Key Stats:
• Army won the turnover battle, 1-0.
• Army rushed for 441 yards on 62 carries for a 7.1-yard/carry average.
• QB Jemel Jones led all rushers for the second straight week with 17 carries for 96 yards and 3 touchdowns.
• LB Leo Lowin had his second interception of the season and led the team with 11 tackles including 0.5 sacks and 1.5 tackles for loss.
• K Quinn Maretzki was 2/2 on field goals and 5/5 on PAT’s. He remains perfect on the season in PAT tries.
• Black Knights held the Warhawks to 4-11 on third down and 0-2 on fourth down.
• Four different Army players scored touchdowns.
• While ULM quarterbacks went 21-28 passing, Army’s defense did an impressive job keeping the ball in front of them as they held ULM to 164 yards passing and 5.9 yards/attempt.
Game Summary:
• Army kicked off to ULM to open the game, and the Warhawks offense bogged down on their own 42-yard line after a Leo Lowin QB sack set up a 4th and 15. Coach Monken and Coach Saturnio installed a block after seeing a weakness on film in ULM’s punt protection. The block call worked to perfection as Army had two defenders running “Scot free” at the punter. In his post-game press conference, Head Coach Jeff Monken said that he couldn’t understand how they didn’t get a piece of the punt, but according to officials, they didn’t and Army roughed the punter to continue the ULM drive at the Army 43-yard line. Army’s defense stiffened again though and held ULM to a 22-yard field goal to give the Warhawks the first points of the contest and take a 3-0 lead.
• On Army’s next possession, they faced a 4th and 4 at the ULM 31-yard line. Jemel Jones took a QB keeper right for 31 yards and an Army touchdown to put the Black Knights ahead 7-3.
• After a 12-play, 72-yard drive by Chandler Rogers and the ULM offense, the Army Defense clamped down in the red zone once again, forcing 4th and goal from the 3-yard line. Quendrelin Hammonds broke up a Rogers – Alfred Luke pass and Army took over on their own 3.
• Army went 9 yards on their next 3 plays and Coach Monken (to no one’s surprise) decided to roll the dice and go for it on 4th and 1 from the 13-yard line. In his post-game press conference, Coach Monken mentioned that they had a fullback dive called, but because the ULM defense had a man in every gap, they checked out of it to an option play and they missed a scoop block play side, forcing a 1-yard loss for Jemel Jones and a turnover on downs.
• ULM took the ensuing possession right in on one play with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Rogers to Boogie Knight (yes, that’s really his name). ULM had a couple of players on the “all-name” team).
• Army was stopped again at the ULM 39-yard line on 4th and 6 because ULM was shooting gaps and Army was missing a lot of “scoop” (backside) blocks according to Coach Monken early on. Billy Boehlke hit a beautiful pooch punt that pinned ULM at their 2-yard line to start their next drive.ULM took over and put together their best drive of the afternoon – a 6-play, a 98-yard scoring drive that featured a 69-yard Bugs Mortimer (also all-name team) run to the Army 14. Two plays later, Andrew Henry took a handoff straight up the middle to give ULM their largest lead of the day at 17-7. Army got the ball back with 5:43 left in the half and put together what may have been the most important drive of the day for the Black Knights. The Black Knights went 75 yards in 11 plays and took 5:06 off the clock before halftime. Jones punctuated the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run – his second score of the day. Army stopped ULM on a 3-and-out and tried to get the ball back and maybe get into field goal range, but adverted a near disaster as the ULM punt ricocheted off an Army player’s foot who was blocking for no return man. Thankfully, Jimmy Ciarlo pounced on the ball at the Army 35-yard line and took a knee to go into halftime trailing only 17-14.
• GBK Publisher Charles Grevious and I agreed that the 3rd quarter was the best quarter of football Army has played all year. After the opening kickoff return of the second half was called back for a holding penalty that nullified a Braheam Murphy touchdown, Jones and the Army offense went to work at the 45-yard line. They went 34 yards in 10 plays before bogging down. Quinn Maretzki came in and kicked the game-tying field goal from 38 yards out.
• On ULM’s second play of the next series, Jimmy Ciarlo got to Rogers and disrupted his throwing motion, giving Leo Lowin another opportunity and his second interception of the season.9 plays later, Jones had his third touchdown of the day from the 6-yard line giving Army a 24-17 lead they would not relinquish. Army’s D came up big again with another 3-and-out and then scored on a 60-yard drive that was highlighted by a 36-yard Jones-Ay’Juan Marshall completion along the sideline that was originally called incomplete but overturned once instant replay clearly showed Marshall got one foot in bounds.
• After Army turned ULM over on downs following a sack by Max DiDomenico, Tyhier Tyler came in to replace a cramping Jones and Tyler, Marshall, and Ja’Kobi Buchanan led an 8-play, 55-yard scoring drive capped off by a 3-yard Buchanan touchdown run to give Army a 38-17 lead.
• ULM did score on their next possession, which Monken referred to as “disappointing,” considering all the momentum Army had at that point in the game. The Warhawks went 75 yards in 6 plays. The drive was capped by a 23-yard completion from Rogers to Jevin Frett.
• After a failed onside kick attempt by the Warhawks, Cade Ballard came in and led a 5-play, 23-yard penalty-marred drive that culminated with a 37-yard Quinn Maretzki field goal to give the Black Knights a 41-24 lead.
• Army’s defense forced another 3-and-out and Army turned to their QB #4 in Bryson Daily. Daily took the second play from scrimmage 64 yards for a touchdown and Army walked away with a 48-24 win that was a lot closer than the score indicates.
Post-Game Thoughts:
We agreed that the defense turned in their best performance of the season, despite allowing 24 points to a high-powered Warhawk offense. The Warhawks only put together two legitimate touchdown drives, as one drive started at the Army 12-yard line in the first half after the turnover on downs.
Leo Lowin played a magnificent game against both the pass and the run. He had sacks, led the team in tackles and had an interception. He is improving every week. The front seven played better and contained the run, especially in the second half. The secondary also had their best game of the season, with Jabari Moore doing a stellar job in coverage, and Quendrelin Hammonds turning in his best performance of the season.
Jemel Jones continues to impress with his command of the offense, decision-making, ball security, and power running ability. No one is saying he is Ahmad Bradshaw or even Kelvin Hopkins, but he has been very impressive the last three weeks. (On a personal note, it’s hard not to root for Jones as he has stayed with the program for four years despite limited playing time; has never given up; and comes to work every day to prepare and do his job to the best of his ability).
Ay’Juan Marshall is showing serious speed and the ability to be a “T Rob lite” in Tyrell Robinson’s absence. We are hoping the coaches will continue to feed Marshall as he can be a game-breaker with his speed.
Both starting fullbacks (Riley and Buchanan) played most of the game despite nagging injuries. Both were highly effective, especially on the FB power trap play up the middle. Army was “gashing” ULM with this play consistently in the second half.
Having Shayne Buckingham and Jordyn “Boobie” Law back on the offensive line gave Conor Finucane the opportunity to move back to guard and the restructured MOB was opening large holes for Jones and the B-backs all day long.
Air Force is next in two weeks. Andre Carter is still out with an injury and the Black Knights need to get a few more players healthy. At this point, we’re not sure who will start at Quarterback against the Falcons, but as Coach Monken mentioned in his post-game press conference, the good news is that he has 3 quarterbacks who are all capable of leading the offense.
The run defense still needs to improve if they want to contain Haziq Daniels and Brad Roberts and give the offense a chance of upsetting the Falcons in Arlington. Nevertheless, today’s win was the first over a FBS team this season for the Black Knights and gives them a chance to get to .500 if they can pull off the upset. The team is trending in the right direction.
Post-Game Interviews
Head Coach Jeff Monken & Players
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