading the country with 312.5 rushing yards per game.

Army gained 335 on the ground and went 4 for 5 on fourth down.

Daily didn’t even attempt a pass until the second half — when he kept a scoring drive alive with a 9-yard completion on fourth-and-5.

The Green Wave were asked during the week about playing in the chilly conditions along the Hudson River, and the weather may have been a factor when Tulane attempted a field goal after a good first drive. Holder Brice Busch dropped the snap on the Army 27.

Army promptly went 72 yards in 11 plays for Daily’s 5-yard score. Tulane got inside the Army 20 again on its second drive but had to settle for another field goal attempt. The Green Wave handled the snap this time but Patrick Durkin’s kick was wide right from 38 yards.

Daily’s 4-yard run made it 21-0 before Tulane finally got on the board on Mensah’s 42-yard pass to Mario Williams with 44 seconds left in the half.

But Army regained control with a 6 1/2-minute drive to open the third quarter.

Tulane: The Green Wave will regret their untimely and uncharacteristically sloppy play to finish the regular season after never losing the turnover battle in any game until their last two.

Army: The Black Knights’ opponents know what’s coming and only current No. 4 Notre Dame, which routed Army at Yankee Stadium last month, has been able to stop it.

Tulane: The Green Wave fell out with the Memphis loss after going into the game ranked 18th and won’t get back in.

Army: The Black Knights will extend to a ninth straight week in the AP Top 25, their longest stretch since being ranked each week of the 1958 season.

Tulane: Awaits its bowl destination.

Army: Faces Navy next Saturday in Landover-Maryland.

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Prayers and tears mark 20 years since the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed some 230,000 people

2024-12-26 17:53 Last Updated At：18:00

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — People gathered in prayer and visited mass graves in Indonesia’s Aceh province on Thursday to mark 20 years since the massive Indian Ocean tsunami hit the region in one of modern history’s worst natural disasters.

Many wept as they placed flowers at a mass grave in Ulee Lheue village, where more than 14,000 unidentified tsunami victims are buried. It is one of several mass graves in Banda Aceh, the capital of Indonesia’s northernmost province, which was one of the areas worst hit by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake and the massive tsunami it triggered.

“We miss them and we still don’t know where they are. All we know is that every year we visit the mass grave in Ulee Lhue and Siron,” said Muhamad Amirudin, who lost two of his children 20 years ago and has never found their bodies.

"This life is only temporary, so we do our best to be useful to others,” Amirudin, visiting the grave with his wife, said.

The powerful earthquake off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami that killed around 230,000 people across a dozen countries, reaching as far as East Africa. Some 1.7 million people were displaced, mostly in the four worst-affected countries: Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.

More than 170,000 people died in Indonesia alone.

Even though 20 years have passed, survivors in Indonesia are still grieving the loved ones they lost to the giant wave that flattened buildings all the way to the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.

Hundreds of people gathered to pray at the Baiturrahman Mosque in downtown Banda Aceh. Sirens sounded across the city for three minutes to mark the time of the earthquake.

Infrastructure in Aceh has been rebuilt and is now more resilient than before the tsunami struck. Early warning systems have been installed in coastal areas to alert residents of incoming tsunamis, providing crucial time to seek safety.

The rebuilding efforts were made possible by the support of international donors and organizations, which contributed significant funds to help the region recover. Schools, hospitals, and essential infrastructure destroyed by the disaster have been reconstructed.

In Thailand, people gathered at a memorial ceremony in Ban Nam Khem, a small fishing village in Phang Nga province that bore the brunt of the devastating wave in the country.

The tsunami claimed the lives of over 8,000 people in Thailand, including many who remain missing, leaving a deep scar in the nation’s history. Nearly 400 bodies remain unclaimed.

Mourners shed tears and comforted each other as they laid flowers at the village’s tsunami memorial. Around 300 people joined a modest ceremony with Muslim, Christian and Buddhist prayers.

Urai Sirisuk said she avoids the seaside memorial park the rest of the year because the loss of her 4-year-old daughter still cuts deep every time she's reminded of it.

“I have this feeling that the sea has taken my child. I’m very angry with it. I can’t even put my foot in the water,” she said.

But, she said, “I still hear her voice in my ears, that she’s calling for me. I can’t abandon her. So I have to be here, for my child.”

In India, hundreds gathered at Marina beach in the southern city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu state. They poured milk into the sea to propitiate gods and offered flowers and prayers for the dead as drums beat in the background.

According to official data, 10,749 people were killed in India, including nearly 7,000 people in Tamil Nadu alone.

“It has been 20 years since the tsunami,” said 69-year-old Sadayammal, who uses one name. “We are here to pay respects to the people who lost their lives.”

In Sri Lanka, survivors and relatives of tsunami victims gathered at the coastal village of Pereliya and laid flowers at a memorial that commemorates nearly 2,000 passengers who died when their train, the Queen of the Sea, was hit by the wave. Only a few dozen people are believed to have survived.

Anura Ranjith joined the mourners to pay respects to his younger sister, Anula Ranjani, and her 9-year-old daughter who were passengers on the train. Ranjith never heard from them after that day.

“I looked for them everywhere for years and still, no information about them. Their loss is a great sorrow and pain for me. I am still grieving,” he said.

Overall, more than 35,000 people died in Sri Lanka in the tsunami. People across the country observed two minutes of silence on Thursday in memory of those who lost their lives.

Tarigan reported from Jakarta, Indonesia. Associated Press journalists Tian Macleod Ji in Phang Nga, Thailand, Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok, Aijaz Hussain in New Delhi, Bharatha Mallawarachi in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Eranga Jayawardena in Pereliya, Sri Lanka, contributed to this report.