Feinstein's Findings: Turning the Attention to Navy

Let's start today by giving credit where it's due: First, to anyone who stayed up until 4 a.m. eastern time to watch Hawaii beat Army 52-31 on Sunday morning. I'm not on that list: I recorded the game to watch Sunday morning, which wasn't awful since I was able to speed through pre-game blather; all commercials and halftime blather. The only hard part was knowing I wasn't going to enjoy the ending.

Let's also give credit to Army's players, who hung in until near the end against a team that has now won nine games and will play Boise State this Saturday for the Mountain West title. The final score is deceiving: With a little more than seven minutes left in the game, Army trailed 38-31 and had a first down on the Hawaii 35. Unfortunately, Hawaii got a stop and a touchdown and then, on the last meaningful drive of the game a 100-yard, pick-six interception return that ballooned the final margin to 21.

And, let's give some extra credit to the cadets in uniform, who, in the absence of a band, sang a very respectable a-cappella version of 'Alma Mater,' after the final whistle. Those final notes floating into the air were a reminder that, as disappointing as the season has been so far, all is not lost.

There is still that date in Philadelphia with Navy in two weeks. More on that, later.

Trips to Hawaii are never easy for football teams, especially those who make it from the east coast and—unlike teams in Hawaii's conference—don't make it on a regular basis. Army's now made the trip three times—without a win—although it would be tough to blame this loss on the travel: thanks to Thanksgiving break, the Black Knights traveled on Tuesday. Army played well. Hawaii played better.

Hawaii has two talented quarterbacks—Chevon Cordeiro and Cole McDonald. Army has played four quarterbacks this season and three saw the field in Honolulu: Kelvin Hopkins Jr.—starting with Jabari Laws down after Laws hurt his knee in the VMI game; Christian Anderson, who came in late in the first half after Hopkins was (again) banged up and freshman Jemel Jones, who had to come in late for Anderson after HE was shaken up.

Every quarterback who played had his moments—good and bad--although Army's two worst moments: Hopkins' second quarter interception and the pick-six Jones threw with Army trying for a miracle rally—played an important role in the final outcome. Hawaii didn't turn the ball over; the 2-0 turnover margin was crucial.

The Black Knights came out flying. On the game's first play from scrimmage, Hopkins found Artice Hobbs IV on a beautiful play action strike down the right side that went for 69-yards, taking the ball to the Warriors six-yard-line. Three plays later, fullback Sandon McCoy was in the end zone and Army had a bang-bang 7-0 lead.

With Cordeiro getting the start at quarterback, Hawaii quickly moved to the Army 25-yard line, but the defense held there and forced the home team to settle for a 42-yard Ryan Meskell field goal. Army answered with a David Cooper 32-yarder to make it 10-3. It was apparent quickly that this was going to be a track meet: Army mostly moving the ball on the ground; Hawaii through the air.

It took Hawaii exactly two plays to tie the game after the Cooper field goal; Miles Reed taking off on a 30-yard run after the kickoff was returned to the Hawaii 44, and Cordeiro then finding Jason-Matthew Skarsh for the remaining 26 yards.

Army instantly answered with an 8-play, 75-yard drive—McCoy picking up 60 of those yards on four carries—including a 40-yarder and the last seven for the touchdown.

The Black Knights would finish with 538-yards in total offense—411 on the ground. Hawaii had 492 yard—359 through the air.

The McCoy touchdown made it 17-10. Then came one of the evening's most critical junctures. Leading by seven, Army's defense forced the game's first punt. With a chance to make it a two-score game, the offense faltered. Facing third-and-fourteen from his own 26, Hopkins ducked a rush, stepped up and threw across his body—always a no-no for a quarterback—right into the hands of Hawaii's Solomon Matautia, who returned it to Army's 25. On the very next play, Cordeiro found Cedric Byrd II wide open in the end zone and, with 8:08 left in the half, the game was tied at 17-17. As it turned out, the Black Knights would never lead again.

As he almost always does, Coach Jeff Monken took a risk on the next series, facing 4^th-and-two at his own 33. He called a pass play, hoping to surprise Hawaii. It began with a fake pitch to the right by Hopkins, who then threw a quick short pass to the left to Cam Harrison. But the play was well-covered, the pass went behind Harrison and the Warriors took over on downs.

Once again, they benefited from the short field. Even a first-down holding penalty didn't slow them down. Cordeiro found Jared Smart (eight catches for 123 yards and a touchdown) for a first down at the 20. Then, on third-and-nine, he took off on a scramble and picked up 12-yards to the seven. But he didn't get up.

In came McDonald and, on his second play he found Skarsh open over the middle (six catches for 80 yards and two touchdowns) for a touchdown and a 24-17 lead.

It looked as if Army might be able to answer before halftime when Hopkins took off on a nifty run of 32-yards that moved the ball to the Hawaii 34. Except Hopkins didn't get up, a sight that's become all-too-familiar to Army fans this season. In came Anderson, who had played well in relief of Hopkins and Laws in games already decided.

He actually picked up a first down on fourth-and-one, but the play was called back by a chop block (a correct call) and the drive died there.

That made it critical that the defense get a stop to start the second half to keep it a one-score margin. It didn't happen. Cordeiro's night was over and McDonald was now running the offense. He led his team 73-yards on 11 plays, the drive culminated by a 7-yard McDonald to Jo-Jo Ward pass.

With Hopkins also through for the night and Anderson at quarterback, the Black Knights refused to go away. Malik Hancock capped a 75-yard drive with a 10-yard run (the first touchdown of his career) and, at the end of three quarters, it was 31-24 and anybody's game. If you were still up at that point, you weren't going to bed.

The Black Knights forced Hawaii's second punt of the game, but Ben Scruton's kick was downed at the Army one. Two plays netted one yard. Then, on third-and-nine, Anderson dropped into the end zone and threw the ball deep down the right sideline to Harrison.

Harrison is one of the many Black Knights who has been playing with nagging injuries. Maybe if he'd been 100 percent he could have caught up with the ball. But, with a clear step on the defender, he couldn't quite catch up to it.

The game wasn't over by any stretch. From the back of the end zone Zach Harding got off a beautiful punt that Byrd fumbled, bobble and finally and finally picked up at the Hawaii 31 before being buried there.

Hawaii went three-and-out and the Black Knights got the ball back at their own 29 with a chance to put together a game-tying march and scare the daylights out of the Warriors. Keeping the ball strictly on the ground, they moved to the Hawaii 35, picking up a first down on a pretty 12-yard Kell Walker run.

But the drive bogged down: McCoy got five yards on two carries. Then, Hawaii got penetration and stopped Anderson for no gain. On fourth-and-five, Anderson, running out of time, threw a desperate heave towards Harrison in the end zone. The only player with a chance to catch the ball was Hawaii's Rojesterman Farris II. Luckily for his team, Farris couldn't hold onto the ball because it would have cost his offense 10-yards.

Taking over on downs, the Warriors needed just six plays to—for all intents and purposes—put the game away, McDonald finding Smart for 20-yards and the touchdown with 3:51 left.

Down 45-31, Army needed to score, onside kick, recover again and score.

The Black Knights actually came close to one score. Starting on their own seven after a penalty on the kickoff, Anderson found Harrison for a 15-yard pickup and a first down. On the next play—one called back by a holding penalty—Anderson took a hard hit, sandwiched between two defenders.

He got up gingerly, stayed in the game and tried to throw a pass rolling left. But, as the ball fell incomplete, he grabbed at his left hip and went down. On came the freshman, Jones. Remarkably, he completed four passes, the last a 32-yard strike to Hancock between two defenders that took the ball to the Hawaii seven.

But just when you were beginning to wonder if Jones was really a freshman, he made a freshman mistake: throwing the ball short and too soon in the direction of Harrison in the end zone. Harrison never saw it: Farris did and was off down the sideline on about as easy a 100-yard pick-six as any player has ever had.

Final score: 52-31.

There will be no fourth straight bowl trip for Army, which is now 5-7. The season has been full of both disappointments and injuries. The five victories have all come against teams with losing records—including two FCS teams. Six of the seven losses have been to bowl-eligible teams (San Jose State, the lone exception). That sums it up pretty well. The Black Knights have been good enough to beat bad teams but not good enough to beat good teams.

The season will end against a very good team: Navy, which is 9-2 and is 3-2 against bowl-eligible teams. Its two losses were on the road: to 10-2 Notre Dame and 11-1 Memphis.

The key to Navy's success? A rejuvenated defense and keeping 5-foot-9 inch, 190 pound quarterback Malcolm Perry healthy all season.

As different as their seasons have been, the two teams will come into the game with their most important goal still in front of them: Navy wants to end its three-game losing streak to Army and return the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy to Annapolis for the first time since 2015. Even with 9 victories and a bowl berth sewed up, the Mids will arrive in Philadelphia a desperate team.

The same will be true of the Black Knights. There will be no bowl and no winning season. But a win would keep the CIC at West Point for a third straight year. It would save a gloomy season.

The band will be in Philadelphia, so there will be no need to sing the alma mater a-cappella. The goal—as always—will be to sing second.

Army West Point Athletics

Feinstein's Findings: Turning the Attention to Navy

Players Mentioned

Christian Anderson

David Cooper

Malik Hancock

Zach Harding

Artice Hobbs IV

Kelvin Hopkins Jr.

Jemel Jones

Jabari Laws

Sandon McCoy

Kell Walker

Related Videos