Forget about having the #3 rushing offense in the nation. If Army want's to compete against Tulane the only thing they will need to do is complete one pass.
Army has completed only one pass in the past two games, and the Black Knights were 0-for-4 throwing the ball against Ball State last week — the first time they did not have a completion in a game since 2008.
Sure, Ellerson's hurry-up-and-wait wishbone is chewing up yardage and clock - but without an arial attack Army will fall behind and eventually lose the game by something like 65-13
Perhaps this magical pass will come as a release out of the backfield, or maybe a lob into traffic - no matter how Army gets its game-winning pass one thing is for certain: There is no way Army will be able to stay on the same field as Tulane without completing exactly one pass.
Forget that the Black Knights are built to grind down opponents and wind down the clock, expect the Cadets to throw the ball every down just to keep up with high-scoring Tulane. Even better, sell out on your FBS #3 run game to get a little more balanced.
Here’s a thought for Army: try not to exceed 400 yards rushing.
Three weeks ago, the Black Knights also had 403 yards on the ground against San Diego State and lost that one 23-20 at home despite holding the ball for more than 42 minutes. Overall, Army has lost six straight when gaining at least 400 yards of total offense.
Maybe it's just the AP trolling the football program with the ridiculous assumption that Army needs to change what they're doing, but that is worthless advice to a team that is more than capable of staying the course and winning the next one.
The real key to the game, to me is ball control. Last year at the Super Dome Army forced fumbles all over the field and still merely eeked out a victory. My take is: to win the game take care of the football meaning - DON'T PASS.
Tulane will be game, but Army should have a nice home field edge. By running clock and getting on the better side of the field position battle the Black Knights can get the season back on the right track. You want 3 and outs?.. Go ahead and throw the football all around.
Tulane is only allowing 122 rush yards per contest? That surely has more to do with their competition than anything that The Green Wave are doing to stuff runs.
But go ahead, Army, throw the ball. Passing is what gets fans in the seats, passing is what wins close games. Just throw the ball - all you need to do is connect on one.
Army's game notes are up. (PDF)
Tulane's game notes can be found here. (PDF)
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3 comments:
The last time you could say that Army eked out a win over Tulane was 2007:
2010: 41-23 win
2009: 16-17 loss
2008: 44-13 win
2007: 20-17 OT win
As for passing, like Coach Ellerson says, we're throwing plenty of passes -- we just need to complete some.
I went back to double check the flow of last year's game, to make sure that score wasn't misleading. Army led by at least two scores from about halfway through the 2nd quarter until the final gun.
You're right, last year's game was not a close game at all. I don't know what game I was thinking about, but when I think of 2010's Tulane game I usually key on TU's 3 turnovers. Army only outgained TU by 45 yards last year, IDK why I thought the score was closer. With that said, my point still stands, Army doesn't need to throw to beat Tulane,
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