Army West Point Athletics
Jeff Monken Press Conference Quotes: Georgia State
October 15, 2019 | Football
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.
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The Black Knights will take on Georgia State Saturday at 7 p.m. ET. The contest will be carried on ESPN+.Â
Army West Point Football Head Coach Jeff Monken
Ref: Opening Statement
"Well, we find ourselves in a situation that we haven't been in a couple of years, losing two games in a row. It's certainly disappointing that we weren't able to come off the last loss with a victory. It would have been nice to get things going and get charged back up, but Western Kentucky played a really good game, and controlled the clock, ran the ball and just held down our possessions. When we had our opportunities, we didn't move the sticks. We had to punt far too many times in a low possession game and they just beat us. It's disappointing. It certainly wasn't because our guys weren't playing hard. Our guys played hard. I thought they tried and we just got beat.
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"So, we've got to find some answers. What we've got to do is run the ball more effectively and turn first downs and stop the run, which we haven't done the last couple of weeks. Tulane ran the ball really well against us as did Western Kentucky. So that's really where we've based our philosophy. We have to be able to run the ball effectively and stop the run and we haven't done that the last couple of weeks. Hopefully that will improve. Certainly, working towards that. And just be ready to get back out there to practice this afternoon and get started."
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Ref: On what the senior class can do from a leadership perspective to get the team back on track
"It certainly is a big part of it. I consider it their team. Each senior class takes ownership in their team or their senior season's team than any other. Our guys desperately want to win. They care. They've invested a lot. They've been part of a lot of victories here in the last three seasons and they're anxious to get back on the winning track. I think they'll do a good job leading our team. They're a very positive group of guys. Many of them have important, major roles on the team. So, hopefully we'll see them respond in the right way. I think we will. I'm encouraged by our team. We've had other seasons where it didn't start out like we wanted it to. Like I said last week, this was the fourth straight year that we've started out 3-2. Well, this was the one that we didn't get to 4-2, but that doesn't mean our guys aren't trying and don't care. We've won some close games to get all the victories we've had and it's because of the toughness and the fight that this team has. I'm sure they're going to display the same mental toughness that they have week in and week out."
Ref: on what impresses him about Georgia State
"The numbers that they put up, the last two weeks in particular, is like a video game. They had 700 yards and 55 points against Arkansas State, who is one of the strongest teams in that league. Last week, they had three 100-yard rushers. They're really athletic with an outstanding quarterback. They've got a good football team. They are as good as they have ever been in their program's history. They're a fairly new program in terms of college football standards, but they've done a nice job of getting the program going and this year they've played really well. They beat Tennessee to open the season. That's an impressive win. That's a talented team they beat. I'm just impressed. They had an overtime loss to Texas State, so they could easily be 5-1."
Ref: on what the team needs to do to win the possession battle
"We've got to maintain possessions by getting first downs. Whatever it takes. We've done that here and won a lot of football games. We've gained a lot of first downs on third and fourth downs by running the ball and getting in manageable situations. We haven't done that successfully enough this year and we found ourselves punting and giving the ball back to the other team far too often. Defensively, the last few weeks we haven't done a great job of stopping the run. That's where it starts on defense. We need to get our opponents in situations on third down that are a lot less manageable for them.
"We've gotten people to third down, but they've been third and short or we've allowed them to get into a fourth and short and allow them to run the ball for a first down or hit a very short high efficiency pass play like a slant or a little hitch route that have allowed them to turn the sticks. That's the bottom line. We need to be able to run the ball and stop the run. It's what we've done effectively here in the past and haven't done as effectively this year."
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The Black Knights will take on Georgia State Saturday at 7 p.m. ET. The contest will be carried on ESPN+.Â
Army West Point Football Head Coach Jeff Monken
Ref: Opening Statement
"Well, we find ourselves in a situation that we haven't been in a couple of years, losing two games in a row. It's certainly disappointing that we weren't able to come off the last loss with a victory. It would have been nice to get things going and get charged back up, but Western Kentucky played a really good game, and controlled the clock, ran the ball and just held down our possessions. When we had our opportunities, we didn't move the sticks. We had to punt far too many times in a low possession game and they just beat us. It's disappointing. It certainly wasn't because our guys weren't playing hard. Our guys played hard. I thought they tried and we just got beat.
Â
"So, we've got to find some answers. What we've got to do is run the ball more effectively and turn first downs and stop the run, which we haven't done the last couple of weeks. Tulane ran the ball really well against us as did Western Kentucky. So that's really where we've based our philosophy. We have to be able to run the ball effectively and stop the run and we haven't done that the last couple of weeks. Hopefully that will improve. Certainly, working towards that. And just be ready to get back out there to practice this afternoon and get started."
Â
Ref: On what the senior class can do from a leadership perspective to get the team back on track
"It certainly is a big part of it. I consider it their team. Each senior class takes ownership in their team or their senior season's team than any other. Our guys desperately want to win. They care. They've invested a lot. They've been part of a lot of victories here in the last three seasons and they're anxious to get back on the winning track. I think they'll do a good job leading our team. They're a very positive group of guys. Many of them have important, major roles on the team. So, hopefully we'll see them respond in the right way. I think we will. I'm encouraged by our team. We've had other seasons where it didn't start out like we wanted it to. Like I said last week, this was the fourth straight year that we've started out 3-2. Well, this was the one that we didn't get to 4-2, but that doesn't mean our guys aren't trying and don't care. We've won some close games to get all the victories we've had and it's because of the toughness and the fight that this team has. I'm sure they're going to display the same mental toughness that they have week in and week out."
Ref: on what impresses him about Georgia State
"The numbers that they put up, the last two weeks in particular, is like a video game. They had 700 yards and 55 points against Arkansas State, who is one of the strongest teams in that league. Last week, they had three 100-yard rushers. They're really athletic with an outstanding quarterback. They've got a good football team. They are as good as they have ever been in their program's history. They're a fairly new program in terms of college football standards, but they've done a nice job of getting the program going and this year they've played really well. They beat Tennessee to open the season. That's an impressive win. That's a talented team they beat. I'm just impressed. They had an overtime loss to Texas State, so they could easily be 5-1."
Ref: on what the team needs to do to win the possession battle
"We've got to maintain possessions by getting first downs. Whatever it takes. We've done that here and won a lot of football games. We've gained a lot of first downs on third and fourth downs by running the ball and getting in manageable situations. We haven't done that successfully enough this year and we found ourselves punting and giving the ball back to the other team far too often. Defensively, the last few weeks we haven't done a great job of stopping the run. That's where it starts on defense. We need to get our opponents in situations on third down that are a lot less manageable for them.
"We've gotten people to third down, but they've been third and short or we've allowed them to get into a fourth and short and allow them to run the ball for a first down or hit a very short high efficiency pass play like a slant or a little hitch route that have allowed them to turn the sticks. That's the bottom line. We need to be able to run the ball and stop the run. It's what we've done effectively here in the past and haven't done as effectively this year."
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