Few college teams could possess the football for the game’s final 9 minutes and 53 seconds and not be tempted to score a touchdown.
Cale Hellums and Army absolutely did not want to give the ball back to Evan Simon and Temple under any condition. Don’t think I’ve ever have seen a finish where Army’s quarterback could have reached the end zone on consecutive snaps and instead opted to slid before the goal line.
Hellums described Army’s 14-13 win was as “gritty” a few times during the postgame press conference. That’s also Hellums. He takes hit after hit and pops up for more. Hellums’ 36 carries give him 209 for the season, second in FBS behind Oregon State’s Anthony Hankerson (212).
Army’s final, clock-eating drive encompassed 18 plays, including two fourth-down conversions by Hellums. Army is now 29 for 42 on fourth down this season. And, Hellums has moved the chains 17 of those times on runs.
The play of the game may have been Hellums’ 26-yard pass to tight end Parker Poloskey on 4th-and-1 during Army’s second-half, opening touchdown drive. A pretty impressive throw considering the situation and that a Temple defender was bearing down on Hellums as he rolled to his right.
Poloskey’s catch was his second this season and both have been on fourth down.
For the second straight game, Army escaped a fourth-down disaster in victory. A missed assignment dropped Hellums for a 3-yard loss on 4th-and-1 from Temple’s 44 with 26 seconds left in the first half. Temple pushed the ball downfield, nearly scored a touchdown and settled for a go-ahead field goal, taking a 10-7 halftime lead.
Army’s clock management was a little sketchy. The Black Knights’ third-down play finished with 48 seconds remaining. Army elected to no-huddle and not use one of its two timeouts for the fourth-down call. Maybe, hindsight, but could’ve a run or sneak up the middle instead off tackle made more sense?
Jake Rendina almost doubled his season carries with a career-high nine carries, career-high 42 yards and his second career touchdown. Talked in the preseason how Rendina could have a breakout year and help Army in the red zone. Army’s quarterback switch may have changed that early. But, would love to see Rendina, who has only 19 carries on the season, used running the football as much as a blocker down the stretch.
Sidelines Army’s Cuthbert Hutton make a great observation about the Black Knights’ defense putting pressure on Temple QB Evan Simon. He was spot on. Army was credited with six quarterback hurries on Simon’s 25 passing attempts, just under 25 percent.
Army held Temple to 25 percent on third down (2-of-8) and gave up only three pass plays of 10 yards or more.
Army’s point differential is now at 0 (130-130) in six American Conference games and + 3 for the season (201-198).
Shoutout: Senior offensive lineman Braden Bartosh stepped in for Paolo Gennarelli, who was injured, at right guard on the final drive and Army didn’t miss a beat. Monken mentioned Bartosh’s improvement from his sophomore season to now firstie year during his Zoom call earlier in the week.
Availability update: Monken said sophomore running back Briggs Bartosh, who missed the Temple game, could be back for Army’s home finale against Tulsa next Saturday.
