Quick thoughts: Florida Atlantic

Expected a pretty tight game in Army’s first American Athletic Conference game at Florida Atlantic.

So did the oddsmakers as the Black Knights were 3-point underdogs. Army left Boca Raton with 24-7 and the game wasn’t as close as the score indicated.

The Black Knights left points and plays on the field. Army dominated the first half and it felt like the Black Knights should have held more than a 7-point lead at halftime. The offense lost some momentum after its first turnover of the season – a fumble by Kanye Udoh. Florida Atlantic scored its only touchdown on an extended drive after the fumble.

Army rushed for 405 yards and coach Jeff Monken believes there still more out there for the offense. Good to think after another pretty efficient and well-distributed running game.

“We are a long way from being where I would have like to been coming out of today’s game on offense,” Monken said. “Yes, we rushed for a lot of yards but man, we left a lot out there. Some perimeter blocks that we didn’t get. Running the zone and power inside and not getting our pads and our hat where it needed to be and we got our face cut off a couple of times. Those are all things that we are going to have to do as the season goes along.”

Can’t remember the last time there was an more emphasis on getting the ball on the perimeter as there has been through two games.

Noah Short’s 160 rushing yards were the most by Army slotback in the Jeff Monken era (2014-present). Short’s 243 yards are the most by Army player through two games since Ahmad Bradshaw (324) in 2017. The junior is averaging an insane 12.3 yards on 19 carries. He’s one carry short of qualifying for the nation’s lead in yards per carry.

Nothing exemplifies Army football more than quarterback Bryson Daily sprinting down the field on Short’s 49-yard run and throwing a block 40 yards downfield.

Daily ran the offense at a high rate, recorded his third career 100-yard game (117 yards) and led the team in carries (17) for the second straight game.

Daily’s first pass of the game was Army’s first touchdown pass of the season, 44 yards to Casey Reynolds, the senior wide receiver’s first career touchdown. The duo nearly hooked up on a score in the opener last week against Lehigh with a pass to the 1-yard line.

Army only completed the touchdown pass to Reynolds on four attempts. But, Reed nearly had a leaping catch along the sideline and Short couldn’t bring a would-be TD in the end zone.

Matt Rhodes leads the nation in touchdown runs by a holder. Rhodes’ 23-yard keeper was more special teams magic. Running back Hayden Reed, who was an edge protector, and long snapper Owen Walter threw critical blocks as Rhodes sprinted into the end zone untouched. Unbelievable that Rhodes’ touchdown finished a 15-play drive that took 10 minutes and 33 seconds off the clock.

Will be interesting to see what else special teams coach Sean Saturnio has in his bag on two successful fakes (Andon Thomas 35-yard run in opener) in the first two games.

Don’t think Army subbed out on the offensive line for that drive. Quite impressive considering the temperature in low 90s. Daily said it was the hottest game he’s ever played in. That’s saying something since Daily played high school football in Texas.

Defensively, Army didn’t allow Florida Atlantic quarterback Cam Fancher to get into much of a rhythm and took away his running game (4 carries, 10 yards). The Black Knights only allowed one play of more than 20 yards and one run of 10 or more yards.

Senior captain Kyle Lewis was active at the point of attack in the run game. Lewis’ move from nose tackle to defensive end looks like a good one.

Defensive coordinator Nate Woody shuffled in players like he said he would and players stepped up. Junior safety Gavin Shields read plays well and was around the ball, making four tackles, one for a loss and breaking up two passes.

Believe I saw this stat from Brendan in Jersey on social media: Army, now 2-0, has gone to a bowl game in the four previous seasons it has started with two wins in the Jeff Monken era.

Army’s earliest bye week since 2008 (Sept. 13) is ahead for the Black Knights followed by a home game against Rice on Sept. 21