I was thinking about posting this after Lafayette but I waited one additional week.
After eleven games Army has only 3 starting third quarter drives that did not end in a punt. Those three good ones were against Liberty, San Jose State, and Lafayette and were all drives for TDs. (Note that AIr Force and Lafayette are the only games this year where Army did not receive the second half kickoff).
Those three games where we did drive for a TD on our first possession of the second half appear to be the weakest 3 teams we have played this year. So going 3 for 11 in those drives is even less successful than it sounds.
I remember a ton of fullback runs and QB inside runs on those Army drives staring the second halves. Especially in the games from Miami through Colgate.
My hypothesis is that Army is calling conservative running plays to start second halves because Army is protecting a lead and trying to kill clock with a long TD drive. And I also think that our play caller is slipping back into habits from 2017 when Ahmad Bradshaw was our QB. AB was a fearsome and tough runner inside the tackles. He was tough to stop on midline option plays and also run plays where he faked to a back who often became his lead blocker. I think we are calling the plays to start our 3rd quarters in 2018 which are best suited for a player who is no longer on the field.
If opponents have figured this tendency out that might be contributing to our slow second half starts.
After eleven games Army has only 3 starting third quarter drives that did not end in a punt. Those three good ones were against Liberty, San Jose State, and Lafayette and were all drives for TDs. (Note that AIr Force and Lafayette are the only games this year where Army did not receive the second half kickoff).
Those three games where we did drive for a TD on our first possession of the second half appear to be the weakest 3 teams we have played this year. So going 3 for 11 in those drives is even less successful than it sounds.
I remember a ton of fullback runs and QB inside runs on those Army drives staring the second halves. Especially in the games from Miami through Colgate.
My hypothesis is that Army is calling conservative running plays to start second halves because Army is protecting a lead and trying to kill clock with a long TD drive. And I also think that our play caller is slipping back into habits from 2017 when Ahmad Bradshaw was our QB. AB was a fearsome and tough runner inside the tackles. He was tough to stop on midline option plays and also run plays where he faked to a back who often became his lead blocker. I think we are calling the plays to start our 3rd quarters in 2018 which are best suited for a player who is no longer on the field.
If opponents have figured this tendency out that might be contributing to our slow second half starts.
