Newz Forum: FOOTBALL: COLLEGE: Robinson, Jones lead Army to first win since '02

WEST POINT, N.Y. -- Army coach Bobby Ross breathed a big sigh of relief.

His Black Knights snapped the nation's longest losing streak at 19 games Saturday, with Tielor Robinson scoring five touchdowns and Carlton Jones running for 180 yards in a 48-29 victory over Cincinnati.

"You can't imagine how the pressure starts to mount with your football team when" you have a losing streak, said Ross, who came out of retirement to take over the struggling program. "When you read about, hear about the longest losing streak in the country, it's difficult to deal with.

"It's a great win for us, a monkey off our back."

Robinson scored his fifth touchdown on a 93-yard pass from Zac Dahman with 11:32 left to secure the win for Army (1-4, 1-2 Conference USA). Robinson ran for 82 yards as Army amassed 284 yards on the ground, and had 111 yards receiving.

Thousands of West Point cadets swarmed the field and tore down the goal posts in celebration. Ross wiped tears from his eyes as the academy's alma mater was played.

Gino Guidugli went 25-of-39 for 350 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Bearcats (2-4, 1-2). Hannibal Thomas caught seven passes for 138 yards and one TD.

Army's last victory came on Nov. 16, 2002, against Tulane, and its last home win was on Oct. 27, 2001, also against Tulane.

Cincinnati fumbled the ball five times, losing four of those, one of which was recovered for an Army TD and another cost the Bearcats a key scoring chance in the third quarter.

"We have to go back to square one, I guess," Cincinnati coach Mark Dantonio said. "We have to re-examine who we are as people and how hard we play, how much we know, in terms of what to do. ... We've got to regroup."

Guidugli's 5-yard TD pass to Brent Celek capped Cincinnati's opening drive and gave the Bearcats a 7-0 lead.

But Army responded with four straight touchdowns. Robinson scored on runs of 1 and 2 yards and caught a 2-yard TD pass from Dahman to give Army a 19-7 lead. Dahman, starting his second game of the season, completed 13 of 21 passes for 270 yards and two TDs.

Cincinnati didn't manage one sack.

"Offensively we were in sync all day," Ross said. "We challenged our offensive line and they really responded."

Jones scored on a 4-yard run to make it 26-7 with 13:27 left in the half.

Guidugli's 24-yard TD pass to Thomas and 7-yard strike to Doug Jones cut the Army lead to 26-21.

Robinson scored his fourth TD on a 12-yard run with 3:08 left in the half.

But Guidugli answered that with his second TD pass to Celek. Cincinnati's successful 2-point conversion cut Army's lead to 32-29 at halftime.

After Austin Miller kicked a 41-yard field goal, Army took a 41-29 lead when Doug Meyer forced a fumble that was recovered in the end zone by Jonathan Lewis.

"This is a great accomplishment," Lewis said. "We played like we knew we could. We knew all along what we were capable of."

The Bearcats had beaten Army three straight times.

"This is the most disappointing loss of my life," Guidugli said. "We're probably the laughingstock of the nation."