Quick Thoughts: Army Stands Tall Against Mighty Hawaii

I’m writing this on my phone as the church band practices this morning, but I probably won’t get a chance to post it until later this afternoon. My daughter Hannah is part of the Worship Team as, like, the Junior Singer. She sings a lot of backup, but they usually build at least one song around her, too. Alas, today she was just backup.  Anyway, she gets to sing, and that matters.  She’s not quite an elite talent, but she can usually get the congregation on its feet. That counts.

Army had a good game yesterday. I didn’t realize how well QB Kelvin Hopkins had played until I looked at the stats. He was 6/10 passing with a couple of critical downfield conversions and no interceptions. Notably, he threw the ball away when it wasn’t there, and he didn’t take a sack. I thought the pass blocking looked pretty good for the most part, even on obvious passing downs. That’s a big improvement for this Army team.

9 in a row at West Point. #GoArmy pic.twitter.com/jXuHQmmITM

— Army WP Football (@ArmyWP_Football) September 15, 2018

Hopkins also led the team in carries. He had 20 for 110 yards (5.5 ypc). That makes it sound a little better than it was, though. Really, Hawaii’s defense played exceptionally well at the point of attack, especially late in the game. They lost contain a couple of times in the first half, and Army made—very occasional—good gains. Other than that, they were stout. Against that, Hopkins led the offense yesterday in every way. He had almost 30% of the carries, just over 30% of the rushing yardage, and 162 yards passing.

It was lights-out play.

I know everybody likes it when Army leads the nation in rushing, and of course we all loved watching Ahmad Bradshaw smoke people between the tackles, but this year’s offense is much more well-rounded and capable in a more diverse set of situations. Hawaii stacked the box relentlessly in the second half, making tough sledding between the tackles. Half the plays Army did get came back for penalties. But the Black Knights still kept the chains moving. I’m not sure that would’ve happened last year. That new downfield blocking penalty would’ve killed that team.

Hawaii’s offense is great, and their defense played much better than expected. How the Hell did Army win?

They won in 3rd down.

The Black Knights went 11/19 on 3rd down and 3/4 on 4th down. It wasn’t easy, but they ground out long drives, racking up 41:18 in time-of-possession.  By comparison, Hawaii was just 1/7 on 3rd down and 0/2 on 4th down. Army gave up a couple of big plays—we knew that was gonna happen—but I thought they legitimately looked like the Army Defense for the first time this season. They held Hawaii to 321 yards passing and to a net of just 41 yards rushing (inclusive of 3 big sacks). More to the point, their red zone and short yardage defense looked really, really good.

Defense, stand up!@ArmyWP_Football breaks up Cole McDonald's pass on 4th down. pic.twitter.com/FNLFG5injp

— CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet) September 15, 2018

Kenneth Brinson had a breakout game. It sounds weird to say that about a 4th year starter, but I think they schemed to get him free a bit more, and he had 2 sacks and 4 solo tackles as a result. This might’ve been his best game as a Black Knight.

Beyond that, it was a team effort on defense. Before the game, we heard that they planned to play a lot of nickel and dime, and I think we saw that. A lot of guys had tackles. Nobody had more than 4. Army’s 3 sacks were decisive. They would not have won had they not gotten decent, consistent pressure.

Alas, Army kicking remains an ongoing disaster. They have got to get that straightened out.

Army Football 2018: P(Wins) vs. the Schedule

I don’t know if you noticed, but Duke won yesterday, too. They beat the living Hell out of Baylor, 40-27. They did it without QB Daniel Jones and without their best cornerback. The Blue Devils are currently ranked about 20th nationally. Army’s opening loss suddenly doesn’t look quite as bad as it did.

Buffalo also won, beating a very solid Eastern Michigan team by a score of 35-28.  The Bulls look good.  They've got a legit shot at the MAC title.  I think they're gonna win it, truth to tell.

Assuming a lost at Oklahoma, the Black Knights will need to win 3 of their next 5 to secure bowl eligibility.  That looks doable to be sure, but this isn't quite the cupcake schedule I thought it might be when it was first announced.  Miami (Ohio) has disappointed this season, and San Jose State has always looked like a disaster, but Buffalo, EMU, and Air Force all look a lot better than expected.  There aren't any gimme's here at all.

As I noted on Friday, I'm taking the week off.  I'm gonna work on the new book--and maybe work a little on the old book, too--basically because this week's game is on Fox Pay-Per-View.  I really don't think anybody's gonna watch it, and with that, I have other ways to spend my time.  I hope Army wins, of course, but it would be an upset for the ages, especially with Oklahoma giving up a measly 2.9 yards/carry on defense.

That said, we're still all about teamwork here at Casa Cabeza.  Here's my daughter singing backup this morning.  She's on the right of your screen with the mic and the jean jacket.  She sympathizes with all the wide tackles Army sends out to do nothing but block every week.  No stats, just team.

Go Army!  Beat Oklahoma!!!