For the second time in five days, Army spotted its opponent 21 points in the first quarter. Only this time there was no dramatic comeback for the Black Knights.
Instead, with the Black Knights showing little offense throughout the game and East Carolina defensive line dominating the line of scrimmage, Army fell to the Pirates, 28-6, Thursday night at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
The loss dropped the Black Knights to 1-3 overall and 0-2 in the American. East Carolina is now 3-2 overall and 1-0 in the American. Last season, Army beat the visiting Pirates, 45-28, behind Bryson Daily’s five rushing and one passing touchdowns.
“If we are going to win football games, we can’t go down 21-0 in the first quarter,” said Army senior linebacker and co-captain Andon Thomas. “We have to come out hot. How (the defense) played in the second quarter and the second half we have to ultimately open up with that. I think that is the big recipe for success. We just can’t go down big early.”
As Army coach Jeff Monken repeated several times right after the game, East Carolina simply outplayed the Black Knights from start to finish. Though the defense regained its footing after the first quarter and, at one point, stopped the Pirates on six consecutive drives, Army managed just one touchdown, a two-yard quarterback dive by Dewayne Coleman early in the third quarter, and finished with just 290 total offensive yards and only 49 passing yards on six of 12 passing by Coleman and backup Cale Hellums.
“We had plenty of time to get back in the game,” Monken said on the situation after Coleman’s touchdown. “Our defense came up with a couple of stops in the second half on fourth down, but we could not do anything with it. We needed to turn those into scores and get ourselves back into the game. We just did not make the plays.”
Clearly that was due to East Carolina’s domination of the line of scrimmage. The Pirates manhandled the Army offense line and prevented the Black Knights’ option attack from getting started. It also seemed to scuttle the entire offensive game plan for the Black Knights.
“They kicked our butts,” said Monken. “That is the bottom line. We could not do anything with it. We could not run our offense efficiently enough to continue to turn the sticks and get first downs. We had some throws and some plays that we tried to run to keep ourselves in it.”
In fact, East Carolina seemed to crowd the box, sometimes rushing seven or eight players that overwhelmed the Army blocking scheme. “I think they were shooting their gaps,” noted senior slotback Noah Short, who finished with 127 rushing yards on 11 carries, including an impressive 60-yard run that set up Army’s only score. “Obviously when playing the triple (option) you are going to bring pressure and bodies into the box. I think they did that well. When we did pick up a block in the gap, they just had another guy coming. They were bringing the house all night. They played well.”
The Pirates ran out to a quick 7-0 lead on their first drive when quarterback Katin Houser pushed in from two yards out less than three minutes into the contest. Then, after a quick four and out by Army, Houser found Anthony Smith for a 40-yard touchdown reception to give East Carolina a 14-0 lead.
Army’s deepest penetration of the first half was stopped at the East Carolina 29-yard line after two Coleman passes, one slightly behind the receiver, were dropped. Houser than found Jayvontay Conner for a 20-yard score to put the Pirates up 21-0 with 39 seconds left in the first quarter.
East Carolina scored its last touchdown midway through the fourth quarter when backup holder Kyler Pearson dashed 32 yards for a touchdown on a fake field goal attempt.
Now, Monken and his staff has nine days to get ready for the next game at UAB on Saturday, Oct. 4. It will be the next test to finding a way to salvage the season, which has thus far seen two overtime losses, a major upset victory over the Big 12’s Kansas State and now the loss to East Carolina.
“I think just building some confidence back,” said Monken on the future. “We got two games that we basically let get away from us with turnovers and self-inflicted errors. Two overtime games that certainly if we don’t make some of those mistakes, we have a great chance to win. When you don’t come up with the win that wears on you. It eats at your confidence.
“A game like tonight they took it to us. They kicked our butts. Now we just have to get these guys to focus on the next game and put what’s behind us behind us and just get ready for the next one. That is what we have to do.”
