With the exception of seven seasons ( 1998 – 2004 ) where the team was a member of Conference USA , Army has competed as an independent , meaning that they have no affiliation with any conference . Currently , Army is one of six FBS schools whose football teams do not belong to any conference ; the others being BYU , Liberty , New Mexico State , Notre Dame , and UMass . However , all of these schools belong to conferences for all other sports . Army is primarily a member of the Patriot League , BYU is primarily a member of the West Coast Conference , Liberty is in the Atlantic Sun Conference , New Mexico State is in the Western Athletic Conference , Notre Dame is part of the Atlantic Coast Conference , and UMass belongs to the Atlantic 10 Conference
independent
NCAA Division I FBS independent schools
Army Black Knights football