Jeff Monken Press Conference Quotes: Miami (OH)

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 are finally back at Michie Stadium after a month's hiatus when they welcome Miami (OH) on Saturday. That contest is slated for noon and will be carried live on CBS Sports Network with Ben Holden, Jay Feely and Tina Cervasio on the call.

(Ref.: Opening statement)
"It's good to be coming back home and playing at Michie Stadium after many weeks on the road. None further than this last one. It was a long trip and it was tiring. Just the trip out there, the time change, and the trip back, that's a difficult trip. I think of Hawai'i and how far they had to travel to get here. And they've got to do that pretty often. That's a difficult task. Of course you guys know I've been on those airplanes with the Hawai'i team before so I've forgotten how long those trips can be.

"Overall I was really proud of our team. The way they responded, even with a slow start Saturday. We kind of got it going, in the second half particularly. San Jose State was exactly what we thought they were going to be. They were tough, they played us really well on defense, and it was a pretty close game there for a while. It looked a lot like their game against Oregon. It was only 14-3 at halftime. Fortunately in the second half we got some turnovers and we were able to recover all of those fumbles. That made a big difference as we had a short field then. I was proud to see our guys capitalize on those opportunities, be able to get some scores and be able to come away with a victory.

"After a long tiring trip, hopefully our guys are going to recover and do a really good job of getting some rest and getting ready for this week to play Miami (OH) who I've been really impressed with. Their coach is a college teammate of mine and they've played some really really good football. Particularly the last few weeks. He mentioned that in his press conference yesterday and he's right. They play good football. So we've got a real challenge on our hands and we're going to get prepared starting today. We've really only got the next three days to do that."

(Ref.: On the defense making strides week-by-week)
"I think the defense is getting better. We're missing fewer tackles. The takeaways on Saturday was the difference in the football game. We're not throwing the ball so unless there's something crazy that happens, like a big penalty or even a big negative yardage play, we're not taking deep losses that pull us back out of field goal range or scoring opportunities. Three times in a row we got the ball in scoring position off a turnover and then the last one they scooped and scored it and James (Nachtigal) made a great run down the sideline for the touchdown.

"The defense made a big difference in the game on Saturday to hold those guys to three points. The last time out they scored 30 points in one quarter against Colorado State. They took what we know as a tough Hawai'i team to overtime and I thought our guys did a really good job of slowing them down, putting pressure on them, making them get rid of the ball and making plays when the ball was in the air. I'm just really proud of those guys and they're just a bunch of try-hard players. Our guys played hard, played tough and made some plays at opportune times."

(Ref.: On whether Kelvin Hopkins Jr. has met his expectations)
"I think Kelvin (Hopkins Jr.) has done a great job with our football team. You just don't know what you're going to get with a guy in a position for a first time. That's not exclusive to quarterback, that's with a lot of positions. I think he's done a really good job. The thing I've been the most proud of is how he's taken care of the ball. We've had a couple of interceptions, but two of those were in the Oklahoma game where one got tipped as he was letting the ball go. It would have been a sack. The other was on fourth down and he had to throw the thing up to give us a chance. So, beyond that, he's done a very good job of taking care of the ball and making good decisions.

"He's run the ball a lot more physically and probably a lot more effectively than I thought he would at this point in the season. It's something that we ask our quarterbacks to do a lot of and I assumed that he'd improve as he played more and more. But he's really shown some toughness and the ability to run out of tackles and that's been encouraging for us and has helped our offense move the ball."

(Ref.: On the excitement of being back home)
"It's just nice to not have to get on a bus on Friday morning and go spend the night at a hotel away from our home city. I think just to dress in our own locker room and play in front of our own crowd and play in front of the Corps of Cadets is really special for us. And playing at Michie Stadium – this is a great place to play college football. I understand that we are going to have a really good crowd, which is exciting for our team, and they deserve it. They've worked really hard the last few years to get this program to a level that we can be proud of, that represents this Academy the way it should be represented. I'm glad that there is going to be a nice crowd out there to welcome them back home."

Army West Point Athletics

Jeff Monken Press Conference Quotes: Miami (OH)

Players Mentioned

Kelvin Hopkins Jr.

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