ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS FOOTBALL

October 28, 2023

Austin Hill

Press Conference

UMass 21, Army 14

Q. The defense gave up two touchdowns early and then the third touchdown -- you guys played pretty well, only 21 points. How would you sum up the game defensively?

AUSTIN HILL: I think UMass's offensive staff had a good scheme for us. I thought we adjusted, two drives too late. We've got to make better plays. That last touchdown, again, short yardage, short field, doesn't matter. One play away from stopping them, one gap away. Just got to do better. That's all it is.

It's disappointing. We'll evaluate this on film with some humility, and we'll look at it, we'll learn from it, and we'll move forward.

Q. Going into the Air Force game next week, how do you use this as motivation?

AUSTIN HILL: You know, I think it's disappointing. We don't need a loss to be motivated for Air Force, but like Champ already said, there's a hunger on our team, and I'm proud of the guys, like the attitude is there. We're practicing harder than we have been all year, just hungry to win. We're just not executing good enough. We're not executing well enough. The coaches are putting us in position, we've got to execute.

Air Force, you don't need any extra motivation. Everything is on the line. That's how we look at it. Hopefully we're going to come back tomorrow with a great attitude and come to work.

Q. Can you talk about keeping the team together?

AUSTIN HILL: Yeah, that's one unique thing about the brotherhood. Everyone talks about having a brotherhood, but truly, there's no pointing fingers. It's just, hey, I've got your back. Practice hard, get after each other during practice.

We're going to love each other like brothers, and that's the fact. It's disappointing; everyone wants to make plays for their brothers, everyone wants to do their job for each other. We're just not there yet.

But I will tell you this: I've been extremely impressed and proud of how the team has responded and the attitude of the team because it's obviously been a long five games. Coach Monken always says persevere, persevere, persevere and the tide will turn. I think our team believes that because guys are working harder than they've ever been, and it'll continue to be that way.

Q. You said one play, one stop away. There's nothing you can take back from this game, but what do you think you can learn from this game?

AUSTIN HILL: Like we've already talked about a couple games already, we're one play away ULM, one play away Boston College, a lot closer than people think against Syracuse, one drive away, one play away against UMass. We stop them on that 4th down, it's 14-14; we're still playing right now.

It's just been a theme. So what can we do to not let it be that one play, not let it be up to one play. So just taking care of the little things.

I personally believe that how you do anything is how you do everything. The little things matter. We'll continue to harp that, and we'll continue to work hard. I'm really proud of these guys, and I believe where we're at -- we're in a good spot.

Obviously record is not good, but mentally, culturally, we're in a good spot, and we're going to work hard this week.

Q. Air Force, you said no motivation needed. They're undefeated as we speak right now. What do you think it would mean for you guys to go into Denver and come out ending this streak and getting back on track?

AUSTIN HILL: It would obviously mean a lot. Every win is a big win. Obviously the academy wins are a little bigger. The biggest game of the year is the next game. We're playing Air Force next, it's the biggest game of the year. As far as I was concerned, until today, the biggest game of the year was UMass. That's how we'll take it. We're going to work our tails off. Obviously we've got to do our jobs, take care of business.

We expect to win every single game. That's our mindset. So just coming in -- it's the biggest game of the year right now, and we're going to do what we can, and we're going to do what it takes hopefully. We're desperate. We're desperate for a win.

Q. Concerning the defensive effort over the past two home games, this is the second game in a row where you allowed scores in the first two possessions but the last two second halves against West Point I believe you've only allowed a field goal and a touchdown. What's the biggest thing that's keeping this defensive unit from playing a full 60-minute effort?

AUSTIN HILL: You know, it's just part of it -- it's scheme. You come out with a good scheme. You've got to adjust. Once you adjust, throw someone else at you, adjust. That's how it is. Doing our jobs.

We'll continue to play hard. Like those drives they had schemed up, and we didn't make plays in the first half.

Again, you're a couple plays away, and we're a couple 3rd down stops away, two 3rd down stops away from them scoring one, maybe none.

Again, I wouldn't even put it like a half, first half versus second half. I think it's more just how the games have been going. Guys on the defense are going to continue to work hard, as are offense and special teams. That's not the case. We've just got to execute.

Q. What did Massachusetts do in the run game?

AUSTIN HILL: They had a run play that they had schemed up for us. They had something like that last year, kind of flavor of the day, and they ran it, and it was successful, so they kept running it, and they ran it a bunch of times. They were successful with it.

We sort of stopped it towards the end, but two touchdowns too late.

Props to their scheme. Our scheme works, too. We've just got to execute. It's not like we weren't prepared for that. We were. We're a good enough defense to stop that. We've just got to execute. We've got to make better tackles. We've got to fit gaps better. We've got to shed blocks better. As far as I'm concerned, it was a good scheme, but nothing we hadn't seen before, we've just got to execute.