By Gordon Larson, GBK Sr. Writer
It’s that time of the year when we resolve to exercise more, shed a few pounds, and do other things to improve ourselves, and so it is with Army Black Knights’ football as well.
Clearly head coach Jeff Monken and his staff made tremendous strides in 2016, building a winning culture and quadrupling the number of wins from the 2015 season and exceeding the number of wins from the previous two seasons combined. But, as we all recognize they left some room for improvement in certain areas and it is toward those needed improvements that we direct our attention in this 2017 inaugural article.
RESOLUTION #1: FIX THE KICKING GAME
There is not a fan among us who has not recognized this glaring deficiency in Army West Point’s game this season. The kicking game cost the Black Knights at least one game at Buffalo for certain, and kept points off the scoreboard in several contests. The field goal unit converted just 6 of 12 attempts, some of which were mere chip shots, and their conversion rate on extra points was worse than that of many high school teams. The punting unit was not much better, with bad snaps and anemic punts that averaged 35.14 yards per punt attempt. Army’s kickoffs average just 57.6 yards compared to opponents 60.7. Monken used 2 different field goal kickers, 4 different kickoff kickers and 3 different punters. It’s hard at times to believe that they were all recruited specialists.
The problem runs too deep to be attributed to poor recruiting alone. The situation begs for improved coaching in those specialty skills. We know that it’s an area of strong interest to Head Coach Monken, but his other duties prevent him from spending all the time needed to fix the problem. Sean Saturnio was moved from coaching fullbacks to coordinating special teams this year, but it’s clearly not his forte.
RESOLUTION #2: CUT BACK ON INTERCEPTIONS ALLOWED
We’ve noted this problem in several of our articles this year. It’s the major reason for Army’s -3 in turnover margin this season. From 2008, when Army changed from their pro style offense to the triple option until last season, the most interceptions army allowed in any year was 6, and the total number of interceptions allowed in the 7 years from 2008 to 2013 was 26. In the past two seasons Army West Point has allowed 20 interceptions with 11 of those coming in 2016.
Army West Point is not a passing team; so in order to comprehend the magnitude of the problem we need to look at the number of interceptions per pass attempt. In 2008, as Army was converting from pro-style to triple option, opponents intercepted 6 of Army’s 128 attempts (4.7%). In the 5 years that Ellerson coached the numbers ranged from 1.7% to 4.1% with a five year average of 2.7%. In the first year of Monken’s tenure, with the holdover Angel Santiago at quarterback, the interception rate was 1.9%, but in 2015 that rose to 8.3% and this year to 8.9%. If Army West Point lost fumbles at that same rate for rushing attempts, they would have 70 turnovers from fumbles this season, and fans would be screaming for heads to roll.
We believe that quarterbacks can learn to avoid throwing interceptions. It’s not a matter of throwing the ball better, but throwing the ball smarter. Neither Trent Steelman nor Angel Santiago was a very good passer, but they learned to be smart passers. While Ahmad Bradshaw has thrown the most interceptions, all three of Army’s current quarterbacks have interception rates in the 10% range; so it’s a coaching problem that needs to be addressed across the board.
RESOLUTION #3: CUT BACK ON FUMBLES
Like our own resolutions to lose 20 pounds, this is one of those resolutions that seems to keep appearing in our list each year. 14 fumbles lost is not an alarming number, but still an area that could always use improvement.
To a great extent fumbling comes with the territory of running the triple option, and we were pleased to see a huge reduction in fumbles from center to quarterback snaps this season. ; We didn’t see a large number of fumbles on the fullback mesh or pitches to the slotbacks this year either, and which pleased us as well.
We did see an increase in special teams fumbles when Malek McGue was used to return punts, and we trust that the coaching staff will work on getting Malek to make sure he’s secured the ball before he tries to run with it.
It was also the one weak point in Andy Davidson’s performance at fullback this year, and we expect to see Mike Viti spend a little extra time on this aspect in spring training. The overall performance of the fullbacks was a bright point in this year’s offense, and Darnell Woolfolk proved to be the more reliable B-back in that area this season, but Army West Point needs both of them securing the ball well to get to the next level.
RESOLUTION #4: REDUCE THE PENALTIES
The service academies are generally known for not giving opponents a lot of free yards from penalties. Army West Point’s 4.77 penalties per game ranked 18th lowest in the FBS, and their 42.15 penalty yards per game was the 17th lowest; so one might argue that it’s not that much of a concern. But penalties are an indicator of good discipline, and that is a hallmark of service academy football that provides one of the few advantages they have in competing with bigger and more athletic opponents. Navy is the perennial leader in this statistical area, and it’s one of the reasons for their continued success. This is an area we’d like to see Army resolve to Beat Navy in 2017.
One of the penalties called too often on Army was the chop block, and we agree with Coach Monken that some of those chop block calls were made on blocks that were perfectly legal. We don’t know what can be done to address that particular issue, but we hope to see some improvement in other areas as the team matures.
RESOLUTION #5: FORCE A FEW MORE FUMBLES
With the outstanding performance of the defense this season, we almost hate to mention this as a problem. The 17 interceptions this season were 3 more than recorded in 2010 and 4 more than recorded in 2009; so the defense was doing its part in winning the turnover battle. But the one area in which the 2009 and 2010 defenses had a clear advantage was in fumbles gained. The 2009 team recovered 11 opponent fumbles and the 2010 team recovered 16. The 2015 and 2016 teams recovered just 5 each year; so it’s one of the few areas on defense we can look for improvement in the coming season.
ADD YOUR RESOLUTIONS TO OUR LIST:
We know that Coach Monken and his staff have a few resolutions of their own, and Monken will never be totally satisfied with the teams performance.
We hope to get additional comments and thoughts from our readers here on GBK.
Click Here For Promotion Details
It’s that time of the year when we resolve to exercise more, shed a few pounds, and do other things to improve ourselves, and so it is with Army Black Knights’ football as well.
Clearly head coach Jeff Monken and his staff made tremendous strides in 2016, building a winning culture and quadrupling the number of wins from the 2015 season and exceeding the number of wins from the previous two seasons combined. But, as we all recognize they left some room for improvement in certain areas and it is toward those needed improvements that we direct our attention in this 2017 inaugural article.
RESOLUTION #1: FIX THE KICKING GAME
There is not a fan among us who has not recognized this glaring deficiency in Army West Point’s game this season. The kicking game cost the Black Knights at least one game at Buffalo for certain, and kept points off the scoreboard in several contests. The field goal unit converted just 6 of 12 attempts, some of which were mere chip shots, and their conversion rate on extra points was worse than that of many high school teams. The punting unit was not much better, with bad snaps and anemic punts that averaged 35.14 yards per punt attempt. Army’s kickoffs average just 57.6 yards compared to opponents 60.7. Monken used 2 different field goal kickers, 4 different kickoff kickers and 3 different punters. It’s hard at times to believe that they were all recruited specialists.
The problem runs too deep to be attributed to poor recruiting alone. The situation begs for improved coaching in those specialty skills. We know that it’s an area of strong interest to Head Coach Monken, but his other duties prevent him from spending all the time needed to fix the problem. Sean Saturnio was moved from coaching fullbacks to coordinating special teams this year, but it’s clearly not his forte.
RESOLUTION #2: CUT BACK ON INTERCEPTIONS ALLOWED
We’ve noted this problem in several of our articles this year. It’s the major reason for Army’s -3 in turnover margin this season. From 2008, when Army changed from their pro style offense to the triple option until last season, the most interceptions army allowed in any year was 6, and the total number of interceptions allowed in the 7 years from 2008 to 2013 was 26. In the past two seasons Army West Point has allowed 20 interceptions with 11 of those coming in 2016.
Army West Point is not a passing team; so in order to comprehend the magnitude of the problem we need to look at the number of interceptions per pass attempt. In 2008, as Army was converting from pro-style to triple option, opponents intercepted 6 of Army’s 128 attempts (4.7%). In the 5 years that Ellerson coached the numbers ranged from 1.7% to 4.1% with a five year average of 2.7%. In the first year of Monken’s tenure, with the holdover Angel Santiago at quarterback, the interception rate was 1.9%, but in 2015 that rose to 8.3% and this year to 8.9%. If Army West Point lost fumbles at that same rate for rushing attempts, they would have 70 turnovers from fumbles this season, and fans would be screaming for heads to roll.
We believe that quarterbacks can learn to avoid throwing interceptions. It’s not a matter of throwing the ball better, but throwing the ball smarter. Neither Trent Steelman nor Angel Santiago was a very good passer, but they learned to be smart passers. While Ahmad Bradshaw has thrown the most interceptions, all three of Army’s current quarterbacks have interception rates in the 10% range; so it’s a coaching problem that needs to be addressed across the board.
RESOLUTION #3: CUT BACK ON FUMBLES
Like our own resolutions to lose 20 pounds, this is one of those resolutions that seems to keep appearing in our list each year. 14 fumbles lost is not an alarming number, but still an area that could always use improvement.
To a great extent fumbling comes with the territory of running the triple option, and we were pleased to see a huge reduction in fumbles from center to quarterback snaps this season. ; We didn’t see a large number of fumbles on the fullback mesh or pitches to the slotbacks this year either, and which pleased us as well.
We did see an increase in special teams fumbles when Malek McGue was used to return punts, and we trust that the coaching staff will work on getting Malek to make sure he’s secured the ball before he tries to run with it.
It was also the one weak point in Andy Davidson’s performance at fullback this year, and we expect to see Mike Viti spend a little extra time on this aspect in spring training. The overall performance of the fullbacks was a bright point in this year’s offense, and Darnell Woolfolk proved to be the more reliable B-back in that area this season, but Army West Point needs both of them securing the ball well to get to the next level.
RESOLUTION #4: REDUCE THE PENALTIES
The service academies are generally known for not giving opponents a lot of free yards from penalties. Army West Point’s 4.77 penalties per game ranked 18th lowest in the FBS, and their 42.15 penalty yards per game was the 17th lowest; so one might argue that it’s not that much of a concern. But penalties are an indicator of good discipline, and that is a hallmark of service academy football that provides one of the few advantages they have in competing with bigger and more athletic opponents. Navy is the perennial leader in this statistical area, and it’s one of the reasons for their continued success. This is an area we’d like to see Army resolve to Beat Navy in 2017.
One of the penalties called too often on Army was the chop block, and we agree with Coach Monken that some of those chop block calls were made on blocks that were perfectly legal. We don’t know what can be done to address that particular issue, but we hope to see some improvement in other areas as the team matures.
RESOLUTION #5: FORCE A FEW MORE FUMBLES
With the outstanding performance of the defense this season, we almost hate to mention this as a problem. The 17 interceptions this season were 3 more than recorded in 2010 and 4 more than recorded in 2009; so the defense was doing its part in winning the turnover battle. But the one area in which the 2009 and 2010 defenses had a clear advantage was in fumbles gained. The 2009 team recovered 11 opponent fumbles and the 2010 team recovered 16. The 2015 and 2016 teams recovered just 5 each year; so it’s one of the few areas on defense we can look for improvement in the coming season.
ADD YOUR RESOLUTIONS TO OUR LIST:
We know that Coach Monken and his staff have a few resolutions of their own, and Monken will never be totally satisfied with the teams performance.
We hope to get additional comments and thoughts from our readers here on GBK.
Click Here For Promotion Details
