Army stumbles to FCS Tarleton State in 2 OT

Army did just about everything they could, particularly on offense, to give the game away to Tarleton State in its season opener Friday night. 

The Black Knights succeeded. 

Army had three second-half turnovers, missed two key missed field goal attempts and had five penalties, helping the visiting Texans to an exciting, yet confounding, 30-27 double-overtime victory at Michie Stadium before 23,032 fans. 

Let’s be clear here. It is not that Tarleton State, an FCS team that plays in the unheralded United Athletic Conference, played well, they did, it is that Army played one of its worst halves of football in the 12-year reign of coach Jeff Monken.

The loss was the first by Army, which went 12-2 last year and finished the season ranked as high as 21^st in final national polls, to an FCS team since the Black Knights were upset by visiting Fordham, 37-35, in 2015. In 2014, Monken’s first year, Army was shocked by Yale, from the Ivy League, 49-43, in New Haven, Conn.

On Friday, the blame game can start just about everywhere on offense. The offensive line, with two starters back from the squad that won The Joe Moore Award as the nation’s best last season, was downright awful. They often failed to open inside holes for quarterback Dewayne Coleman and his running backs. Assignments were missed on the perimeter.

Coleman, a senior starting only his second game, was inconsistent. He made a couple of big runs and throws, including a 35-yard reception that sophomore Brady Anderson made a great catch on. But Coleman also seemed out of sorts on other plays, throwing two interceptions in the fourth quarter, one on the Tarleton State 1-yard line that killed an Army drive that seemed ready to give the Black Knights a two-score lead midway through the fourth quarter. He finished with 129 yards passing on seven completions and had 112 rushing yards on 24 carries. Coleman was banged up twice and left the game with 1:07 left and didn’t return for overtime. Junior Cale Hellums, who scored his first career rushing TD earlier, took every snap in the extra sessions.

Sophomore kicker Dawson Jones, who Monken said was consistent throughout preseason practice, missed a 43-yard field goal to win the game with time running out in regulation, wide right, and minutes later, missed a 35-yarder in the second overtime, wide left, that gave the Texans their chance to win the game with a field goal of their own in the second overtime period. They did so when Brad Larson hit his third field goal of the game, from 37 yards out, to seal the victory for Tarleton State, which is now 2-0 on the season.

“Congratulations to Tarleton State, they completely outplayed us and they were the better football team tonight,” said Monken, who is now 9-3 in opening games at Army. “Unfortunately, we did not do the things it takes to win the football game. It started with turning the ball over three times. We did not sustain blocks and they got off blocks and made plays. We allowed them to get some big plays and they sustained their blocks. Missed tackles, missed assignments that had nothing to do with them. 

“It is my responsibility and the responsibility of my staff to have our guys ready to go, to play better, to play fundamentally sound and execute their assignments. We did not do it. We missed two field goals and they hit all their’s. That’s the story. They outplayed us.”

Tarleton State was impressive. The Texans were big and talented on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Quarterback Victor Gabalis was steady, completing 16 passes for 152 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open tight end Dawson Hearne that tied the game at 24-24 with about nine minutes left in regulation. Tarleton State had no turnovers.

The Texans’ running game also caused a lot of damage for Army. Tarleton State racked up 192 rushing yards on 42 carries and two touchdowns.

On the bright side, as Army gets ready to visit Manhattan, Kansas next Saturday to play the Big 12’s highly-regarded Kansas State, was the Black Knights defense. With senior co-captain Andon Thomas leading the way with 14 tackles, the defense managed to keep Army in the game by forcing Tarleton to punt seven times in the contest. 

“We knew that when offense made a mistake, we had to bail them out and we were able to do that a few times,’ said senior co-captain and linebacker Kalib Fortner. “But it has got to be a team effort. We can’t make those mistakes offensively. So, defense was able to make a few stops, but it should have never got to that point.”

Monken also saw some positives from the Black Knights’ defensive performance. “(The defense) answered the bell on more than one occasion,” Monken said. “But we gave up some big plays that was disappointing on defense. We gave up some big run plays and their good running back busted out of there a couple of times. He is really fast. We missed some tackles, tackling up high and he was strong enough to run through those and gain a few extra yards.

“But the defense played hard and they played really well at times. They put them in some jams. We just got to play better overall. Offense, defense, kicking games, coaching. We got to do better or (Kansas State) next week will beat us like nobody has beat us in a long time.”

Fortner said that a lot has to be done in practice, starting tomorrow. “Army football knows how to win,” he said. “Move forward and respond. Bring our lunch bucket on Sunday and get back to work. That’s watching film, in the weight room, on the practice field and minimizing those mistakes. We have to do that every day by hard work, effort, focus and discipline.”