Timing is everything.
And, on Saturday at noon Army plays host to Charlotte, on paper at least perhaps the weakest team in the American Conference this season. A victory would restore the Black Knights to a .500 record and give them another much-needed boost of confidence.
But college football games are not played on paper. They are played on 100-yard fields made of either real or synthetic grass by big and fast young men who sometimes play beyond their means and other times fail to do what is necessary to win the game.
That is Army coach Jeff Monken’s dilemma this week as his team returns to Michie Stadium after two straight away games. Will his Black Knights play as well as they did in early September against Kansas State or last week against UAB or will they revert to their sloppy play against Tarleton State and North Texas, two overtime losses filled with turnovers at home?
The bottom line is that Army needs a win in order to continue to salvage an enigmatic season that currently has the team with a 2-3 record and 1-2 in the American Conference. A victory over the 49ers, Army is favored by 17.5 points by Vegas oddsmakers, will even the Black Knights record at 3-3 and make it that much easier to get to the much-desired six wins needed to qualify for a post-season bowl game.
Perhaps more importantly, it will also give the Black Knights another jolt of confidence in themselves and what they do best. In fact, the hope in the Army locker room must be to use this game to notch another victory, home in on their offensive playmaking and defensive tackling and, maybe most importantly, keep learning how to not turnover the ball.
As Monken said at his regular Tuesday press conference, his team has not yet turned its season around. All they have done, he said, is win its last game and there is much more to be accomplished in the coming weeks, starting on Saturday.
“I hope we play well,” said Monken. “That is all that really matters. Just being able to execute our assignments and fundamentals to the best of our abilities. I hope we can be competitive.
So, what has Monken learned thus far about his team. “Maybe that we are capable of improving each week,” he said. “I thought we improved from the East Carolina to the UAB game and hopefully improve from UAB to the Charlotte game. We are going to need to.
“I learned that we have to sustain blocks at a better effort than we did. We have to do a better job of making every tackle. (Against UAB) I thought we did a really good job of taking care of the ball on offense and we got a takeaway on defense and one on special teams.”
Charlotte is struggling thus far this season. The 49ers are 1-4, with its lone win coming against FCS-level Monmouth by one touchdown. The 49ers are scoring under 20 points a game, giving up nearly 35 points a game and allowing more than 466 yards in total offense to their opponents per game.
Meanwhile, Army looked sound last week, especially in the second half. Junior quarterback Cale Hellums returned to the form he first showed in the Kansas State game, coming off the bench late in the first quarter to rush for 81 yards and rally his team to a 31-13 victory over UAB. The injured Hayden Reed returned to his old form, scoring the Black Knights first touchdown and rushing for 54 yards in the game. And, of course, Noah Short just continues to be himself, a Mr. Everything for the Black Knights who just keeps on piling up the rushing and receiving yards.
Monken said he was not ready to commit to a starting quarterback and even hinted that both Hellums and senior Dewayne Coleman could see action in the Charlotte game.
Overall, Monken maintains the only attitude he can have coaching college players. Take one game at a time and hope that his team, filled with young players in many key positions, learns from each experience. “Here at Army every game is a challenge for us, every game,” he said. “And, this one will be a challenge as well.
“There is a lot of football still left to play. I am not judging the season based on five games. It is one game at a time. We will try our best to play as well as we can in this game. Our coaches have worked really hard, our players have worked really hard. They continue to practice and prepare with a great spirit and energy.”
