Start Over

[swburke]

Monken just needs to start over. We are not going to a bowl game in spite of having one of the easiest schedules in FBS. (A little know NCAA rule says you cannot attend a bowl game unless you buy a ticket if you lose to an IVY league school.) ESPN said that this was the first time since 1986 that an IVY had beaten an FBS school! None of the other IVY schools even play an FBS school this year.

This game should never have been played at Yale. We had nothing to gain. No home gate, we are supposed to win, third road game in a row. Boo gets a nod on this one too. If they want to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Yale Bowl as I said before , Harvard would be appropriate.

I watched two teams that have no idea how to win Saturday - Army and the US Ryder Cup Team. Monken has a lot of work to change the overall attitude of winning. Gaining weight and better scheduling may help, but it will take more than that.

Our O-Line is a mess. We could not get short yardage on 3rd and short or 4th and short all day. Stanford I can understand. Yale? We also tend to play to our level of competition - just well enough to lose. We get no pressure on the QB and the secondary played well the first week, but has gotten worse. Stupid penalties have been noted in other posts.

It is too bad we have some good skill players that are seniors - we need to play them, but also some younger guys as we hopefully improve. Maybe we can build for the future and get our normal three wins. 13 in a row to Navy is a given based on what we have seen so far even though Navy does not look as good as the last couple of years.

Sucks to have to write off another season so early. Maybe we can get Brady Hoke as an assistant - he will be available soon.

 

[ashokan]

"Boo gets a nod on this one too. "

I think it was Kevin Anderson who set this game up quite awhile ago


Monken said he didn't think the team was overconfident:

"Our guys played their butts off. They played as hard as they could. There's no overconfidence."


But he also said:

"If you can't tell, I'm a little ticked off because I expect more out of our football team and I expect us to play better than they did."


So its kind of a take your pick situation. The team played their butts off as hard as they could or they played below expectations.

I still supect this game was "son of Stony Brook"



On the positive side - Georgia Southern had issues with fumbling in early season last year (4 in one game) but they fixed it and got better. Monken knows what's wrong technically and won't be too cordial about getting after things.
This post was edited on 9/28 8:20 AM by ashokan

Postgame Yale: Coach Monken, Angel Santiago, Jerem

 

[Big_DNY]

At least Stony Brook was the Big South Champ and won a first round playoff game in 2012. After beating Army, Yale has an RPI of 171.

 

[goodknight65]

Originally posted by ashokan:

"Boo gets a nod on this one too. "

I think it was Kevin Anderson who set this game up quite awhile ago


Monken said he didn't think the team was overconfident:

"Our guys played their butts off. They played as hard as they could. There's no overconfidence."


But he also said:

"If you can't tell, I'm a little ticked off because I expect more out of our football team and I expect us to play better than they did."


So its kind of a take your pick situation. The team played their butts off as hard as they could or they played below expectations.

I still supect this game was "son of Stony Brook"



On the positive side - Georgia Southern had issues with fumbling in early season last year (4 in one game) but they fixed it and got better. Monken knows what's wrong technically and won't be too cordial about getting after things.
This post was edited on 9/28 8:20 AM by ashokan

Not sure where you came up with the idea that he fixed it, but GSU ended up with 31 fumbles last season, which was 8 more than Army. GSU was better at recovering them as both GSU and Army lost 13 of those fumbles.

GSU was 4-0 in fumbles in their first game, 2-0 in their second, 6-2 in their third, 1-0 in their fourth, 2-1 in their fifth, 3-1 in their sixth, 2-1 in their seventh, 3-2 in their eighth, 5-4 in their ninth, 0-0 in their tenth, and 3-2 in their final game against Florida. I don't see that as fixing the problem. GSU had about 22 fumbles lost in each of the three previous years, so 2013 was an improvement in that particular stat.

GSU also had problems with penalties, averaging 58 yards per game in 2013 compared to their opponents 53 and Army's 32.5. GSU improved slightly in that area from 2012 when they were 74th in the FCS in penalties per game with 62, which is about where Army is this year.

If we define disciplined football in terms of fewer turnovers and penalties, it's not Monken's forte.

 

[ashokan]

"Not sure where you came up with the idea that he fixed it, but GSU ended up with 31 fumbles last season, which was 8 more than Army. GSU was better at recovering them as both GSU and Army lost 13 of those fumbles"


GSU was better at recovering fumbles because the early ones were center/QB fumbles that the QB fell on. Those are the fumbles that were eventually fixed. Can't say much about the others. Averaging around 2 fumbles a game in the option isn't unusual unfortunatley .

 

[Bulletproof09]

Originally posted by ashokan:

"Boo gets a nod on this one too. "

I think it was Kevin Anderson who set this game up quite awhile ago


Monken said he didn't think the team was overconfident:

"Our guys played their butts off. They played as hard as they could. There's no overconfidence."


But he also said:

"If you can't tell, I'm a little ticked off because I expect more out of our football team and I expect us to play better than they did."


So its kind of a take your pick situation. The team played their butts off as hard as they could or they played below expectations.

I still supect this game was "son of Stony Brook"



On the positive side - Georgia Southern had issues with fumbling in early season last year (4 in one game) but they fixed it and got better. Monken knows what's wrong technically and won't be too cordial about getting after things.
This post was edited on 9/28 8:20 AM by ashokan

Yes, I was a little confused about that too. As far as him knowing what the problem is, I agree and thats why his even more upset. His an emotional dude I must say, almost made me laugh hard as to the way he spoke to the reporters. As much as some people on here may think that (WE) are expecting to much to soon, is hilarious as it sounds! Im with coach Monken and the way he looks in this interview is the way I feel too. How do you really explain to anybody, how your team lost 2 winnable games…. They should do something different next time and interview the OC & the DC along with the HC, don't let him take the heat by hisself…… #39 and Angel looked scared to death, you could hardly hear them.

This post was edited on 9/28 2:40 PM by Bulletproof09

 

[goodknight65]

Originally posted by ashokan:

"Not sure where you came up with the idea that he fixed it, but GSU ended up with 31 fumbles last season, which was 8 more than Army. GSU was better at recovering them as both GSU and Army lost 13 of those fumbles"


GSU was better at recovering fumbles because the early ones were center/QB fumbles that the QB fell on. Those are the fumbles that were eventually fixed. Can't say much about the others. Averaging around 2 fumbles a game in the option isn't unusual unfortunatley .

I remember a few Army games like that. Steelman fumbled 4 snaps from center in the opening game of his senior year out at San Diego State. We lost one of them, though. That's usually an easier problem to solve than some of the other TO fumbles. The part that I found odd about the SDSU game was that Steelman was working with the same center he played with at USMAPS; so they should have been more in synch.

 

[ashokan]

Northwestern in 2011 was also like that with 8 fumbles and only three lost. Steelman lost around 4 balls alone at the snap.

Interesting comments by players:

Timpf :


"We did so many great things. We just had breakdowns in certain areas. It was definitely disappointing.".. we weren't coming up with the fits that we needed. Just mental breakdowns on where we needed to go". ...


Angel Santiago:

"There's certain things that we practiced over and over and then, when we don't go there and don't execute, it just really, really makes us mad. It's very disappointing."


Seems like same old same old. How do Army teams of all teams not have their heads in games and fail to execute what they practice? i was wondering if a lot of subs make these bad plays - like going offsides on a field goal in 4th quarter. Maybe more starters should be on specials like Rutgers does
This post was edited on 9/28 6:31 PM by ashokan

ARMY BLOG

 

[swburke]

Lots of comments about fumbles and turnovers - just to remind everyone - we did not turn the ball over at all. According to Coach M, we were not overconfident and we played ouf butts off. And we gave up 625 yards to a mid tier IVY LEAGUE team!!!

I hope Coach Monken and the team will get it squared away - but I think that kind of shows where we are right now.

Anyone on the board that would have said we would gain 597 yards, have no turnovers, have a pick 6 by the D and lose??

 

[ashokan]

"Anyone on the board that would have said we would gain 597 yards, have no turnovers, have a pick 6 by the D and lose??"


Oh I thought Yale game would turn out better but nothing Army does surprises me when it comes to playing teams Army should beat. I wasn't expecting Monken to render any miracles at beginning of season. All summer I was reading how good the team looked and Monken really had all cylinders sparking along. I never judge Army by how they play themselves in practice. That's a big mistake with any college team but especially Army because they can't duplicate most teams size, speed and ability. I wasn't suprised team lost to Stanford or Wake. Munken is still running the option and with Ellersons players. There are no easy quick fixes. Now Monken knows just what he has to deal with and I am sure will get after fixing things as best he can this season. If the team starts playing better while not winning that's ok as long as they get better at the nitty gritty stuff. I see good players making good plays - then I see junk that creeps in. Penalities, mental lapses, high school field goals etc - those are coaching/culture/talent things that take all this season and part of next. Look at Strong in Texas - he's building new from ground up. Army just might need some of that. I think some players might need to sit even if it means loses. Army has some players that don't exactly love football and don't have their head or heart in the game. Munken needs players who aren't just feeling lucky to have landed on a D1 team when nobody else would take them.

 

[BillGil]

I was at the Yale game and the reality is they were far more revved up than us. There were 3 players on the field that popped out as being able to play anywhere in Div 1 and they were all on Yale. I would be shocked if Yale does not win the Ivy. Its true, there is no sense going to a Bowl. We are not in the top 80 teams of Div 1. But we can still attain other goals and frankly 5 wins is a bonanza compared to years past. Poor RE, he was battling Vandy, SDSU, Temple, N Illinios and Ball State 's best programs in years. This schedule is so soft compared to what he went against. People forget he beat Vandy, NWestern, BC, SMU - I'm not sure we are ever going to beat those programs again.

 

[ashokan]

Yale beat Cornell 51-13 yesterday. I know Princeton is decent but Yale looks pretty dominant. Army did get bit by having some usually medicore teams get real good the last few years. Kent St was another one last year. On the flip side Army did catch Northwestern with a new/young sub QB (and leading the unionization things last year) and Boston was as terrible as they've ever been when Army beat them. Some teams come and go. Even Fordham got good last year. Its hard to predict. As far as scheduel goes it would be bnice not to play strong teams 2 years in a row. The option isn't as much as a surprise anymore with the change to the spread. The spread tailored defenses handle option better. Navy didn't even get 200 yard on Rutgers. They did nice making up with the pass though. Army will have to do some of that
This post was edited on 10/5 2:20 PM by ashokan

 

[goodknight65]

Originally posted by BillGil:
I was at the Yale game and the reality is they were far more revved up than us. There were 3 players on the field that popped out as being able to play anywhere in Div 1 and they were all on Yale.

Try standing next to Larry Dixon and tell me he doesn't look like a Div 1 level player. The fact that he's a Heisman

On the other hand if you're intent is to say that Yale has some good players, I will agree fully. We think that just because they're Ivy League, it must mean that no FBS programs were interested in them.

Yale has at least two players who either played on Power 5 teams or were recruited by Power 5 teams. The QB Morgan was the 2d string QB at Clemson before he transferred. He also had offers from Ball State and Marshall.

Their DE, Victor Egu had an offer from Army in 2012. He also had offers from Oregon, Arizona, Arizona State, Boise State, Cal, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada, Notre Dame, SD State, Washington and Washington State.

Deon Randall wasn't quite that heavily recruited, but he had offers from AFA, Navy, and SD State.

Tyler Varga transferred in from University of Western Ontario in 2011, where he was Team MVP, Conference and CIS National Freshman of the Year, and led the nation (Canada that is) in scoring.

There are probably others, but I don't plan to look them up.

 

[BillGil]

GK-
The guy you are talking about (Larry) , and I love him, had something like 18 yards on 10 carries. How can he fit into the eyeball assumptions I made about the game? Varga could have done that on one leg. It was like watching a college kid go up against high school players. If they so much as used him on a pitch occasionally, instead of straight off tackle dives, he would have run for 300 yards.