Army 1-1

Awesome performance against Liberty from Army football's offense. By halftime Army had tested out 20 different ways to run the fullback. Just because play went through the fullback doesn't mean Army played in one dimension. There were an array of formations presented and the test for this game was clear: Can Army run the fullback out of every formation in their playbook. Looking at the production from the fullback spot, I would say Army passed that test.


Army showed precision and control in building a 17 - 0 halftime lead and by the end of the game Army held Liberty to just 18 and a half minutes of possession.



It is clear that the offense is comfortable operating out of multiple formations, and while the product from Saturday afternoon might seem like FB dive, FB dive, FB dive.... Army worked the fulcrum play of their offense masterfully out of a constellation of formations. Both Kelvin Hopkins and Luke Langdon got productive reps in, I think the dual QB actually helps apply pressure to tired defenses. It all has the look of a well managed offense, and the more I see the more it looks like the group is picking right up where they left off last year.


Army added in the shotgun split back package. It looked familiar and I was trying to identify where I had seeen it... it took me a few days to remember where I had seen the formation, it was one of the sets that Marcus Mariota ran in 2014 with the Oregon Ducks.
Against Liberty the QB follow went for big yardage, the veer package was used heavily, Rocket toss, there was the freeze package fullback run, the team went unbalanced, they used single wing, they had a few different plays from the shotgun Oregon package, they utilized the diamond, and also a spread formation series. Army pounded the fullback from pretty much every one of these formations, plus they operated the Oregon zone read out of shotgun AND the classic veer out of the flexbone. That's a staggering amount of offensive sets. Army switched between using tail motion and the straight up flexbone, they mixed in a QB twirl technique .
Having this team so well prepared that they're able to run the fullback out of every set and still have a chance to install the Oregon Read, and get the chance to work out both QBs, it just shows me that Army's play book is a lot bigger than I thought it was.


 Holding onto the football was nice too, turnovers really could have spoiled this one.



I have no questions about the potency of Army's offense and to see that the team had a handle on the fundamentals in game 2 with an absolute command of the fullback runs - when this playbook does in fact open up I think Army fans will be in for some thrills. I think we can expect to see the offense unfold from here and do more than hit the Fullback against Hawai'i.

Here are the Army / Liberty story, stats, highlights and replay.


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