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I agree at, at least partially, on the tackling. That is an area that definitely needs work, and Monken commented on it in his post game quotes.Originally posted by RU0517581:
This team is bad. Can't block, tackle, pass, catch - felt lucky to make a FG. I'm not blaming Monken either. Army needs to find some real football players because a lot of guys are just faking it.
This post was edited on 10/12 12:15 AM by RU0517581
I would agree and disagree with this, if we was utilizing our play makers consistently stop with all the rotation with the 2nd and 3rd string. We aren't winning winnable games, cause players are confused out there, even worse then they was last season. This is beyond belief! We barely have good 1st string, this not Rutgers or Georgia Tech. Something got to give. They finally changed the teams we play against, to make it more compatible. But it looks like that didn't even matter. SmhOriginally posted by goodknight65:
I agree at, at least partially, on the tackling. That is an area that definitely needs work, and Monken commented on it in his post game quotes.Originally posted by RU0517581:
This team is bad. Can't block, tackle, pass, catch - felt lucky to make a FG. I'm not blaming Monken either. Army needs to find some real football players because a lot of guys are just faking it.
This post was edited on 10/12 12:15 AM by RU0517581
The change in strategy with the OL left us with a lot of young and inexperienced linemen this year. We have only one OL who started a game before this season, and that's a recipe for mediocrity. Of the five offensive linemen, only two have started all five games, which also doesn't help. Of all the units, the OL is the one that benefits most from experience, and most good teams have an OL that is made up of redshirt juniors and redshirt seniors. They have to work their way into the starting lineup. To be fair, Shumaker played 67 of the 74 snaps against Ball State; so he could be counted as a third regular OL, and although Hugenberg never started last season, he was a regular contributor at RG. Enegren played the second game of his career at RG and Hobbs his third at LT. Both Hugenberg and McDonald are playing new positions this season.
Match them up against a big, talented, and experienced DT like Chris Covington, and you will always have a mismatch. It's not just size, it's experience and technique that's learned over time. In case you missed his credentials, Covington was a coaches pick for All C-USA last season and this season he was selected for the following:
All C-USA (Phil Steele, Athlon)
All-America (Phil Steele, third team)
Outland Trophy Watch List
Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List
Chuck Bednarik Award Watch List
Bronko Nagurski Watch List
Covington is a redshirt junior from Vancouver, BC, which should tell you two things: 1) we couldn't recruit him because he's Canadian like Varga from Yale, and 2) we couldn't redshirt him because our guys are expected to graduate in 4 years. BTW, I don't consider USMAPS as the equivalent of redshirting. They don't practice with the Army team and they don't get academic credit for the work they do at USMAPS. No redshirts, no transfers, and no foreigners are just three factors that make it more difficult for a coach to build a team at any of the SAs.
As for passing and catching: Santiago's 67.6% completion rate suggests that we have a few guys who can catch the ball and I didn't notice that we had a big problem in that department yesterday. Poe and Moss are both good hands WRs who have pulled the ball down in traffic. Neither Santiago or Schurr is going to get any votes for the O'Brien Award to be sure, but Monken doesn't pass the ball even when he has a QB who can.
Yes A big change from Ellerson! But its no way you can say that we don't have not one good player on the team!!!! Some of their records speaks for itself. I wouldn't go as far as to say that the coaching staff is bad just yet! But I will say by the end of this season if they don't make the necessary adjustments before the season is out, somebodies head going to roll Its about money now! Let me say I don't think its going to be Monken either!Originally posted by RU0517581:
I know Covington is a good player (father holds Canadian records) but Army didn't lose to Covington.
I was at the game, as I am with most Army home games. I know all the reasons, excuses etc. for bad games. Yesterday I was watching one lame attempt at a tackle after another, and I realized a lot of Army guys just don't love football. That doesn't make them bad people - just bad football payers.
For years I've been watching blown assignments, tackles, passes etc. - fundamental stuff guys should really know by know. Players dont have to be huge to make tackles in the field. I see balls hit receivers in the hands and they drop it. It doesn't matter which QB starts because they are both flat and barely have any cuts between them. No real vision either. They just try to plod forward. If they have blocking they work ok but rarely make anything happen on their own in a pinch (Steelman could do that) .
There are some great Army players, but when I see enough guys dressed to cover the whole sideline between the 20s and yet one error after another on the field I have to believe a lot of the guys are playing the role but not the game. I've seen Army when they want to play (Stanford last year). I don't see that too often. Yesterday Army looked like they didn't care. I think its time to stop making excuses for players after 15 years of not much, and just realize a lot of players just aren't any good - and they seem ok with that. I saw Martin Dempsey on sideline and thought maybe there would be an Odierno effect but nothing close.
Passing was bad yesterday. Army usually has high pass % because they only throw a few times a game and defenses aren't looking for passes as rule. Yesterday Santiago was 5/11 (37.2 QB rating) and Schurr was 1/3. Of course WRs didn't help.
I liked that the Army coaches seemed fired up for the game. Big change from Ellerson's sleepy style.
This post was edited on 10/12 2:09 PM by RU0517581