Army 1-4

Dang, Army got their clock cleaned by Duke and while the result probably wouldn't be any different if they played their best... Army left a lot of unfinished business on the field that day.



I didn't see a lot of misdirection in the system during the Duke game. There was some pretty basic plays being run and while it is possible the option system requires a feeling-out process, it has become clear that other option teams find that comfort level and more importantly find plays that work to beat an opponent mentally, physically and beat them in space. 
 Army started the game with a fumble on the very first touch of the football. From there, they were backed up and ran a draw on 3rd and long.
Second time they touched the ball they backed themselves up with a false start on their first chance and by the end of that series you could see that Duke blew up every play.
It was interesting to see Bradshaw play, and there is no question he's a dynamic player with the football, but every year this position takes an extraordinary amount of punishment and every year at about this time I start wondering if Army should carry 3 or 4 active and competent QBs to fill in.


It is hard to play yourself into games when you're relying on a pitch off tackle on 4th down. It's a tough situation: 4th and 2, but there are better decisions than the Tecmo Bowl 4th down strategy.
Duke outplayed Army from start to finish and there were a lot of times Army was out-coached as well.


With that said, I hope Army keeps playing Duke as they make an appropriate opponent for Army.




I have no idea why Army had a game at filthy Beaver Stadium. Army already has amazing exposure in PA, and even if the Cadets achieved and beat the Nittany Lions they are still associated with those kinds of people. The rationale behind scheduling PSU most certainly came down to Army's payout from the Penn State athletic department. Isn't it more valuable to travel somewhere and play a respectable program than get involved whatever it is that they do in Happy valley?

Anyway, there's Duke... I'm not writing up Penn State and I'll have Bucknell's postmortem up probably tomorrow.

Here are the Army/Duke story, stats and highlights


_