Army West Point Athletics
Feinstein's Findings: That Was Fun
October 08, 2017 | Football
New York Times bestselling author, John Feinstein, is back for another season with the Black Knights and will report in after each football game during the 2017 season. The weekly report will be posted to GoArmyWestPoint.com following each battle on the gridiron.
This was a pleasant surprise.
After two consecutive weeks of meandering first halves—a kind way to put it—it was hardly realistic to expect that Army's trip to Houston would produce a 35-0 lead at halftime, even against a Rice team that came into the game with a record of 1-4.
Three of the four losses had been to Power-5 teams: Stanford, Houston and Pittsburgh. The teams even had a common opponent—UTEP--and the results had been similar: the Owls had won in El Paso, 31-14, and the Black Knight had pulled away for a 35-21 victory at Michie Stadium on the final day of September.
Perhaps more attention should have been paid to Rice's other game: a 13-7 loss to Florida International, a school best known for the fact that Isaiah Thomas once coached its basketball team.
Then again, one thing that is absolutely predictable is that multiple turnovers by one team will almost always turn a football game into a rout. On a sultry Saturday evening in front of 21,766 witnesses inside Rice Stadium, Army went on a three minute and four second rampage that, for all intents and purposes, ended the game. The final score was 49-12 and the Owls finished with six turnovers, but it was the blitz that began late in the first quarter and ended four seconds into the second that ensured that the Black Knights would get their first road win of the season and raise their record to 4-2.
The first 12 minutes of the game were desultory and a bit concerning for Army. After Calen Holt converted a fourth-and-6 on the team's opening drive of the game, quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw was intercepted by Rice's Cole Thomas. The Black Knights' second drive ended in a punt and it looked as if this was going to be another difficult night.
And then the fun began.
Rice Coach David Bailiff, looking for some kind of spark, started true freshman Miklo Smalls at quarterback—the third quarterback to start for the Owls in six games this season. The move—to put it politely—didn't work out very well.
On second-and-6 from the Rice 41, Smalls dropped to pass and threw the ball to the wrong team. Max Regan, who has been forced to step into a fulltime role because of all the injuries in the defensive backfield, grabbed the ball at the 48 and was gone—touchdown. Suddenly, Army was up 7-0 with three minutes left in the first quarter.
The next 11 plays about the length of a typical grind-it-out Army drive, led to three more touchdowns. Rice's first play after the Regan interception produced a fumble that Kenneth Brinson scooped up and returned to the Rice 9. Andy Davidson picked up six and then Bradshaw scored from the three. It was 14-0.
One play later, Rice fumbled again. This time it was Smalls having the ball ripped from his hands by Regan, who promptly fell on it at the Rice 23. It took Kell Walker a matter of seconds to get the ball from there to the end zone. Now, it was 21-0.
Rice then dug in and actually moved the ball 32 yards in three plays, arguably their best spurt of the first. It ended when Kylen Granson, after a nifty 11-yard run to the Army 33, had the ball torn from him by Jaylon McLinton and the ever-alert Brinson jumped on it.
This time, Army was stopped—by the end of the first quarter. By then Walker had picked up 30 yards and Bradshaw 29 to put the ball on the Rice eight. On the first play of the new quarter, Walker went those final eight yards and it was 28-0.
Upon review, the numbers from those remarkable 184 seconds are astounding. The Army defense, which had turned opponents over three times in five games—that would be 300 minutes of football if you're scoring at home—turned Rice over FOUR times in 67 seconds on a total of seven plays. The Army touchdowns came on Regan's pick-6 and drives of two plays, one play and (gasp!) three plays. Of course it had to go 67 yards to score that fourth touchdown.
Rice managed to hang on to the ball long enough to punt on its next possession but it really didn't matter. Walker scored his third touchdown of the night from 47-yards out to make it 35-0 with 7:02 to go. Warm up the engine for the charter, this one was over.
The 35-0 halftime margin brought back memories for some old-timers (Dean Darling, Bob Beretta, Mady Salvani, Tim Kelly and me) of the game at Boston College in 1995 when the Black Knights led 42-0 at intermission. When that score reached Annapolis, where Navy was playing Delaware, Navy's long-time sports information director, the late Tom Bates was so stunned that he called the B.C. press box and said, "This is backwards right? B.C. is up 42-0, not Army."
It was Army. Just as it was Army on Saturday in Houston.
The second half was a chance to get a lot of players onto the field and into the box score. In all, 13 Army players rushed the ball at least once. Walker, who is becoming more of a force with each game, had 127 yards on just 10 carries to go with the three touchdowns. Bradshaw had a typical Bradshaw game with 115 yards on 13 carries. He only threw the ball three times—once to Rice and once to the ground. In all, Army rushed for 418 yards and threw for nine. The most important number though was six—the total number of Rice turnovers—five lost fumbles and Regan's interception.
And so, October started with a surprise. A year ago, playing in Michie, Army didn't put Rice away until the fourth quarter. Two years ago, in this stadium, the Owls scored with 23 seconds left to win, 38-31. There was reason—or so it seemed—to expect a similar game.
College football though, is rarely predictable. Ask Iowa State and Oklahoma. Or ask Navy and Air Force, who played a game in which Air Force scored touchdowns on all five of its second half possessions to rally from 21 points down and lead, 45-41 with 1:53 left—and lost the game, 48-45.
The next two weeks will be critical for the Black Knights. Eastern Michigan comes to Michie on Saturday off a 20-15 loss to a Toledo team whose only defeat was at Miami. Then comes Temple, which will no doubt be 4-3 after it plays Connecticut next Saturday. The Owls aren't what they were a year ago when they went 10-4 and won the AAC title (one of the four losses was on opening night to Army) but they still have plenty of talent.
Then—finally—comes a bye week and the trip to Air Force. Do not be fooled by the Falcons 1-4 record. Their quarterback, Arion Worthman, was brilliant against Navy and all their losses have been to good teams—two ranked, combined record, 18-3. They will be a very tough out—especially in Colorado Springs, a place where Army has won once since 1977.
That, though, is for later. For the moment, the Black Knights are 1-0 in October. The next two games this month will be more difficult. About the only thing predictable midway through this season is that almost nothing is predictable.
This was a pleasant surprise.
After two consecutive weeks of meandering first halves—a kind way to put it—it was hardly realistic to expect that Army's trip to Houston would produce a 35-0 lead at halftime, even against a Rice team that came into the game with a record of 1-4.
Three of the four losses had been to Power-5 teams: Stanford, Houston and Pittsburgh. The teams even had a common opponent—UTEP--and the results had been similar: the Owls had won in El Paso, 31-14, and the Black Knight had pulled away for a 35-21 victory at Michie Stadium on the final day of September.
Perhaps more attention should have been paid to Rice's other game: a 13-7 loss to Florida International, a school best known for the fact that Isaiah Thomas once coached its basketball team.
Then again, one thing that is absolutely predictable is that multiple turnovers by one team will almost always turn a football game into a rout. On a sultry Saturday evening in front of 21,766 witnesses inside Rice Stadium, Army went on a three minute and four second rampage that, for all intents and purposes, ended the game. The final score was 49-12 and the Owls finished with six turnovers, but it was the blitz that began late in the first quarter and ended four seconds into the second that ensured that the Black Knights would get their first road win of the season and raise their record to 4-2.
The first 12 minutes of the game were desultory and a bit concerning for Army. After Calen Holt converted a fourth-and-6 on the team's opening drive of the game, quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw was intercepted by Rice's Cole Thomas. The Black Knights' second drive ended in a punt and it looked as if this was going to be another difficult night.
And then the fun began.
Rice Coach David Bailiff, looking for some kind of spark, started true freshman Miklo Smalls at quarterback—the third quarterback to start for the Owls in six games this season. The move—to put it politely—didn't work out very well.
On second-and-6 from the Rice 41, Smalls dropped to pass and threw the ball to the wrong team. Max Regan, who has been forced to step into a fulltime role because of all the injuries in the defensive backfield, grabbed the ball at the 48 and was gone—touchdown. Suddenly, Army was up 7-0 with three minutes left in the first quarter.
The next 11 plays about the length of a typical grind-it-out Army drive, led to three more touchdowns. Rice's first play after the Regan interception produced a fumble that Kenneth Brinson scooped up and returned to the Rice 9. Andy Davidson picked up six and then Bradshaw scored from the three. It was 14-0.
One play later, Rice fumbled again. This time it was Smalls having the ball ripped from his hands by Regan, who promptly fell on it at the Rice 23. It took Kell Walker a matter of seconds to get the ball from there to the end zone. Now, it was 21-0.
Rice then dug in and actually moved the ball 32 yards in three plays, arguably their best spurt of the first. It ended when Kylen Granson, after a nifty 11-yard run to the Army 33, had the ball torn from him by Jaylon McLinton and the ever-alert Brinson jumped on it.
This time, Army was stopped—by the end of the first quarter. By then Walker had picked up 30 yards and Bradshaw 29 to put the ball on the Rice eight. On the first play of the new quarter, Walker went those final eight yards and it was 28-0.
Upon review, the numbers from those remarkable 184 seconds are astounding. The Army defense, which had turned opponents over three times in five games—that would be 300 minutes of football if you're scoring at home—turned Rice over FOUR times in 67 seconds on a total of seven plays. The Army touchdowns came on Regan's pick-6 and drives of two plays, one play and (gasp!) three plays. Of course it had to go 67 yards to score that fourth touchdown.
Rice managed to hang on to the ball long enough to punt on its next possession but it really didn't matter. Walker scored his third touchdown of the night from 47-yards out to make it 35-0 with 7:02 to go. Warm up the engine for the charter, this one was over.
The 35-0 halftime margin brought back memories for some old-timers (Dean Darling, Bob Beretta, Mady Salvani, Tim Kelly and me) of the game at Boston College in 1995 when the Black Knights led 42-0 at intermission. When that score reached Annapolis, where Navy was playing Delaware, Navy's long-time sports information director, the late Tom Bates was so stunned that he called the B.C. press box and said, "This is backwards right? B.C. is up 42-0, not Army."
It was Army. Just as it was Army on Saturday in Houston.
The second half was a chance to get a lot of players onto the field and into the box score. In all, 13 Army players rushed the ball at least once. Walker, who is becoming more of a force with each game, had 127 yards on just 10 carries to go with the three touchdowns. Bradshaw had a typical Bradshaw game with 115 yards on 13 carries. He only threw the ball three times—once to Rice and once to the ground. In all, Army rushed for 418 yards and threw for nine. The most important number though was six—the total number of Rice turnovers—five lost fumbles and Regan's interception.
And so, October started with a surprise. A year ago, playing in Michie, Army didn't put Rice away until the fourth quarter. Two years ago, in this stadium, the Owls scored with 23 seconds left to win, 38-31. There was reason—or so it seemed—to expect a similar game.
College football though, is rarely predictable. Ask Iowa State and Oklahoma. Or ask Navy and Air Force, who played a game in which Air Force scored touchdowns on all five of its second half possessions to rally from 21 points down and lead, 45-41 with 1:53 left—and lost the game, 48-45.
The next two weeks will be critical for the Black Knights. Eastern Michigan comes to Michie on Saturday off a 20-15 loss to a Toledo team whose only defeat was at Miami. Then comes Temple, which will no doubt be 4-3 after it plays Connecticut next Saturday. The Owls aren't what they were a year ago when they went 10-4 and won the AAC title (one of the four losses was on opening night to Army) but they still have plenty of talent.
Then—finally—comes a bye week and the trip to Air Force. Do not be fooled by the Falcons 1-4 record. Their quarterback, Arion Worthman, was brilliant against Navy and all their losses have been to good teams—two ranked, combined record, 18-3. They will be a very tough out—especially in Colorado Springs, a place where Army has won once since 1977.
That, though, is for later. For the moment, the Black Knights are 1-0 in October. The next two games this month will be more difficult. About the only thing predictable midway through this season is that almost nothing is predictable.
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