Army West Point Athletics
Feinstein's Findings: We’ll Keep Working
September 02, 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.
On the third Saturday in July, Army football coach Jeff Monken attended the Army Football Club's annual golf outing dinner. He spent the entire evening being told by football alumni how proud they were of what he and his team had accomplished during the 2017 season: 10 wins for the second time in school history; returning the Commander in Chief's Trophy (which sat front-and-center in the middle of the room) to West Point for the first time in 21 years and a second-straight bowl victory.
Beyond all those numbers, the alums were thrilled that Army had again become a football team they could all be proud to call their own. New coaches always invoke the cliché, 'change the culture.' In four seasons, Monken had done that—in spades.
Monken thanked everyone for the kind words but repeated the same phrase over and over: "We didn't win them all. We'll keep working to get there."
More than anything, those 11 words sum up Monken's relentless drive to never be satisfied, to always find reasons to get better.
He will have plenty to work with this week.
It's not as if Friday night's 34-14 loss at Duke was completely unexpected. The Blue Devils might be the second-best team (behind Oklahoma) the Black Knights will face this season. Their coach, David Cutcliffe, is also a culture-changer. In 2008, he took over what was arguably the worst FBS program in the country: Duke had gone 17-97 in the previous 10 seasons, including three falls without a victory and two others with one.
In the last six years, Duke has been to five bowl games and gone 44-35. Throw in the fact that Duke returned most of its key starters—including a two-year starter at quarterback—and was still smarting from a 21-16 loss last November at West Point, and there was little doubt this was going to be a tough out for Army.
No one expected junior Kelvin Hopkins Jr. to step in at quarterback for Ahmad Bradshaw and break games open the way Bradshaw did during his jaw-dropping, record-breaking senior year. Everyone knew that an offensive line that graduated four starters would be a work in progress.
Still, with seven starters returning on defense; with a bevy of experienced running backs and with the confidence that comes from winning close games—six of Army's wins a year ago were by a total of 15 points—there was reason to hope that the Black Knights might be able to pull off an upset along the lines of their victory two years ago at Temple.
But it was going to take a near-perfect game. Losing two first half fumbles was far from perfect. Missing a short field goal that would have tied the game at 3-3 and might have created a different atmosphere inside Wallace Wade Stadium, certainly didn't help matters.
It wasn't as if Army didn't move the ball in the first half. In fact, the first play of Hopkins' first start was a 12-yard gain on a quick pass to Glen Coates. As he was hit, Coates fumbled—but the ball went out-of-bounds.
That turned out to be a harbinger. On the next play, senior fullback Darnell Woolfolk, about the last player one would expect to fumble the ball—fumbled. Duke recovered.
Even so, the defense held the Blue Devils to a field goal and there was no reason, down 3-0, to panic. Army lost a total of four fumbles in 2017. There was no reason to believe that holding onto the ball was going to become an issue—even without Bradshaw.
Army took the kickoff and promptly began an Army-like drive, grinding its way downfield, eating up yards and killing clock. Senior Calen Holt got to the outside impressively on a couple of occasions. Hopkins was making the right decisions with the ball.
But the drive bogged down on the Duke 16 and sophomore Landon Salyers came on for a 33-yard field goal to tie the game. The kick was wide right from the minute it came off his foot. First game jitters perhaps.
Place-kicking has been an issue for the Black Knights since the graduation of Daniel Grochowski after the 2015 season. It has hurt the cause at times and, on other occasions, Army's been able to dodge the bullets caused by an inconsistent kicking game. Salyers did make both his extra point attempts in the second half, but had a long (45 yards) field goal blocked in the fourth quarter.
Army's going to be in close games all season. It needs to be better in the kicking game.
That wasn't the problem the rest of the first half. Duke's offense was a big part of it. Daniel Jones is in his third season as Duke's starting quarterback and clearly his work with Cutcliffe—who coached both Mannings in college—is starting to pay off. He was 13-of-17 on the night, his longest pickup coming on a 60-yard strike to wideout Aaron Young that set up Duke's third touchdown.
The Army defense had its moments, but had trouble tackling elusive sophomore running back Brittain Brown.
Still, it was the failures on offense that stood out. The Jones to Young strike came two plays after another Army drive into Duke territory was stopped, this time by a wayward pitch from Kell Walker—who had taken a direct snap and run left—that the Blue Devils pounced on.
Just like that, Army had lost two fumbles in one half after losing four last season in 13 games. It could have been three after Hopkins was separated from the ball a couple of minutes later. Somehow, Austin Schuffert dove into a pile of Blue Devils and recovered, averting another change-of-possession in Army territory.
Three plays later came a moment that may define how this season is going to be different than last season. On a third-and-two from the Army 45, Hopkins took off on an option and picked up nine yards for a first down at the Duke 46.
It was a good, solid first down run. But, as the TV-types noted, he was one tackler away from a possible touchdown or, at the very least, a much longer run.
How many times last season did Bradshaw turn a nice gain into a huge gain—often for a touchdown? He had a unique ability to turn five yards into 50. That's not a knock on Hopkins, whose ability to throw the ball—he was 10-of-21 for 197 yards on Friday and threw strikes when given time-- is going to be a boon to this team, it's just a simple fact. Three plays after that first down run, Army had to punt.
It was 17-0 at halftime and Monken was—to put it mildly—unhappy with his team. He told radio sideline reporter Tony Morino that he was embarrassed by his team's play. No doubt he shared those feelings with his players inside the locker room.
The second half was much better than the first. There were no more fumbles. Hopkins capped a long drive with a 3-yard touchdown run to make it 17-7 and later threw a 45-yard touchdown strike to Camden Harrison to close the gap to 24-14. Unfortunately, each time Army scored, Duke answered.
The good news was the last 30 minutes proved there's no give-up in this team; hardly a surprise but still good to see tangibly on a difficult night.
The final score certainly wasn't pretty and there is no doubt that there's much work to be done. Holt had an excellent night running the ball; seven carries for 54 yards; but the other experienced backs didn't have much luck, notably Woofolk, who rushed seven times for just 20 yards—plus the fumble.
Army only had 168 yards rushing—less than half what it produced on average last year. Duke, which faces Georgia Tech's option offense every year, has always done a better job than most teams against the Army option. What's more, the Blue Devils defensive line returned four starters to face an Army offensive line that returned only center Bryce Holland.
There's no doubt the O-line will improve week-to-week and also no doubt that the opener was one of the most difficult tests it will face all season.
The same is true of the entire team. The next two games are in Michie Stadium, a place where the Black Knights were unbeaten a year ago. The first opponent is Liberty, a school that is transitioning to FBS this fall, and earned its first victory Saturday against Old Dominion. Then comes an improved Hawaii team—albeit one that will have to make a very long trip to get to West Point. They are coming off two high-scoring wins, including last night's 59-41 victory over Navy.
Those games should be a good time to recover from a tough opening night. Monken's relentless drive to get better will be very much in evidence in practice this coming week.
As it should be.
On the third Saturday in July, Army football coach Jeff Monken attended the Army Football Club's annual golf outing dinner. He spent the entire evening being told by football alumni how proud they were of what he and his team had accomplished during the 2017 season: 10 wins for the second time in school history; returning the Commander in Chief's Trophy (which sat front-and-center in the middle of the room) to West Point for the first time in 21 years and a second-straight bowl victory.
Beyond all those numbers, the alums were thrilled that Army had again become a football team they could all be proud to call their own. New coaches always invoke the cliché, 'change the culture.' In four seasons, Monken had done that—in spades.
Monken thanked everyone for the kind words but repeated the same phrase over and over: "We didn't win them all. We'll keep working to get there."
More than anything, those 11 words sum up Monken's relentless drive to never be satisfied, to always find reasons to get better.
He will have plenty to work with this week.
It's not as if Friday night's 34-14 loss at Duke was completely unexpected. The Blue Devils might be the second-best team (behind Oklahoma) the Black Knights will face this season. Their coach, David Cutcliffe, is also a culture-changer. In 2008, he took over what was arguably the worst FBS program in the country: Duke had gone 17-97 in the previous 10 seasons, including three falls without a victory and two others with one.
In the last six years, Duke has been to five bowl games and gone 44-35. Throw in the fact that Duke returned most of its key starters—including a two-year starter at quarterback—and was still smarting from a 21-16 loss last November at West Point, and there was little doubt this was going to be a tough out for Army.
No one expected junior Kelvin Hopkins Jr. to step in at quarterback for Ahmad Bradshaw and break games open the way Bradshaw did during his jaw-dropping, record-breaking senior year. Everyone knew that an offensive line that graduated four starters would be a work in progress.
Still, with seven starters returning on defense; with a bevy of experienced running backs and with the confidence that comes from winning close games—six of Army's wins a year ago were by a total of 15 points—there was reason to hope that the Black Knights might be able to pull off an upset along the lines of their victory two years ago at Temple.
But it was going to take a near-perfect game. Losing two first half fumbles was far from perfect. Missing a short field goal that would have tied the game at 3-3 and might have created a different atmosphere inside Wallace Wade Stadium, certainly didn't help matters.
It wasn't as if Army didn't move the ball in the first half. In fact, the first play of Hopkins' first start was a 12-yard gain on a quick pass to Glen Coates. As he was hit, Coates fumbled—but the ball went out-of-bounds.
That turned out to be a harbinger. On the next play, senior fullback Darnell Woolfolk, about the last player one would expect to fumble the ball—fumbled. Duke recovered.
Even so, the defense held the Blue Devils to a field goal and there was no reason, down 3-0, to panic. Army lost a total of four fumbles in 2017. There was no reason to believe that holding onto the ball was going to become an issue—even without Bradshaw.
Army took the kickoff and promptly began an Army-like drive, grinding its way downfield, eating up yards and killing clock. Senior Calen Holt got to the outside impressively on a couple of occasions. Hopkins was making the right decisions with the ball.
But the drive bogged down on the Duke 16 and sophomore Landon Salyers came on for a 33-yard field goal to tie the game. The kick was wide right from the minute it came off his foot. First game jitters perhaps.
Place-kicking has been an issue for the Black Knights since the graduation of Daniel Grochowski after the 2015 season. It has hurt the cause at times and, on other occasions, Army's been able to dodge the bullets caused by an inconsistent kicking game. Salyers did make both his extra point attempts in the second half, but had a long (45 yards) field goal blocked in the fourth quarter.
Army's going to be in close games all season. It needs to be better in the kicking game.
That wasn't the problem the rest of the first half. Duke's offense was a big part of it. Daniel Jones is in his third season as Duke's starting quarterback and clearly his work with Cutcliffe—who coached both Mannings in college—is starting to pay off. He was 13-of-17 on the night, his longest pickup coming on a 60-yard strike to wideout Aaron Young that set up Duke's third touchdown.
The Army defense had its moments, but had trouble tackling elusive sophomore running back Brittain Brown.
Still, it was the failures on offense that stood out. The Jones to Young strike came two plays after another Army drive into Duke territory was stopped, this time by a wayward pitch from Kell Walker—who had taken a direct snap and run left—that the Blue Devils pounced on.
Just like that, Army had lost two fumbles in one half after losing four last season in 13 games. It could have been three after Hopkins was separated from the ball a couple of minutes later. Somehow, Austin Schuffert dove into a pile of Blue Devils and recovered, averting another change-of-possession in Army territory.
Three plays later came a moment that may define how this season is going to be different than last season. On a third-and-two from the Army 45, Hopkins took off on an option and picked up nine yards for a first down at the Duke 46.
It was a good, solid first down run. But, as the TV-types noted, he was one tackler away from a possible touchdown or, at the very least, a much longer run.
How many times last season did Bradshaw turn a nice gain into a huge gain—often for a touchdown? He had a unique ability to turn five yards into 50. That's not a knock on Hopkins, whose ability to throw the ball—he was 10-of-21 for 197 yards on Friday and threw strikes when given time-- is going to be a boon to this team, it's just a simple fact. Three plays after that first down run, Army had to punt.
It was 17-0 at halftime and Monken was—to put it mildly—unhappy with his team. He told radio sideline reporter Tony Morino that he was embarrassed by his team's play. No doubt he shared those feelings with his players inside the locker room.
The second half was much better than the first. There were no more fumbles. Hopkins capped a long drive with a 3-yard touchdown run to make it 17-7 and later threw a 45-yard touchdown strike to Camden Harrison to close the gap to 24-14. Unfortunately, each time Army scored, Duke answered.
The good news was the last 30 minutes proved there's no give-up in this team; hardly a surprise but still good to see tangibly on a difficult night.
The final score certainly wasn't pretty and there is no doubt that there's much work to be done. Holt had an excellent night running the ball; seven carries for 54 yards; but the other experienced backs didn't have much luck, notably Woofolk, who rushed seven times for just 20 yards—plus the fumble.
Army only had 168 yards rushing—less than half what it produced on average last year. Duke, which faces Georgia Tech's option offense every year, has always done a better job than most teams against the Army option. What's more, the Blue Devils defensive line returned four starters to face an Army offensive line that returned only center Bryce Holland.
There's no doubt the O-line will improve week-to-week and also no doubt that the opener was one of the most difficult tests it will face all season.
The same is true of the entire team. The next two games are in Michie Stadium, a place where the Black Knights were unbeaten a year ago. The first opponent is Liberty, a school that is transitioning to FBS this fall, and earned its first victory Saturday against Old Dominion. Then comes an improved Hawaii team—albeit one that will have to make a very long trip to get to West Point. They are coming off two high-scoring wins, including last night's 59-41 victory over Navy.
Those games should be a good time to recover from a tough opening night. Monken's relentless drive to get better will be very much in evidence in practice this coming week.
As it should be.
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