Jeff Monken Press Conference Quotes: Rice

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Army West Point football head coach Jeff Monken met with members of the local media on Tuesday afternoon for his weekly press conference inside Nowak Auditorium. The Black Knights play their home opener against Rice on Saturday afternoon at Michie Stadium.

(Ref.: opening statement)
"Good afternoon everyone. Sure glad to be come in here for the press conference with a victory. I am so proud of our players. The effort they put in Friday night and the investment they've made since last year, I think our team played a great game. They were determined and made the plays we needed to win the football game.

"Our coaches did a terrific job. Offensive, defensive and special teams had a great plan for Temple and we were fortunately able to execute for a majority of the night. We beat what I think was a really good football team. They were big, athletic, well coached and it gave us tremendous pride to be able to beat such a good football team.

"We are excited to go into this next game and have a victory under our belts which will give our guys some extra confidence. We will meet a great opponent in Rice. We played them the past two years and it feels almost like a conference game. They beat us by 20 points the last time they were here, they are a talented and physical football game. Last year we came back from 14-points down at the start of the game and fought back through some tough conditions. We botched a field goal, but tied it up with a field goal later in the game. However, they were able to march back down the field to score a touchdown and beat us 38-31. I thought our kids fought and played hard, but they did too.

"Last year, they were playing young with a lot of freshmen. Their two-deep features thirty sophomores that appeared in games last year. There are also 30 other guys on their rosters that have started a game before this season. They have a veteran team with guys that have played both of the games against us. This is a program that has been to bowl games three-of-four of the past seasons."

"They have a new quarterback who threw for a bunch of yards last week. Rice faced a tough Western Kentucky team that won 11 games themselves last season. This is going to be a tough football game. They are physical and one that we haven't had an easy time with each of the past years we played them."

(Ref.: on the role of the fullbacks)
"Andy Davidson had a great game, but so did Darnell Woolfolk. Darnell had some really good runs for us on Friday night. It's great to be able to have a couple of guys that you can put in the game.

"Those guys take a pounding. What doesn't get recognized a lot of times is the fact that Andy had 22 carries, and he got tackled on several of those plays. He scored on one of them, but when you're in there at the fullback position in our offense, you're going to get tackled a lot even if you don't have the ball. You go through the dive fake with the quarterback and when he pulls the ball on the option, it's because someone is tackling the fullback. I think both of those guys are capable of carrying the load for us."

(Ref.: on the versatility of Alex Aukerman and James Gibson)
"Well they're both very different players. Alex Aukerman is a lot bigger and more physical in his stature, as he's 245 pounds. That's not James Nachtigal. James is more of a safety-type body, but can do a lot of the things that the outside linebackers are asked to do in this defense. Both are different, but both do a great job in their roles within the defense.

"And you're right about James, he's got the capability to do several different tasks as part of his job; playing as a secondary player in the nickel, and when we got into a long-yardage package and sent some other guys in, he lined up as a guy that rushed off of the edge. We ask him to do a lot of different things and he's handled it well. I think Jay Bateman and the defensive staff is doing a great job with those guys and the whole defense."

(Ref.: on what exceeded his expectations following Friday's game)
"I don't know what exceeded our expectations. We blocked and tackled well. We missed some tackles but we did a good job overall of playing good fundamental football. And we're going to need to be able to do that. We're going to need to be able to play good fundamental football to have a chance to win. Temple has got a really good team. The thing that I was probably most pleased with was that at no point in the game did I feel that our lacked the confidence to win. That they were concerned or worried about what might happen next. I think that they just continued to play, continued to battle and that was good to see. There are some veteran players, look at the defense, and there are several guys there that have been in football games. Offensively with the exception of Jaxson Deaton, who played some, everyone who was an offensive lineman has started a game here in their career. You have Ahmad (Bradshaw) who has started games, the slotbacks have all started games, Edgar Poe, there are some guys with some experience. I think that helped us. When we got into those situations, much like the first half, where we had the punt blocked, partially blocked, and then held them to a field goal. I thought that was a great job by our defense."

(Ref.: on how much of the team's performance was confidence and belief when it came down to the end of the game)
"We got into the fourth quarter and it was still a one-point football game. We didn't have the thing in the bag, we were just fighting for our lives. We were trying to put a drive together and get into the end zone. I don't know that it was anything other than a bunch of guys fighting for each other, trying to do the best that they could. And our guys executed well, put together some sustained drives on offense which was good to see. They made some big plays on defense, and the turnovers were huge for us. It was just a great team effort. It was fun to watch those guys play, fun to watch them compete, make plays and get excited. Then celebrate the victory after it was over. That was a really good football team. Coach (Matt) Rhule and that staff, what a great job they've done in building the Temple program and garnered the respect of the entire college football world last year. They deserve it. That team will win a lot of games this year, so it's a good win for us."

(Ref.: on your excitement coming home to play at Michie Stadium)
"It's a great feeling to come back. I'm thrilled to play in this stadium with all of the history here and with our home crowd. To have a chance to play Rice, who has beaten us the last two years, we just want to get a chance to play them again. When you're a school like we are and you play an independent schedule, you always feel after a loss, 'I'd like to get a chance to try that again,' and we have that chance."

(Ref.: on talking to the team about the importance of putting the Temple win in the past)
"We talked about putting it behind us on Friday night. We enjoyed the victory and we enjoyed the ride home, but when we got back together in the morning, we started preparing for Rice, because Rice is a really good football team. We played them the last two years and we know how big they are, we know how good they are, and we know how physical they play. When you watched them play us the last two times, they hit us, and when they hit us, we went to the ground. They're fast and they know what they're doing against our offense. They have a plan and they know what they want to do."

Army West Point Athletics

Jeff Monken Press Conference Quotes: Rice

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Players Mentioned

Alex Aukerman

Andy Davidson

Jaxson Deaton

James Nachtigal

Edgar Poe

Darnell Woolfolk

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