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Hassin leads Army over Tulane 41-23

Oct 10, 2010 - 1:04 AM NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Army keeps finding ways to show progress.

The Black Knights have outscored last season's team, just halfway through the season. And they reached another milestone on Saturday - Army's 41-23 win over Tulane was the third road win of the season.

The last Army team to win three away from West Point was in 1967. This year's Black Knights are trying to be the first to play in a bowl game since the 1996 squad.

"We are running the ball well and we are being opportunistic," Army coach Rich Ellerson said. "I think that our guys are playing a little bit better in different phases each week. We are doing a great job on the turnover battle. When you do that, you've got a great chance to win. It's hard to overcome something like four to one."

Jared Hassin rushed for 144 yards and two touchdowns for the Black Knights (4-2).

Army, which ran for 312 yards on 62 carries, pushed its point total to 194. That's 10 more than the Black Knights scored all of last season.

Ryan Griffin threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Banks on third-and-goal for Tulane (2-3) and completed a 2-point conversion pass to Casey Robottom to make it 31-15 with 14:16 left in the game.

Alex Carlton's 33-yard field goal pushed the Black Knights' lead back to 19 with 9:46 remaining.

"We just didn't defend the option very well," Tulane coach Bob Toledo said. "When you defend it, you have to start inside out, it starts with the fullback. Our defensive line obviously didn't hold up well. We needed to stop (Hassin) all night. He's obviously the one that won them the football game."

Trent Steelman ran for 85 yards, but his fumble let Tulane tie the game at 7 in the first quarter. Brian Cobbs added a 6-yard scoring run with 1:42 left.

"Defensively, we can finish a lot cleaner than that," Ellerson said. "We need to. We need to continue to grow there."

Griffin completed 20 of 34 passes for 211 yards without an interception for Tulane, which lost three fumbles.

Robottom had two touchdown catches among his six receptions for 63 yards, including a 6-yard one to tie it early before Army got going.

"It started off a little shaky," Steelman said. "This just shows how this team can overcome adversity and the character. We saw on film that Tulane's defense could run and they are big up front. We just came in and tried to take care of business. That's what we did."