I've waited a few days and I think I can now address Army's loss to Kent without profanity.
#1 in rushing. YAY!
Other bright spots: the Black Knights played their way off of ESPN's Bottom 10.
Now, come to terms with some of these stats.
Army just misses being on the 3rd page of this list: Army is NCAA #98 in Total Defense.
Army's
defense is giving up 7.52 yards per play. That is by far the worst avg.
ypp of any team currently playing American football.
It's no better looking at scoring defense: 107th in defense where it counts. 107th in the NCAA nearly scrapes the bottom of the barrel. It's one thing to give up 36 points per game. It's another thing to give up 36.17 on just 357 total plays this season.
Now take the time to realize Army's Schedule isn't tough at all. Even against good teams that kind of number should be a one week anomaly. When it becomes a season long thing the coaches need to answer for themselves - or be answered for. The little bit we get from Rich Ellerson doesn't do enough.
Ellerson's postgame conference really stuck out in my
mind. Not even this week's postgame as much as last game.
The
reason why we have Ellerson in the first place is so his Double Eagle
Flex scheme gives the defense a chance to compete. Simply stated -
Ellerson's defense doesn't compete. That's what bothered me about Ellerson's Boston College postgame statements.
R.E. spoke of the mentality to "hope it's a hard game because that
means you're in it." It demonstrates a little bit of contentment and at
this stage being content isn't acceptable.
I don't
usually make a big deal out of picking on the coaches and I want to
stress that because I like Ellerson and I like Ian Shields, and I think
they can and will ultimately lead the team to success. One of the
reasons why I don't like to pick on coaches is because being a Pitt
alum I can appreciate stability at the top spot. Win or lose, Ellerson
is the right choice in terms of stability of the program. The team
having a mentality of contentment is one thing, the term disappointment
is another thing entirely.
Army
will bounce back. I would like to go on record of this being the third
year in a row I said that Army would beat Pittsburgh and I am still convinced
Army would pound Pitt by 12-14 points.
Anyway, here's your Kent State/Army story and stats.
and my top Blogpoll Top 25 ballot.
The Unbalanced Line Ballot - Week 7
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 2 | Oregon Ducks | -- |
| 3 | Florida Gators |  1 |
| 4 | Kansas St. Wildcats | 1 |
| 5 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | 2 |
| 6 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | 2 |
| 7 | Oklahoma Sooners | 5 |
| 8 | Oregon St. Beavers | 1 |
| 9 | South Carolina Gamecocks |  -3 |
| 10 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 11 | Mississippi St. Bulldogs | 9 |
| 12 | Texas Tech Red Raiders | -- |
| 13 | Georgia Bulldogs | 2 |
| 14 | Rutgers Scarlet Knights | 4 |
| 15 | Louisville Cardinals | -2 |
| 16 | Clemson Tigers | 3 |
| 17 | Cincinnati Bearcats | 4 |
| 18 | Texas A&M Aggies | 4 |
| 19 | West Virginia Mountaineers | -16 |
| 20 | Arizona St. Sun Devils | -- |
| 21 | Ohio Bobcats | 3 |
| 22 | TCU Horned Frogs | -- |
| 23 | Stanford Cardinal | -7 |
| 24 | Michigan Wolverines | -- |
| 25 | Kent St. Golden Flashes | -- |
| Dropouts: Texas Longhorns, Florida St. Seminoles, USC Trojans, Iowa St. Cyclones, Louisiana Tech Bulldogs | ||
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