ADVERTISEMENT

The Army Preview

Pathetic offense today. Punting was also not good. I don’t understand the play calling on the 2 yard line. Again, why didn’t we play a different QB late after down two scores and at least try and move the ball through the air? We had one good offensive play. Bueller....
 
Pathetic offense today. Punting was also not good. I don’t understand the play calling on the 2 yard line. Again, why didn’t we play a different QB late after down two scores and at least try and move the ball through the air? We had one good offensive play. Bueller....
Can't block, can't run, can't pass, can't punt. Tough season.
 
Yeah we can say 2020 all we want but this was embarrassing.
Is it time for some coaching changes on offense? Coach KN did it on defense two years ago and we are very much improved on that side of the ball. I truly don’t know if you make changes based on this pandemic season, but I also don’t know if you can afford not to at least do something.
 
I really wish I could see a way forward for this offense. I know the line was horrible, but this offense can't function until it has a solid QB.
 
Is it time for some coaching changes on offense? Coach KN did it on defense two years ago and we are very much improved on that side of the ball. I truly don’t know if you make changes based on this pandemic season, but I also don’t know if you can afford not to at least do something.
This is all about the offensive line, IMO.
It wouldn’t matter what offensive scheme we’re playing.
 
As you stated, you can claim 2020, but every team was pretty much dealt the same hand regarding lack of spring ball and other practice issues. COVID certainly provides an excuse, but I have to think there are other issues at play here. I don't follow the roster all that closely, but I know that it's easier to transfer than it has been in the past. Did Navy lose more players than expected this year, either to transfer or injury? It's hard to pick out individual areas of weakness on the O line, but the slots and QB positions didn't seem to be anywhere near as deep as they've been in past years.
 
every team did not go all camp without hitting. hell, army *moved their team to a hotel.* this isn't a mystery, guys. not that there isn't legitimate criticism to be made, but don't overreact to circumstances we'll never see again.
 
I don’t think talent or depth was an issue this year at all. Perhaps at QB, but it was an offensive mess from game 1. Defense got much better as the year progressed but it wasn’t enough.
 
every team did not go all camp without hitting. hell, army *moved their team to a hotel.* this isn't a mystery, guys. not that there isn't legitimate criticism to be made, but don't overreact to circumstances we'll never see again.
I think most of us get that, but it’s also hard to watch that game and not think that we just looked completely clueless on offense. We also seemed to regress as the year progressed so that wasn’t exactly a good thing either.
 
Having won 4 of the last 5, I think one can argue Monken is running a better program. I thought moving to the AAC would give us a recruiting advantage over Army (their unappealing schedule, our playing in a league with teams that aspire to NY6 and CFP, etc.). That doesn't seem to be the case. Hopefully, some enterprising Mids Shanghaied Army's punter and he's in the luggage compartment of an Annapolis-bound bus as I type.
 
The writeup mentions that teams can't play catchup on fundamentals during the season because they have to prepare for the next opponent, which makes sense. However, Navy didn't play a game between October 31st and November 28th. You would think some of the earlier problems could have been corrected. Were they able to practice during that time, or were they prevented by COVID precautions? They scored a total of 13 points in the three games following that layoff - they scored 95 points in the three previous games. Granted the opponents were different, but the offense, while not pretty, wasn't inept for the entire season. It seems they regressed after the layoff.
 
Last edited:
Having won 4 of the last 5, I think one can argue Monken is running a better program. I thought moving to the AAC would give us a recruiting advantage over Army (their unappealing schedule, our playing in a league with teams that aspire to NY6 and CFP, etc.). That doesn't seem to be the case. Hopefully, some enterprising Mids Shanghaied Army's punter and he's in the luggage compartment of an Annapolis-bound bus as I type.
They play nobody. We’ve won the second most AAC games since we joined the conference. We’ve had a tough run the last few years on offense, and this year is just a garbage fire of a year. Flush it and forget it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: usna86
Embarrassing loss and on the biggest stage. Our O was going backwards in the 4th and our players were losing it, which is very uncharacteristic. This doesn't look like a single year aberration to me. The problems are on one side of the ball. Our D endured the same things as our O this year and performed very well despite some costly transfers and injuries.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jpilli
The writeup mentions that teams can't play catchup on fundamentals during the season because they have to prepare for the next opponent, which makes sense. However, Navy didn't play a game between October 31st and November 28th. You would think some of the earlier problems could have been corrected. Were they able to practice during that time, or were they prevented by COVID precautions? They scored a total of 13 points in the three games following that layoff - they scored 95 points in the three previous games. Granted the opponents were different, but the offense, while not pretty, wasn't inept for the entire season. It seems they regressed after the layoff.
they weren't practicing. team activities were stopped.
 
We were outscored 55-7 by our two arch rivals this season.
The butthurt is acute. Can’t be rationalized.
 
KN said it in the presser, got some soul searching to do on offense. I’m happy to let him and Ivin figure it out since it’s their job not mine. Hope they come up with something that isn’t just relying on Xavier’s improv ability, bacause he’s not quite Malcolm as we’ve seen.

Edit - that came out wrong, sounded like a slam on the kid and blaming him for what happened, which is not what I meant to say. My hope is that the offense gets back to what we’re used to seeing, not so much special-QB centric. Improv Malc bailed out the offense a lot last year, and there’s only one Malc, is what I’m saying.
 
Last edited:
The follow up article to Army Week should be entitled Navy Weak....
 
I don‘t understand why Morris didn’t come in at the 6 minute mark with Army up 12-0. At that point we had already gone 3 and out 7 times, had lost a fumble and gotten tackled for a safety. We needed two scores not a time eating drive. Putting Morris in with 2 minutes left was pointless.
 
I don‘t understand why Morris didn’t come in at the 6 minute mark with Army up 12-0. At that point we had already gone 3 and out 7 times, had lost a fumble and gotten tackled for a safety. We needed two scores not a time eating drive. Putting Morris in with 2 minutes left was pointless.
Very little of our offensive decision making made sense this year. It's so far off the rails, it's hard to know where to start in fixing it. Others may disagree, but to me, the troubles started when Zack Abey became the starter. He was a tough runner, and a good kid but he didn't operate the triple option well. They started to try different things. The foundation of the triple option seems to have been eroded. 2019 was a phenomenal year, but perhaps was built more on individual talents than a well functioning system. But the base offense hasn't seemed that sound for a while.
 
Slept on this, maybe it’s a small point, but somewhere along the line our mantra went from “Expect To Win” to “It’s Hard To Win.” Expect To Win was everywhere, plastered on merch etc. A Sing Second pod with Supe Miller credited Chet with bringing that mindset.

In that same pod Miller says KN has told him a thousand times “It’s hard to win.” The players parrot it all the time. Arline said it three times in his interview. That’s the message they’ve internalized.

Meanwhile Monken and the Army players consistently say some version of “We are supposed to win” and “Never stop believing we’re going to win” on repeat. That’s the message they’ve internalized. Maybe it’s a little thing but I’ve definitely noticed it. There’s a big difference in those two messages.

No s*#% it’s hard to win. If it was easy anyone could do it. My own job is very much a bottom line thing, I get paid well but I’m expected to produce. If I went around telling everyone how hard it is to do, and drummed that into my people, pretty sure my boss would pull me aside and tell me to cut the s*#%.

One day KN is going to have a statue on the yard, and he’ll deserve every bit of it. But I don’t think “It’s Hard To Win” goes on a statue. Let’s get back to Expect To Win.
 
Ashley Ingram has always been a great coach (and recruiter) in the past. I don't think he has suddenly become a bad coach. I think what changed is the cut blocking rules and the additional scrutiny on cut blocking by the refs. The 15 yard penalty is a deterrent that the coaches aren't willing to risk. So we do less of it, to our obvious detriment.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Navy72
The whole brigade wouldn't fit in Southeast Pungo A&T's stadium. Where would the rest of the fans sit? It is right on the beach, though. Which is nice.
 
As much as I want to point to QB play, we couldn’t get the ball into the end zone in 4 tries from the 2 yard line yesterday. That was a microcosm of how bad the offense was this year.

I don’t know what the problem is but it’s really hard to pin everything on 2020. Big issue? No doubt. Ken make a mistake by no contact summer? Yes and he admitted it. Perhaps that is 98% of the problem. I hope it is. In 2011, we had a lot of Ken isn’t tough enough chatter and he’s run out of PJ’s recruits. Most of that was horse crap but Ken corrected the real issues. In 2018, Mike seemed like he diagnosed the problem and the coaches corrected It for 2019 and we sliced up the competition. Here’s to 2021.
 
Last edited:
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT