Army 3-2

Update: full game replay added.


If you read the El Paso press you would think the sky is falling over Sun Bowl stadium.



After firing their offensive coord. the a week before playing Army and then losing their staring QB to injury during the first half at Michie Stadium, UTEP has entered into a tailspin. UTEP starter Ryan Metz wasn't the only loss during the game-  UTEP head coach Brian Kugler has since stepped down. Kugler's record at UTEP was 18-36 including a loss in the 2014 New Mexico Bowl.


As for the Army/UTEP game -  The first quarter it was looking like it was going to be a long afternoon for Army's defense. Army with the quick 3-and-out right off the bat and then there's another special teams penalty that extends the drive on a roughing the kicker flag. UTEP punts and after very quick Army 3-and-out UTEP's Quadraiz Wadley went 77 yards to have UTEP open the scoring. On their next series the UTEP backup entered the game and went 0-3 in 5 plays punting back to the Cadets who would go ahead 14-7 on the ensuing drive. It's too bad Metz went down, it looked like UTEP never really got their rhythm back after he left. ESPN's win probability for this game never dipped below 86% Army even though the score was tied at the half.

Army's defense really stood up in he second half. A bunch of punts in a second half with two 3-and-out bookends. That's all you can really ask for. If Army could win the first quarter in that fashion they would win every game.

The offense is clicking, looking patient when they need to be patient, but also being rewarded for their belief in the process. UTEP played a variety of defenses, it looked like they were afraid of the perimeter attack - until they got gashed in the middle of the line - and then we saw a series of adjustments made as Army just settled into its method.

There was a modicum of success throwing the ball. I was going to joke that maybe it's time for the air raid offense, but then I saw this nugget via Sal...  
"Army’s offense spent 30 percent of its practice snaps passing during its preparation for the UTEP game, Monken said on his weekly radio show." 

 How about this for an idea?.. 
 Take the 30% of snaps used practicing passing plays - and allocate all 30% to special teams live play. Work on waiting for the snap of the ball - not the QB's signal. It's those type of drive extending penalties that make it hard to win games.


That is too much time to spend on throwing the ball around. Consider Army has one TD and three interceptions to this point of the season - five of the top ten NCAA passing offenses have 3 or fewer picks this season. At the end of the year nobody is going to care which of these teams had the most passing yardage. 


The pick-6 in the 4th took this one from "feel good win" to "good win". I don't know why you put Bradshaw back in there at that point. There's a cautionary tale in UTEP's QB going out in the 1st quarter - if you lose Bradshaw in garbage time it's going to be some real growing pains trying to make it to a bowl. So get some work for the backups and get #17 out of there.






 I drove past Heinz Field on Saturday and the crowd that Pitt drew for Rice was pretty pathetic. The official tally was listed at 33000, but I can't imagine that there were any more than 20000 people for Pitt/Rice. Army's announced attendance of 31,000 looked twice as thick as the Pittsburgh's North Shore crowd. This is the point of the season where I point out that Army would outdraw and destroy Pitt at any venue in 2017. Pitt beat Rice  Saturday 42-19.



Next week's Rice game down in Houston is a clear trap game. Rice comes into the game just as UTEP did - playing the role of downtrodden underdog loser.

Well, Rice is not a loser. They are good enough to compete on Saturday. They are physical, and they understand the importance of this one. They are a little bit dinged up, their starting QB Sam Glaesman is questionable after missing the last 2 games. He's the QB who led Rice to their week 2 win over the UTEP Miners. Glaesman's replacement is the starter from last year: the 'statuesque' Jackson Tyner.



Here's your Army UTEP story, stats, highlights and replay.


_