Sunday, September 9, 2018

Quick Thoughts: Army Rolls Over Liberty

After last week's opener at Duke, yesterday's contest against Liberty University was just what Army fans needed to see.  Certainly, it was what I needed to see.  The Black Knights rang up 27 first downs and 510 yards of total offense, including almost 450 yards rushing.  Army got just over 250 yards from the fullback position alone.  The team has a couple of things to clean up this week, but there were a lot of good performances, too.


A few quick thoughts are below.

1. Coming into this game, I was most worried about Liberty's passing to standout WR Antonio Gandy-Golden.  Gandy-Golden was the difference maker in last week's stomping of Old Dominion, and considering how many times Army cornerbacks got beat deep against Duke, I was afraid that he might be again.  But Army matched CB Elijah Riley on him all day, and Riley shut him down.  Gandy-Golden finished with 3 catches for just 33 yards.  This disrupted the rest of Liberty's offense, and with the exception of a brief stretch in the 3rd quarter, they never recovered.  Riley finished with 5 tackles, including 1 tackle-for-loss, and 3 passes defensed.  That's excellent, especially against a good player like Gandy-Golden.

Let's pause for a moment to mourn the fact that we never got to see Riley on the field opposite iconic Army CB Brandon Jackson.  They would've been quite a duo.



2. Having said that, yearling CB Javhari Bourdeau played much, much better yesterday as well.  Bourdeau didn't look great against Duke, but he had four tackles yesterday, and I think he only got beat deep once, thankfully on a ball that was badly overthrown.


3.  S Jaylon McClinton also played better yesterday.  He had 5 tackles, a brilliant interception, and a fumble recovery.  The fumble recovery--more like a strip-tackle, really--was absolutely key early in the game.


4.  FB Darnell Woolfolk bounced back and had a nice game with 17 carries for 98 yards (5.8 yards/carry) and 2 touchdowns.  I usually think of Woolfolk as a pounder, but he had good burst yesterday.


Army ran a bunch of FB Dives off-tackle, bouncing the ball outside for big gains.  That's been a change-of-pace tactic in recent years, but it looked like they were running outside as a matter of course against Liberty.  I don't know if that came off an in-game adjustment or if the fullbacks were just running to daylight, but we saw it from both Woolfolk and Calen Holt consistently.  They both scored off dive plays taken outside.

Holt looks terrific, by the way.  He finished with 6 carries for 72 yards (12 yards/carry) and had Army's opening touchdown running off-tackle.  He took at least one pitch for a big gain as well yesterday.  He's been terrific in two games, with good hands and good speed, too.

I'll be surprised if we don't see Holt involved in the passing game pretty soon.


5. QB Kelvin Hopkins had 12 carries for 59 yards (4.9 yards/carry) with a long of 18.  He also had a long run called back on one of those bullshit downfield chop-block penalties.  It's hard to see exactly what was getting called from the stands, but I thought it was telling that all three of those penalties occurred in the first half.  My sense was that Coach Monken had to catch the refs up on exactly what is and isn't legal, and after the break, they did a better job of not interfering in the game.

I could be wrong; maybe the refs just wanted to make their presence felt.  Certainly, they put their stamp on it, considering that they also ejected Liberty's punter for targeting.

Actually, I take that back.  You have to listen to this:



Hopkins went just 2/7 passing, but both completions were impactful.  He had the one touchdown early in the 2nd half, but he also did a good job of throwing the ball away when it wasn't there.  Hopkins overthrew Kell Walker on a sure touchdown to close the first half, and he missed one of his receivers at some point in the 3rd quarter.  The other 3 balls looked like they were intentionally dumped out-of-bounds.

By snap count, Hopkins was 23% of the offense, including 16% of the rushing attempts.  I think that's about what the coaching staff wants.  He's out there reading the defense and distributing the ball, but he's only carrying enough to keep everyone honest.  Contrast that with what QB Malcolm Perry did yesterday at Memphis, and you'll see completely different philosophy of the triple-option.


6.  Yearling SB Fred Cooper had a monster game yesterday.  10 carries for 81 yards (8.1 yards/carry).  He has a good combination of speed and power, and he hit one of Liberty's defenders with an epic stiff-arm right in front of us.  My daughter Emma loved it.

"Did you see that!  He grabbed him right by the face!"

Yes, he did.

Overall, Army carried 74 times for 449 yards (6.1 yards/carry).


7.  Army punted six times yesterday, including once on 4th-and-4 near midfield.  Considering the way the defense was playing, they got away with it, but I doubt that Coach Monken liked it very much.  Most of those punts came after penalties.

Army had 7 penalties for 100 yards.  That's not real good.


8.  One big concern coming out of this game is that Army continues to give up too many yards rushing.  Liberty finished with 23 carries for 110 yards, and that's not too bad, but it includes 27 yards worth of sacks and tackles-for-loss.  Liberty RB Kentory Matthews carried 9 times for a whopping 81 yards (9 yards/carry), and RB Peyton Pickett had 8 carries for 46 yards (5.8 yards/carry).  Those are unsustainable numbers against teams with better rushing defenses.  Had Army not gotten up big, this could have gotten out of hand.


9.  Tailgating was good yesterday.  We met my friend and classmate Matt on Thayer roof, grilled hamburgers over real charcoal, and had some beers.  I have a few lessons learned for the future, but it was fun overall.

Me, Emma, and my buddy Bruce.  Hannah was supposed to come, too, but she got sick.
Me and my buddy Matt.
Bruce took this shot of the Rabblerousers pre-game.
I'm parked on Thayer Roof but have to come in through Washington Gate, which means that I have to drive all the way around post and then back south from one end to the other in order to get to my parking space.  The line at Washington Gate moved much quicker than it usually does down at Thayer Gate, and that's good, but the parking attendants have no clue where any of the lots are or what the various parking passes are trying to tell them.

One yelled at me: "The blue lot is this way!" when I tried to explain where I needed to go.

Folks, there's no "Blue Lot."  The colors tell you which gate to enter.  When I tried to explain, not only was she not listening, she also didn't look at my pass when I showed it to her.  That needs improvement.


10. Sometimes a win will do wonders for your stats.  Duke beat Northwestern pretty soundly yesterday despite losing QB Daniel Jones to what looks like a broken collarbone.  The Blue Devils came in as 7-point underdogs and laid down a whuppin', allowing just 7 points, even after their starting quarterback went out--and took their offense with him.

Navy also pulled out a nail-biter against Memphis while Air Force lost to FAU.  With that, all the service academies stand 1-1.

Army Football vs. the 2018 Schedule: Week 2.
Note Hawaii's P(wins).  They're 3-0, but they're defense, especially their rushing defense, has not been good at all.  We ought to expect them to revert to the mean pretty soon, and in fact, I think we'll see that this Saturday.  Army just needs to pound the rock and work time-of-possession.

The line on this game hasn't been posted yet, and I'm curious to see where it will land.  I'd personally set it around Army (-7), but I don't think that's what's going to happen.  In fact, I think Army might be getting points this weekend, which would make the Black Knights a really good bet.

My daughter Emma and I got picked for a pregame chalk talk next week with the coaching staff as part of our season ticket member experience, and I'm super-excited about it.  I really think Army's gonna win.  I'm also really excited to (hopefully) have someone on Army's staff explain Hawaii's offense to me.

See you Saturday!

Go Army!  Beat Hawaii!!!
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