ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS FOOTBALL

October 7, 2023

Jeff Monken

Press Conference

Boston College 27, Army 24

JEFF MONKEN: Well, that's certainly disappointing. Disappointed with the way our guys played in the first half, the way we coached, and I thought our guys played harder and played better in the second half but still made far too many mistakes. There was errors in fundamentals and assignments, errors in coaching, and just disappointing because it's one we could have won had we done a few more of those things better.

But credit to Boston College; they really played tough. They're well-coached, and they made the plays. They made the plays when they needed to. Especially that last drive, they needed 4th downs, they got it, one on the goal line down there.

Unfortunately we come up short again.

Q. Maybe starting in the first half after the Quin Hammonds interception, not getting the touchdown, getting the field goal instead, was that just a missed opportunity?

JEFF MONKEN: It was a big missed opportunity for sure. We had the pass to Tyrell which was short and he got run down, then we had the pass out in the flat to Lingenfelter that we overthrew, and he's trying to make a play.

The one with Tyrell, I saw the route. I watched the route the whole way. Apparently he had somebody in his face and kind of had to step back, and then the one to the left, the boot. It's hard going to his left; he's a right-handed quarterback. He had both guys open on the play and just overthrew it. That was certainly a missed opportunity for us.

Q. That second half Zach Mundell got you off to a great start with a 55-yard return to help set up the touchdown run by Robinson, 18 yards. How was it to have Tyrell Robinson back in the game for you?

JEFF MONKEN: We were thrilled to have him back out there. I love that kid. I'm really pleased he's healthy enough now that he can play. He's certainly helping us, and I wish just a little bit more today we could have found a way. But he's just such a dynamic player, and I think the more he plays, the more confidence he's going to gain on that knee, and hopefully he'll be even more productive.

Q. You got the touchdown, Hayden Reed, and then you got the pass play to Tyson Riley. We saw him line up at wide receiver, and then the next play he's over the middle, catches a touchdown pass. Is that just another way to use Tyson Riley?

JEFF MONKEN: It is. It's just the personnel group that we were in and the formation that we got into, put him in that position, and he made a nice play. It was a really nice throw by Bryson, and glad we made that play.

Unfortunately that was the last score we got, so wasn't quite enough.

Q. On the 3rd down play, Bryson Daily looked liked he had the 1st down and he tried to pitch the ball or throw the ball to his right to Hayden Reed and it was called an illegal pass. How did you see that play?

JEFF MONKEN: I saw the replay, and I was hopeful that they would rule it a backward or -- even if it's sideways it's considered a lateral, and they didn't see it that way. The official didn't see it that way. Obviously the replay official and the guy in Charlotte, North Carolina, that looks at it, they all felt it was a forward pass. So that was that.

We got the penalty, and put us in a 4th and 4, and we got a bad punt after that off the side of our foot. I thought they'd bring a lot of pressure. We had kind of the rollout punt there, the rugby punt, and he just didn't hit a very good ball. Gave them a short field, and that was the drive that they went down and scored. Wasn't all his fault, but wish we could have got a better punt off there.

Q. Cooper Allan, seemed like he had a tough day punting, the one in the first quarter and then the last one. Was he just trying to do too much and not doing what he normally does?

JEFF MONKEN: The first one that he punted was off the side of his foot, the first punt of the game. He came back, he had a really good punt. That was a rollout, a rugby-style went that long for a long time going toward the scoreboard, and that's what we were trying to do on the last punt because he had kicked that so well, and like I said, I thought they would bring pressure, and he just didn't hit it very well.

He works hard at his craft. He's a good player. He just had a tough day.

Q. Their last drive, Boston College gets the ball near the goal line, 1st down, I think, you guys were able to stop them a couple times. In that situation, what's your philosophy there because there is still a minute on the clock? Do you want your defense to dig in and stop them three or four times? Obviously you want to win the game; is there any thought of, dare I say, letting them score?

JEFF MONKEN: There is. Yeah, there is, playing that defense where you let them score.

When you got down to, I guess it was a minute and -- I don't know what it was when I called that time-out, a minute 13, that was my last time-out, I thought we'd try to stop them on the next play and see if we could get them into -- I guess it would have been 3rd down there. I'm going to look at the play-by-play because I don't remember what down it was.

But there is. There is. That's all part of the analytics that we have. But it was not -- it wasn't a recommendation at that point to let them in.

That's probably because of the time that we had there.

I'm going to look at it, when I burned my last time-out. So 3rd and 3, they gained 17, 1st and goal up the middle for two at the 1, I burned the time-out. Then 2nd and goal, they stopped it. Probably after that one it was going to be French defense: Let them score.

Q. The one play in the first half where they're going to -- they call a time-out, looks like they're going to go for it, then they bring their field goal team on, you guys had I guess one too many men on the field, and then they end up going for it and scoring --

JEFF MONKEN: That's one of the coaching errors I was talking about. We had a time-out. They sent their offense out there on 4th down and just waited it out and called time-out. So they bring the field goal team out there, and we've got 12 guys on the field. I can't explain it. I can't explain it. Should have had the personnel there.

We called a defense; we said, hey, if they send the offense out here, this is going to be the defense. If they bring the field goal team out, this is the call for the field goal. All we had to do was see the kicker trot out, and it was just one guy for one guy, and the two guys that play the same position were both on the field together, and the guy that was running off the field should have been in, and the other guy should have been coming off, and I might have been able to hold it. I don't know.

Just as I saw him running off, what I didn't want to do is give them a free 1st down right there, and unfortunately called a time-out, they brought the offense back out there and they converted. There's the four points. There's the four points in the game. Instead of that last drive being 24-20, it's 24-16. So disappointing. Coaching error.

Q. Bryson Daily, aside from the mis-toss to Lingenfelter and then the two late incompletions, he had a pretty good day passing, going short, going long, and of course he ran the ball well. What are your thoughts about how Bryson ran the team today?

JEFF MONKEN: I thought he did a good job. He played really hard. He made some good throws. That one he threw in there to Tyson for the touchdown was a good throw. The one he threw over the middle to Noah Short was a really good throw.

He did a good job. He ran the ball hard, and obviously there was the pass in the end zone. Like I said, I didn't see the pressure on the quarterback because I was watching the route on the wheel route that we threw just a little bit short, and Tyrell got tackled from behind. But just a rollout to the left and not connecting there was probably the one that we'd all like to have back for sure.

Q. How troubling was it that whenever Boston College needed a good run, it looked like their offensive line really did a great job as far as blocking to get them the 1st downs.

JEFF MONKEN: They did. They came through. They run the quarterback. The quarterback was a good runner. Their running back, the Garwo kid had a good day running the football.

Part of my frustration was just sometimes we had them stopped and they were able to get an extra push and get the yards that they needed, and we didn't have guys stopping his legs. We had guys up high, and we had more guys going up high, and then he was able to fall forward and not, as they say, killing the engine, which are the legs. We've got to do a better job of that. We've got to coach it better. We've got to execute it better.

They did a good job. Give them credit. Like you said, when they needed yards, they got it. They were three of four on 4th down. We had a big 4th down stop, but there were times where they needed that 4th down, and in that last drive, they got the one they needed.

Q. This is the second game in a row where it could be almost classified as a tale of two different halves. Following the first half you stated there were too many coaches and fundamental errors and frankly you were embarrassed. Was there anything you said at halftime to turn the play around and perhaps the mindset of the team around, which includes the coaching staff?

JEFF MONKEN: I don't know. I don't know if I said anything that -- I said some stuff to them. I don't know if it made a difference.

I think they just went out and executed better. Our coaches got a chance to get in there and talk to them and correct some of the mistakes. The players make the plays. They're the ones that are out there on the field. We try to do the best we can to position them where they need to be to make the plays, but they've got to make the plays, and we just did a better job of that in the second half than we did in the first.

Obviously there were some opportunities in the second half that we're going to see on film and we're going to have a lot of remorse over, but again, credit Boston College; they did a good job.