Feinstein's Findings: The Goal was to 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.

Every loss hurts. Some hurt more than others. Some are painful. And some just rip your guts out.

Saturday in Ann Arbor was a rip-your-guts out loss. Army had waited almost a year to have this chance again: to walk into one of THE places in college football to take on a ranked team and a mammoth crowd and scare the hell out of all of them. Except this time, the Black Knights didn't just want the opponent's respect; they didn't want to just turn heads in college football or have people talking about how amazing it was that they almost beat a top 10 team.

That wasn't the goal. The goal was to win.

And they came oh-so-painfully-close. The final score was 24-21, Michigan—in double overtime. It was closer than that. Much closer.

Coach Jeff Monken had talked during the week about the need to play as close to a perfect game as possible in order to win. "We can't have turnovers, we can't have key penalties, we can't have missed assignments," he said. "Our guys know what it's going to take to win. They know how talented Michigan is. But we will go into that stadium expecting to win."

Remarkably, they had turnovers and key penalties and missed assignments, and were still inches away from winning the game.

The defense was remarkable all day—forcing three turnovers in the first half; getting two critical fourth-down stops in the second half; forcing Michigan into a field goal in the second overtime. They hung in against all sort of future NFL talent even though they were victimized by a pass interference call on Michigan's first drive and a targeting call in the fourth quarter that led to the ejection of starting cornerback Javhari Bordeau.

Fox's rules expert Dean Blandino defended the call on the grounds that after the Michigan running back was hit, he became a 'helpless,' offensive player and that made Bordeau's hit targeting. Fox analyst Joel Klatt questioned both the call and the rule.

But the officials didn't cost Army the game by any stretch. They saved Army a touchdown in the first quarter when Kell Walker fumbled a pitch and Michigan's Josh Metellus scooped it up and ran 21 yards for a touchdown. Suddenly, in two plays—with an extra point and a touchback on the kickoff in-between—Army had gone from up 7-0 to down 13-7 with another extra point coming.

But the officials saw Metellus's knee on the ground and ruled the play dead at the 21. Replays clearly showed that his knee was off the ground by the time he gained possession. Because you can't assume what would happen after a whistle blows a play dead, there was no replay.

One play later, defensive coordinator John Loose sent Elijah Riley on a cornerback blitz and Riley blasted in untouched from the right side and chopped the ball out of quarterback Shea Patterson and fell on it. That play doesn't happen without the missed officials call.

So, let's leave it at this: no one in this game was perfect. Michigan had three lost fumbles; Army had two lost fumbles and a crucial interception—set up by a critical penalty.

I asked Monken earlier in the week how he had felt coming out of the Oklahoma game: Proud? Disappointed? Both?

"Both," he answered. "We did so many things well that night and put ourselves in position where we could have won the game. But we made a few key mistakes that cost us. It was such a great opportunity to do something really special and we just missed doing it."

This one was even closer. This one, I promise, hurt more. The Oklahoma loss left everyone feeling a little bit sad, but a lot proud. This was one that will carry a lot of pride, but even more sadness.

At Oklahoma, Army had never led in regulation—three times coming from a touchdown behind to tie the game. Oklahoma then scored a touchdown in the first overtime and Army couldn't match. This time, it was Michigan that never led in regulation. In fact, the Wolverines only lead came in the second overtime. Army scored first in overtime, but Michigan matched the touchdown, then kicked the winning field goal and stopped Army, to finally escape.

Almost from the beginning, it was clear that Army intended to prove that the Oklahoma game was no fluke.

The Black Knights went three-and-out to start the game and Michigan quickly began moving the ball down the field. With a first down at the Army 28, Patterson dropped to pass and Loose sent sophomore linebacker Arik Smith, who has quickly proven he is more than ready to take on an important role, on a delayed blitz. Smith looped up the middle, got to Patterson and knocked the ball loose. Kwabena Bonsu jumped on the ball at the Army 40 and Michigan's first threat had been snuffed.

From there, the offense put together a 60-yard drive, the key play being a 31-yard Walker run on a perfectly-timed pitch from Hopkins. Five plays after that, fullback Sandon McCoy dove over for a 7-0 lead.

Army's defense then got another stop, forcing a Michigan punt. But the Wolverines caught the Army punt team napping with a snap to up-man Michael Barrett, who found Daxton Hill open for a 25-yard gain. The defense dug in with Michigan inside the 10 and on 3rd-and-6, Patterson threw the ball way over the head of receiver Nico Collins in the back of the end zone.

The back judge, standing right on top of the play, realized the ball was uncatchable and, even though there had been contact by Riley, threw no flag. But one of the other officials, threw the flag. Freshman Zach Charbonnet, who worked for every one of his 100 yards on 33 carries, scored on the next play to make it 7-7.

Then came the key sequence in which the officials saved a touchdown for Army on the Walker fumble and Riley got the ball back on the next play.

Both defenses were excellent throughout this game. Michigan held Army to 200 yards rushing, well below its average of 312 per game a year ago. Connor Slomka, back after missing the opener, managed to grind out 92 yards on 29 carries and Hopkins had 41 yards on 18 carries. Other than Walker's run on the first touchdown drive, every yard was work. The same was true for Michigan's offense.

It was the Wolverines third turnover of the half that allowed Army to go into the locker room with a 14-7 lead. After Cole Christiansen reached in and knocked the ball loose from Ben Van Sumeren as he plowed up the middle, Cam Jones was there to jump on it for the third Michigan turnover of the half.

Once again, Army took advantage, going into grind it out mode to use up 6:36 on a 40-yard, 12-play drive that culminated when Hopkins dived in for the score with 2:51 left. Michigan had plenty of time to answer, but a bad read by Patterson with eight seconds left on the Army 27, led to him being forced into an intentional grounding by Riley, moving the ball back to the 37. From there, Quinn Nordin missed badly from 55 yards. That play turned out to be more important than it looked because it convinced Harbaugh to change kickers in the second half.

When a team loses a game the way Army did on Saturday, the focus tends to be on the last play or plays of the game. Years ago, an Army alumnus named Mike Krzyzewski was furious with his Duke basketball team after a loss at Maryland.

"I know people are telling you that you were one play away from beating a ranked team on the road," he told his players the next day. "But you had about 20 chances to make that one play."

He then showed them video of 21 plays where mistakes had prevented them from gaining control of the game.

The Black Knights had plenty of those on Saturday, but the two most critical ones came in the third quarter. The defense came out flying and forced Michigan to punt after a three-and-out.

On came the offense with all the momentum in the world. On the second play of the drive, Hopkins found Artice Hobbs IV for a 37-yard gain that put the ball on the Michigan 29. Many in the crowd of 111,747 had booed their team going off the field at halftime. Now, they were largely silent as Army steadily picked up chunks of yardage on the ground.

On 3rd-and-4 from the eight, Slomka picked up a first down at the four. Hopkins ran for three. It was 2nd-and-goal at the one. And then, disaster. Just before the snap, Slomka flinched—illegal motion, five yards.

For the Army offense, 2nd-and-6 on the goal line is a lot different than 2nd-and-1. Hopkins only got one yard back, setting up third-and-five. With a plebe field goal kicker—Cole Talley—who had yet to attempt a field goal, Monken wanted a touchdown, even though the kick would be a short one.

He also didn't want to risk a fourth down play that might be stopped and turn the momentum around. So, he and offensive coordinator Brent Davis, decided to pass, hoping to catch the Michigan defense off-guard.

It didn't work. Hopkins was pressured and, back-pedaling and off-balance, he tried to throw the ball into the end zone. It was a mistake, the kind a quarterback who doesn't throw often is apt to make. The ball never got close to the end zone or anyone in an Army uniform. Lavert Hill intercepted it at the two and ran it back to the 22.

Moments after a 21-7 lead had seemed inevitable, Michigan had the ball and the momentum. The Wolverines put together their best drive of the day, going 78 yards in 12 plays to a Charbonnet 1-yard run that tied the score at 14-all.

Often, that sort of swing in score, will crush a heavy underdog playing on the road. It didn't do that, however, to the Black Knights. Both teams had chances in the fourth quarter, but nobody scored. Harbaugh, clearly not confident in HIS field goal kicker, passed on what would have been a 36-yard attempt on fourth down and Charbonnet was crushed for a loss of four.

Then, with time winding down, he again went for fourth-and-short, this time at the Army 42 and, once again, the defense stopped Charbonnet. Now, it was Army's game to try to win in regulation.

With only one timeout left, the Black Knights drove to the Michigan 33, but had to spike the ball with two seconds left to have a shot at a Talley 50-yard field goal. Harbaugh called the inevitable time out.

It would have been one of the sport's great miracles if Talley's first college field goal attempt to beat the No. 7 team in the country had been good. He didn't miss by much—but he missed, wide right.

Overtime.

Army wasn't done. Hopkins scored from 3-yards out for a 21-14 lead. Michigan's first two plays picked up four yards and the boo-birds were out again. But Patterson, given time, found Tarik Black over the middle for nine critical yards. Aided by a pass interference call, Charbonnet scored two plays later.

Double overtime.

The defense did its job, but Harbaugh, having gone to Jake Moody for the extra point, went back to him for a 43-yard field goal—and he made it for a 24-21 lead.

Still, unlike at Oklahoma, Army had the ball in overtime with a chance to win. Hopkins picked up two and then came the key play: With the play clock running down, Hopkins appeared to rush the snap and Michigan's defense was all over him almost before he took a step.

Monken talks often about the importance of not having negative yardage plays. This play, with the game on the line, cost Army three yards. On the next play, Hopkins dropped, hoping to find someone open deep, but the rush was all over him. He fumbled, Michigan's Kwity Paye recovered and, after almost four hours, it was over: Michigan 24, Army 21.

The Wolverines celebrated as if they'd beaten Notre Dame or Ohio State. Who could blame them? They knew how fortunate they were to escape.

Earlier in the week, I asked Harbaugh if he'd like to start playing Army again on a semi-regular basis.

"Not chomping at the bit," he answered.

Clearly, he knew what he was talking about.

The Black Knights had plenty of reason to be proud Saturday. But there's no doubt the overwhelming emotion was heartbreak. Only a great effort is worthy of that emotion. Sadly, that doesn't make it any easier to take.

Army West Point Athletics

Feinstein's Findings: The Goal was to Win

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Players Mentioned

Kwabena Bonsu

Cole Christiansen

Artice Hobbs IV

Cam Jones

Sandon McCoy

Elijah Riley

Connor Slomka

Arik Smith

Cole Talley

Kell Walker

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