Army West Point Athletics
Feinstein's Findings: Good Win, Now Back to Work
October 28, 2018 | 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 2018 season. Feinstein's weekly report will be posted to GoArmyWestPoint.com following each battle on the gridiron.
Like any successful coach, Jeff Monken is a perfectionist. So, let's begin today with the things Monken will focus on with his team in the wake of Saturday's 37-22 victory at Eastern Michigan.
     —Three first half drives that stalled inside the 10-yard line, leading to John Abercrombie field goals instead of touchdowns.
     —A flat start to the second half that allowed a team that failed to get a first down in the first 30 minutes to close to within 16-14 in a matter of six minutes, even though Army got the ball first in the third quarter.
     —A failure to put the game completely away after stretching the lead to 30-14 in the fourth quarter.
There will be some other nitpicks about blocking assignments and the (gasp!) three penalties. And then, in all likelihood, Monken will compliment his team on winning a game on the road against a good—albeit very chippy—team.
He probably won't mention that Army's eligible to head to a bowl game come December for a third-straight season because he knows his players know that. What he will do is tell them something else they already know: the 6-2 record to date is impressive, but the part of the season that matters most begins this coming Saturday inside Michie Stadium.
The rest of us, those who do not have to start getting the Black Knights ready to play Air Force, can afford to bask for a little while in Saturday's victory and the many good things that occurred en route to leaving the Eagles so frustrated they were still skirmishing after the final whistle.
Kelvin Hopkins Jr. was back in the lineup at quarterback and his presence on a dreary, rainy afternoon in Ypsilanti, Mich., was a huge factor. It's been noted here that he's never going to be the breakaway threat that Ahmad Bradshaw was (then again, who is?) but that, at 5-foot-10 and 205 pounds, he has the power to break tackles and grind out extra yards—often at crucial times.
What is also becoming more evident is something first noticed a year ago when Monken inserted Hopkins into the Temple game with Army needing a touchdown (and a two-point conversion) to tie the game with very little time to do it. He was able to PASS Army down the field to get those scores, leading to a near-miraculous overtime victory.
Hopkins has shown all fall that, given time, he'll find his receiver. Never was that more evident than in the second quarter, when he dropped on a 4th-and-3 from Eastern Michigan's 47 yard line and threw a strike to Christian Hayes, who was running a post pattern inside the EMU 10. The ball had to be thrown perfectly because Hayes had a defender draped all over him.
Hayes made the catch and was brought down at the eight yard line. That turned out to be one of the drives that ended in a field goal, but there was no doubting Hopkins' ability to hit a receiver perfectly—whether open or not.
Army completely dominated the first half. In fact, if a team can leave the field with a 16-0 halftime lead and feel frustrated, this was an example of how it can happen.
The Black Knights did their usual thing on offense: first drive 19 plays, 64 yards, holding the ball for 10:28. The result: an Abercrombie field goal.
     Second drive, aided by the Hopkins-to-Hayes 39-yard hookup, 12 plays, 74 yards. Result: another Abercrombie field goal.
     Third drive: 8 plays, 48 yards, same result: Abercrombie good, this time from 27 yards. It should be noted that the importance of his emergence the last three weeks as a reliable kicker can't be understated. Now, when the offense does bog down, Monken can feel confident putting him into the game. He's made 5-of-5 field goals, including the crucial 37-yarder that sent the Miami (Ohio) game into double overtime a week ago.
While the offense was milking the clock if not lighting up the scoreboard, the defense was pitching a perfect game. This was Eastern Michigan's first half offense: 3-and-out; 3-and-out; 3-and-out; 3-and-out; 1 play leading to halftime.
Zero first downs. Which is why the game should have been over at the break.
Army did finally get into the end zone with 18 seconds to go with considerable help from EMU's lack of discipline. First, EMU's outstanding defensive end Jeremiah Harris, slammed into Hopkins long after he had released a pass (incomplete) intended for Cam Harrison. If Harris had attempted to slow down at all he might have avoided the two flags thrown. But he didn't.
Then, on a first down from the 26, Hopkins took off, spinning to another first down at the 13. EMU's best defender, linebacker Kyle Rachwal got his hand up near Hopkins' facemask. On replay, it looked as if he didn't grab the mask but the officials didn't have that benefit and threw the flag. No doubt the Eagles' chippy play prior to that helped them judge guilty when, in this case, they were innocent.
The penalty was only half the distance, except Rachwal threw a tantrum and got whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct. Then, defensive coordinator Neal Neathery apparently lost his mind for a moment and HE was called for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The end result was the ball being placed on the three yard line. From there, Hopkins pitched the ball to Jordan Asberry, who made a neat cutback and finally got the ball into the end zone.
Even with the lead at 16-0, there was reason to be nervous. This was, after all, a team good enough to win at Purdue and a quarterback, Tyler Wiegers, who had led a length of the field drive to the winning field goal in that game.
That said, if Army could just put together a long clock-consuming drive and score to start the second half, the game would be over.
Of course, it didn't work out that way. Not even close.
For the first time all day, the offense went three-and-out. Then, the usually reliable Nick Schrage, bobbled the ball on the punt snap. Schrage did a good job of somehow picking the ball up and getting the punt off—as he was slammed into, a legal play since he'd dropped the ball—but the punt only went 14 yards.
Suddenly, EMU had life. It took six plays for Wiegers to take his team the 46 yards, culminating with a four-yard pass to Mathew Sexton. The Eagles successfully went for two and, just like that, it was a one score game, 16-8.
Things quickly went from bad to worse. After another three-and-out for the offense, the EMU defense was clearly pumped up. It only took their offense three plays to score this time, Wiegers-to-Blake Banham on a 58-yard pass. Fortunately, the bleeding stopped when the Eagles didn't convert on what would have been a tying two-point conversion. Still, it was 16-14.
This was the moment when many teams playing on the road fold. For Army, it was the moment when everyone said, 'okay, enough of this,' and settled down—eventually.
After an false start penalty against Edriece Patterson on first down moved the ball back to the 20, a running play and a Hopkins completed pass to Hayes moved the ball out to the 28, where Army faced 3rd-and-7. Facing another possible three-and-out, Hopkins found Asberry open for an absolutely critical 31-yard pickup to the EMU 41.
Naturally, the Black Knights had to pick up a fourth down along the way, Hopkins pushing forward for two-yards on 4th-and-1 from the 32. Army was 4-of-4 on fourth down for the day and is now 26-of-29 for the season.
Two plays later, facing 3rd-and-6, Hopkins saw Asberry behind everyone down the seam and hit him for a 26-yard touchdown. Abercrombie's extra point made it 23-14.
A word here about Asberry: he is one of those largely unsung players who plays a crucial role in this team's success. Like John Trainor a year ago, he's a senior who has waited patiently for chances to carry or catch the ball, blocking like a madman along the way.
Saturday was his day to finally find the spotlight and there's probably no one on the team more deserving.
That drive and touchdown put Army back in control. On the second play of EMU's next drive, Wiegers fumbled and Chandler Ramirez jumped on the ball. Ten plays later, facing fourth down from the 2-yard line, offensive coordinator Brent Davis completely fooled the EMU defense: Hopkins faked the ball to Darnell Woolfolk and, as eleven green shirts stormed in Woolfolk's direction, he pulled the ball away, took a step back and found Kell Walker wide open in the end zone. The closest people in EMU uniforms to him were band members.
Even then, with a 30-14 lead, it wasn't over. The Eagles calmly drove 75 yards to a one-yard Banham touchdown run and—again—successfully went for two to make it a one-score game one more time, 30-22.
This time though, unlike in the Miami game, the offense closed things out. Taking over at the 16, they patiently moved the ball and killed the clock—Hopkins, Woolfolk and Andy Davidson picked up critical chunks of yardage.
What was really the game clinching play came after EMU had been forced to start using its timeouts with 2:06 left. Army had the ball 2nd-and-6 on the Eagles 41. Hopkins ran left and appeared to be trapped by Eastern Michigan's mammoth defensive tackle, 6-3, 352 pound Ty Eddington. Somehow, he ran out of Eddington's tackle and picked up eight yards—and a first-down to the 33.
That pretty much clinched the game. Woolfolk's 9-yard touchdown run to make it 37-22 with 45 seconds left was just gravy.
Hopkins finished with 105 yards on 23 gritty carries. Woolfolk was Woolfolk: 89 hard-earned yards on 24 carries against a defense geared to stop him. Davidson added 45 more on 13 carries. Asberry had two touchdowns—one running, one catching.
It was a little bit sad that the game ended with a brief post-buzzer skirmish. After Hopkins knelt for the final play, he turned and handed the ball to the referee. For some reason, EMU's Kevin McGill followed him and had something to say that clearly wasn't, 'nice game.'
Hopkins tried to ignore and walk away but then it became a pushing and shoving match, with Hopkins leading the Army peacemakers. The Eagles then chose not to join the Black Knights for the playing of the alma mater.
Chris Creighton has done an excellent job turning what had been an awful EMU program into a respectable one. But Saturday wasn't his or his team's finest hour.
That though, isn't even close to the point. Monken says he'll think about being bowl eligible in a few weeks—it'll be a while before Army knows where it will play—but it's still nice to know that goal has already been met.
Saturday, the number one goal for any season looms: the Commander In Chiefs Trophy—specifically the defense of the CIC. Air Force is 3-5 but played Boise State very tough on Saturday and has finally settled on a quarterback, junior, Isaiah Sanders.
Army's 21-0 win in Colorado Springs a year ago notwithstanding, the Falcons are always a tough out. Monken knows that. His players know that. Good win on Saturday.
Now, back to work.
