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Game Thread Ohio State vs Army, 09/16/17 @ 4:30 ET (FOX)

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ScriptOhio

ScriptOhio

Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
2017 LOOK AHEAD: ARMY AT OHIO STATE

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Urban Meyer and Ohio State do everything they can to not only show their respect but promote the terrific men and women of the United States Armed Forces across social media and to their football players. But the head football coach probably isn't too happy to see one on the schedule this fall.

“Best thing about this game is we won it. It's in the rear view mirror,” Meyer said nearly three years ago after Ohio State pulled away from Navy, 34-17, in J.T. Barrett's first career start. “It seemed like we've been working on this thing forever.”

The trip to Baltimore and defeat of the Midshipmen came in Week 1 of the 2014 season. Navy runs a triple option offense, a difficult thing to prepare for and even harder offense to defend. The next week, Virginia Tech's 46 Bear defense shocked the Buckeyes and the college football world as the Hokies upset Ohio State 35-21 in Columbus.

While that season ended with Meyer and Co. lifting the national championship trophy, their next one also has a matchup with a service academy waiting. The Army Black Knights, who also run a version of the triple option, are scheduled to visit Columbus in Week 3 on Sept. 16 at 4:30 p.m.

Ohio State plays UNLV — who went 4-8 last season — the week after it hosts Army. All due respect to the Rebels, they are not on the same level as an ACC school like Virginia Tech. But the Buckeyes might have their hands full against Army, even though head coach Jeff Monken's roster is filled with two- and three-star recruits.

Army beat Navy last season for the first time in the last 15 years of that storied rivalry. It also made its first appearance in a bowl game since 2010. The Black Knights surged past North Texas 38-31 in overtime to win the Heart of Dallas Bowl.

Monken enters his fourth year at the helm of the program coming off his first winning season and sporting a 14-23 overall record. Let's get to know Army a bit more.

OFFENSE
Because the Black Knights are independent, we obviously cannot compare their statistics to other teams in their respective conference. We can, however, look at how much production walked out the door due to graduation.

The biggest piece that is no longer around for Monken on offense is 2016 leading receiver, Edgar Poe. In case you don't make it a point to annually watch the Army-Navy game (you should) you might not know Poe's story.

ARMY FILE
Head Coach Jeff Monken (4th season, 14-23 record at Army)
2016 Record 8-5, beat Navy for the first time since 2001
2016 Postseason Beat North Texas 38-31 in overtime in the Heart of Dallas Bowl
Biggest Losses WR Edgar Poe, LBs Jeremy Timpf and Andrew King, RG Justin Gilbert
Biggest Returnees QB Ahmad Bradshaw, RB Andy Davidson, LB Alex Aukerman
Summary Army's triple option gives defenses fits. Is it enough to pull an upset?
Matchup Sept. 16, 2017: Army at Ohio State, kickoff at 4:30 p.m. on FOX
His middle name is Allen, so yes, his full name is Edgar Allen Poe, like the famous poet. That poet, however, spelled his middle name, Allan. Army's Poe fittingly said last year that he loves poetry and led the Black Knights in receiving for the third straight season. That only amounted to 16 catches for 336 yards and three touchdowns but in an offense that averaged only 7.6 pass attempts per game, his exit leaves a considerable hole.

Quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw (not the one who won two Super Bowls with the New York Giants) returns for his senior season and trying to improve on a 44 percent completion rate from 2016. He threw only four touchdowns and was picked off nine times and tallied 703 total yards through the air.

Monken mixed and matched his quarterback situation often in 2016 — five different players took snaps and all of them appeared in at least nine games. As a whole, the Black Knights finished with seven touchdown passes and 11 interceptions. The second-most passing yards came from junior Chris Carter, who finished with 176.

Entire article: http://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-...r-first-time-ever-on-sept-16-at-the-horseshoe

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Go Bucks...Beat "the mule" (or whatever it is)......:slappy:
 
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FILM STUDY: EXAMINING THE FINER DETAILS OF ARMY'S FLEXBONE TRIPLE-OPTION

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In an era where shotgun spread formation have become the norm at every level of the game, a select few offenses stick out like sore thumbs in the current college football landscape.

As Urban Meyer and his staff look toward their upcoming fall schedule, their eyes may be drawn first to names like Oklahoma, Penn State, and Michigan, immediately noting the talent on each of those rosters. However, another matchup early in the season surely gives the Buckeye coaches reason for pause at this point on the calendar: the September 16th tilt with Army.

Like the other service academies, the Black Knights run a flexbone option system that is rarely found at the FBS level, meaning defensive coordinator Greg Schiano has surely begun preparing for the unique task of stopping such an attack this offseason.

While the Air Raid offenses of Hal Mumme and Mike Leach caught the imaginations of many during their rapid ascent to the mainstream in the 1990s, a similar fascination came with spread-to-run systems like that of Urban Meyer or Randy Walker in the following decade. Similarly, today's flexbone outliers can trace their roots to one man: Paul Johnson.

Johnson is considered to be the 'Godfather' of the flexbone, inventing the system on the fly during a stint at Georgia Southern in the mid-1980s before installing it at the Naval Academy years later. After seeing their arch-rivals find nearly two decades of relative success, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point decided to follow suit with the hiring of one of Johnson's proteges, Jeff Monken, in 2014.

Monken began his coaching career as a graduate assistant for Johnson at Hawaii while the latter was the offensive coordinator, but after a handful of stops around the country, Monken joined Johnson's staff as the running backs coach at Georgia Southern in 1997. From there, the duo moved on to Navy and Georgia Tech before Monken left to become a head coach for the first time back at GSU in 2010. Current Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo and Monken worked closely together on those same staffs, learning every intricate detail of the run-based offense from its inventor.

This offense's roots were a bit of a happy accident, as Johnson described in a 2015 coaching clinic:

In 1983, I went to Georgia Southern as a defensive line coach. We were a run-and-shoot offense running out of the double slot. I moved to that offensive side of the ball in 1984. After that season, the head coach came to me and told me he wanted to get into the I-formation.

That was during the Herschel Walker era at Georgia. That was the trend in football. In 1985, we played our first three games in the I-formation. We did not have a fullback or a tight end or any of the personnel you needed to run that offense. I went to him after the third game and told him we needed to get back to the run-and-shoot because we did not have the players to play I-formation football.

Johnson, like nearly every other college coach at the time, was familiar with the wishbone and veer option offenses made famous at places like Texas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, in which the QB often made two option reads on the same play, then lined up and did it over and over again. Johnson initially called his offense the 'Southern Veer' as it was his take on those aforementioned systems, instilling the same blocking and option concepts, except now it moved the two halfbacks to be flexed out like wingbacks outside the tackles, taking advantage of the run-and-shoot personnel he had on hand.
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Entire article: http://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-...study-how-to-run-armys-flexbone-triple-option
 
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FILM STUDY: ARMY'S FLEXBONE OFFENSE GIVES DEFENSES MORE TO WORRY ABOUT THAN JUST THE TRIPLE OPTION

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While Jeff Monken's flexbone offense is undoubtedly a direct descendent of the system created by his mentor, Paul Johnson, the head coach at West Point has made certain changes of his own since leaving the Georgia Tech coach's side to lead a program of his own nearly eight years ago. Though the Illinois native's career has been defined by his relationship with Johnson to this point, Monken's philosophies aren't identical to those of his former boss.

Monken comes from a coaching family, with an equally successful cousin, Todd, currently calling plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and when examining the tape of last year's Army squad, it's clear that his offense is more than just the triple option for which it's known. While Johnson's philosophy is rooted in the idea of dictating the defense's plans with the use of balanced formations derived from the run-and-shoot, lining up one wide receiver and one 'A' (slot) back on each side, Monken has leaned heavily on the use of unbalanced lines and heavy personnel.

With defenses expecting a balanced formation from the offense with an equal number of running lanes on either side, Monken's unit regularly adds an extra tackle to the equation, creating five holes that must be filled by the four defenders to that side. Add in an additional lead blocker in the form of the B back and one unblocked defender left to be read on the option, and the offense has a clear numbers advantage to one side:



Entire article: http://www.elevenwarriors.com/colle...re-to-worry-about-than-just-the-triple-option
 
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Army football reduces contact over injury concerns

Army safety Max Regan delivered a thunderous hit on Sandon McCoy in the backfield and Regan’s defensive teammates celebrated. Coach Jeff Monken was happy to see McCoy, a freshman running back, pop up and head back to the huddle during Army’s first full-pads practice on Wednesday.

Physical play like Regan’s tackle is going to happen in scrimmage-like conditions. But Monken keeps reminding his players early in the preseason to avoid any unnecessary collisions and be smart when the whistle blows.

Football players are ultra-competitive and always want to get that last push or shove in to finish a tackle, Monken said. One late push or shove could sometimes lead to an unexpected preseason injury.

Over the off-season, Monken and his staff researched the number of injuries Army players suffered in his first three seasons. One number stood out: 50 percent of those injuries occurred in the preseason.

So Army’s first full contact session of the summer was “toned down” compared to Monken’s previous seasons.

“We are just trying to pay attention to injuries like anyone else,” Monken said. “I thought it was just us, but I start to hear the statistics from other schools; everybody is having injuries in preseason camp. They are saying 50 percent of our injuries are happening during camp. Well, us too. I think sometimes we may have more injuries over the course of the season than others because we do hit a lot.”

One of Monken’s goals this season is to finish with the same starting lineup as he starts with when the Black Knights open their season on Sept. 1 against Fordham. Monken admits that he’s walking a delicate line. Less hitting will keep his players healthy and fresh. But will it fully prepare his team for the physical style that Army likes to play?

Entire article: http://www.recordonline.com/college...football-reduces-contact-over-injury-concerns
 
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I am hoping that the offense can win the time of possession battle. The defense was on the field 35 minutes yesterday and Army can run a defense ragged. Army needed a strong fourth quarter to beat a crap team yesterday. So, get an early lead, work on getting backups (especially quarterback) some meaningful playing time, and use this game wisely to get things working before Penn State.
 
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