Post Game Quotes: Army vs. UMass

Jeff Monken, Army Head Coach
(Ref.: Coach Monken's Opening Statement)
"Gosh, what do you say? It feels good to be here after a victory. We've had so many close, agonizing defeats this year. We were so desperate to get a win. I am just really proud of our team and how they've continued to practice and prepare. We had the one big play against us on defense. They did a nice job setting that up and hitting the reverse flea-flicker. It was a well-designed play and we just came out of coverage. Really other than that, I thought our defense did a good job. They gave up a couple of plays on third downs, they hit a couple of throws over the middle, but we did a great job stopping the run, which I think if you're going to play good defense, that's where it starts.

"Offensively, obviously we ran the ball pretty effectively and were able to control the clock, control the ball and score touchdowns. A couple of times we had to punt, and I was disappointed that we had to stall out of those drives and were forced to punt. I am just proud of the guys. They stayed resilient. I think that's something positive and something we can use as a source of pride.

"I really respect the UMass team. I know from talking to Coach Bell before the game that they were down to fewer than 50 scholarship players for today's game and started nine freshmen, which is not an easy task. Just give them credit. They continued to play and battled all the way until the last play of the game. They've got some athletes over there and we play them again next year so I know those guys will be a year older and have more experience so it's going to be a test for us a year from now. I am glad to get this win and move along to the next one."

(Ref.: On how it felt for the team to break the five-game losing streak)
"Well, we didn't want to make it five games. One was one too many, but it's hard when you're going something like that. And here we've become accustomed to winning a lot and winning close games. In that stretch, we just lost a lot of close games. We didn't find a way to win. Tulane beat us by nine and really it was a one-score game. We were going for two to get ourselves in position to win it in regulation. Western Kentucky beat us by nine. We went to Georgia State and lost by a touchdown and our loss to San Jose State here was within a touchdown. We lost last week obviously in a close game. They're hard. It's tough on the confidence of the team, just the emotions of losing and then losing again and again. It's been a tough stretch. But as I've said our players have continued to work and practice hard. We haven't performed as well as I would have liked us to have performed and maybe not as well as we're capable of performing during that stretch and that's what's disappointing. There were a lot of things in that stretch that we probably could have changed our fortunes just with better execution and things that we can control. We talked about the turnovers. In a couple of those games, if we eliminate a fumble, we might win the game. That's how close it was. Last week it was literally a game of inches. Four inches from the goal line on the opening drive and when Air Force was down on our end they made it by maybe not even four inches. It just is a game of inches. It's hard, but our guys haven't quit. They are fighters and just this week in practice the guys had a great temperament, demeanor, sense of purpose and they played that way today. I was proud of them."

(Ref: on Veteran's Day and representing the Army)
"I'm proud of our players and the commitment they've made to serve our nation as I am in the entire Corps of Cadets. There are few people like those who take the pledge to essentially put their lives on the line for the freedoms we all enjoy. I think in every family, in every community and in every school. There are just some select folks that decide they want to do that, take that on, serve and be a part of something really special, something much bigger than themselves. Something that often is a thankless job and I think in our nation we are really good about recognizing our men and women who serve and show appreciation for those who serve. But I can assure you that when they're out there hunkered in some fox hole or in the middle of nowhere staring at the enemy face-to-face, and we're sleeping soundly in our beds, there's nobody there thanking them.

"They do that proudly, they do that voluntarily, which is amazing to me that we have people that feel that sense of service and love for country. I'm really proud of the men and women here who have taken that pledge. I'm thankful to all our men and women who serve, their families who sacrifice so much, and those that have loved ones in those families that are going out and doing those jobs. It can't be easy to be a family member knowing that your loved ones may be in harm's way.

"To wear the colors of the United States Army, to be able to represent all those men and women and their families who serve in the Army uniform is just an incredible honor and privilege. Veteran's Day is just a day for all of us to pause and recognize those who serve every day at West Point, every day in the United States Army and every day in all our branches of service.

"It's Veteran's Day. They're out there doing their job every day. I'm incredibly proud to represent the United States Army and certainly to win. I think the expectations are, as LTG (R) Caslen would say so many times: when the American people put boots on the ground and the United States Army does their job, the expectation is that they're going to win. I don't think there's an American who expects anything less of our Army and our military. When we go take on an enemy, the expectation is we're going to win. We enjoy that freedom, we live freely, and we really, without worry, go about our day, and it's because of those men and women. That's important for us to represent them in the same way when the Army football team takes the field. The expectation is that we're going to win. I'm glad we were able to do that today, I'd like to do that every single time we play, and that's what's special about this program and this place. Every time we win, we're representing over a million men and women who serve in the Army."

Walt Bell, UMass Head Coach
(Ref.: Opening Statement)
"Defensively, any time you give up 400-plus yards rushing and 63 points you're obviously not going to be very excited. I thought early in the football game, in the first half and into the third quarter, I thought we did a nice job of stopping the dive. I thought as the game wore on, with where we are from a depth standpoint, where we really only had three healthy safeties and three healthy corners, I thought we wore down a little bit on the perimeter of the defense. You start seeing certain plays hit.

Early in the football game, I thought we did a nice job of stopping the dive, but again, in a game like that, another reason why they ran the ball so well and were able to accumulate yards like that was because we couldn't stay on the field offensively. This was probably as bad as (our game against) Florida International. We have a lot of work to do offensively with the ability to convert on third down and the ability to run the football when called upon. I thought more than anything else that just kept our defense on the field knowing we were trying to control the pace and keep our defense off the field as much as humanly possible and we didn't get it done."

(Ref: on trick plays)
"We had really six healthy offensive linemen today and were going to have to play two young men who hadn't played a lot of snaps for us. So, we knew going into the game that we were going to have to create some life and try to find some freebies to get us into the game. Obviously, we hit the one early. The fake punt there at the end, we kind of knew that they were going to try to bring a block and we were prepared all week long even if we were on our own minus-one or minus two-yard line. We knew we had the play. They took the timeout and we guessed that it would be a block. That's why they took the timeout to see if we were in spread punt or not. So, we were in spread punt and they brought the block and we had it wide open. We just didn't connect."

(Ref: on defense's performance)
"I thought b-gap to b-gap we did a nice job in terms of defending the dive and trap. As the game wore on, the game turned when the ball got tossed to the perimeter with toss and lead options. I thought we wore down a little bit."

Isiah Rodgers, UMass Cornerback
(ref: on team's performance)
"I thought we started off strong. They did everything that we worked on throughout the week, we just had a few missed tackles and missed assignments and that was the key."

(ref: on defending Army's rushing attack)
"Just watching film, they mainly focus on the dive. So, our main goal throughout the week was to stop the dive and I think we did that. But basically, we were too focused on the dive and we let the ball get outside of us."

Army West Point Athletics

Post Game Quotes: Army vs. UMass

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