Feinstein's Findings: A Big Senior Day Win

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 2019 season. Feinstein's weekly report will be posted to GoArmyWestPoint.com following each battle on the gridiron.

It took a while, but Senior Day turned out exactly the way you would want Senior Day to turn out. On a brisk, sunny day 29 Army seniors made their final game appearances inside Michie Stadium and, when they lined up for the playing of the alma mater, they all had reason to smile after a 47-6 dismantling of VMI.

All good. Well, not quite.

It took a half—slightly more than a half actually—for the Black Knights to take control of the game. There were issues in the kicking game—Cole Talley missed a short field goal attempt and David Cooper missed an extra point—that didn't matter Saturday, but certainly could come into play in the final two games of the season. And, there was the sight of sophomore quarterback Jabari Laws being carried off the field after taking a hard hit to his knee at the end of the first quarter.

Those issues will need to be dealt with between now and the trip to Hawaii for the post-Thanksgiving Day game on the last day of November. The good news is that the entire team—which has been banged up seemingly all fall—will get a chance to allow their bodies to recover from having played seven weeks in a row.

All that said, viewed through the prism of Saturday afternoon, the home finale was a rousing success. After Army's 15 game home winning streak was broken in October by Tulane, it was followed by a second straight defeat on the hallowed turf of Michie at the hands of San Jose State. Now, Army will enter next season with a two-game winning streak at home.

Several seniors had big days in their final home appearance: Connor Slomka, the grinding fullback, scored three touchdowns. Kell Walker had a 59-yard burst for a score to cap a 99-yard-drive. Linebacker Cole Christiansen, the two-year-captain, came back after having to sit out last week's Massachusetts game with an injury, to lead the defense with 10 tackles.

And Kelvin Hopkins Jr., who had to come on at the start of the second quarter after Laws was hurt, brought back memories of his remarkable junior year, rushing the ball 16 times in a little more than two quarters for 208 yards and a touchdown.

Hopkins looked like the healthy Hopkins of old, breaking tackles, using his speed to break to the outside for several long runs and making it clear that if Laws can't go at Hawaii, he's ready. That might have been the best news of the day.

Things didn't start out well. After the seniors and their families had been introduced, VMI kicked off and—just to let the Black Knights know they hadn't made the trip north just to collect the guarantee check for playing the game—they opened with an onside kick.

Which worked.

The Keydets set up in business on their own 48. Then, on a fourth-and-one from the Army 43, Coach Scott Wackenheim took a page from the Jeff Monken playbook and went for it. Alex Ramsey, VMI's fine running back—who has rushed for more than 1,200 yards this season—picked up seven to the Army 36 for a first down. The defense stiffened there, and Grant Clemons came on to kick a 47-yard-field goal.

Just over three minutes in, VMI led, 3-0. That was the moment when someone should have taken a picture of the scoreboard to take home to Lexington.

Army responded quickly with a 9-play 75-yard-drive that was keyed by Laws picking up 40-yards on four carries, the last four yards resulting in the touchdown that, as it turned out, put Army head for good, 7-3.

The Black Knights never had to punt all day, but there were still some bumps along the way.

After forcing a VMI punt, Army began grinding its way down the field again, with Laws picking up nine-yards to the VMI 17 on the last play of the first quarter. But he didn't get up and had to be helped off—both feet off the ground. It was not a welcome sight.

Hopkins came in and the drive stalled at the nine. In came Talley for what should have been a chip-shot 26-yard-field goal. Except, he missed. Everyone knows Talley has an extremely strong leg—his 50-yard try on the last play of regulation in the Michigan game had plenty of distance, it just floated a little bit right. But he's still inconsistent, not surprising for a freshman. It reminds us all of the old line about freshmen. What's the best thing about them? They become sophomores.

VMI is only 4-7 on the season but has surpassed most pre-season expectations. The Keydets were picked ninth and last in the Southern Conference but are currently in sixth place. More important, they broke a 12-game losing streak against arch-rival Citadel. If you want to know how that losing streak felt, flash back to Army's 14-game losing streak against Navy. Very, very painful stuff.

They have two talented offensive players, Ramsey and quarterback Reed Udinski. After Talley's miss, they put together a 16-play 60-yard drive that got them to the Army 20-yard-line. From there, Clemons drilled a 37-yard field goal that made it 7-6 with 6:34 left in the half.

At that moment, my mind flashed to my pal Joe Beckerle, filling in on the sideline for Tony Marino, who was at his son's confirmation and would probably be faced with a very unhappy Monken at halftime.

Fortunately for Beckerle, the offense responded, quickly going 64-yards in seven plays to Slomka's first touchdown of the day. There was even a late chance to extend the margin before halftime, but Warren Dabney intercepted a Hopkins pass with Army on the VMI 19-yard-line with 30 seconds to go, and the margin at the break was 14-6.

Monken kept his cool during the break, apparently willing to give VMI credit for keeping the score close, and his patience paid off. The Black Knights had six possessions in the second half: the first five resulted in touchdowns, the last one in running out the clock.

The moment when it was clear that Army was in control came when Walker punctuated the 99-yard drive with his 59-yard run down the sideline that made it 21-6. In all, the Black Knights rushed for 594 yards, a week after rushing for 498 yards against U-Mass. Those are gaudy numbers but everyone on the Army sideline was fully aware of the quality of the opposition. These were games scheduled to be wins—and they were—by a combined margin of 110-13. In neither game did the opposition score in the second half.

That's as it should be.

Unfortunately, other than padding statistics and giving the seniors a happy final memory of Michie—no small thing—the game did nothing for Army's chances to make a bowl for a fourth straight season, since VMI was the second FCS opponent of the season. Only one FCS win can count towards the six wins needed to be bowl eligible and Army used that up with its September victory over Morgan State. There are two FCS teams on next year's schedule and then, sensibly, just one beginning in 2021.

The two FCS games-a-year philosophy came about when Army was struggling to beat ANYONE. During Monken's first two years there were losses to Fordham and Yale and a late escape against Bucknell.

Those days are long gone. The football class of 2020 is now 34-16 since arriving, having been plebes on the 8-5 turnaround team that ended the Navy losing streak and began the string of three straight bowl victories. Their accomplishments as a group will be discussed around post—and at reunions—for years to come.

And so, even though Army is officially 5-6 now, it is 4-6 in the eyes of the bowls. That makes the math pretty simple: win at Hawaii and beat Navy and the bowl streak likely continues—and the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy stays at West Point. A loss at Hawaii and a win against Navy means that a fourth straight win over the Midshipmen and the retention of the CIC will salvage the season.

A win against Hawaii and a loss to Navy and, well, let's all talk about how much fun Senior Day was—especially in the second half. There is still much to be decided. For now though, everyone can enjoy the way the seniors exited Michie.

And, Happy Thanksgiving.

Army West Point Athletics

Feinstein's Findings: A Big Senior Day Win

Related News

Players Mentioned

Cole Christiansen

David Cooper

Kelvin Hopkins Jr.

Jabari Laws

Connor Slomka

Cole Talley

Kell Walker

Related Videos