ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS FOOTBALL

October 12, 2024

Jeff Monken

Press Conference

Army 44, UAB 10

Q. You've been effective passing the ball the last several weeks. Talk about the play calling not only today from Coach Worley but throughout the season?

JEFF MONKEN: I think Cody is doing a great job with the offense, not just calling the plays but preparing those guys during the week and building a game plan. Often this offense draws some different looks from defenses than we've seen on film, and they came out in a four-man front, one linebacker, and then later as the game went along, we saw double eagle, which is the center, both guards cover with two linebackers in the box and then they were in an eight-man front with four down and two linebackers and a single-high safety, just a lot of different things.

It's challenging when they're changing fronts just to get everybody on the same page, and he does a really good job of building a plan where our quarterback can get us in the right play. We're not so complicated that our guys can't adjust to what they're seeing, so he's doing a great job.

Bryson is throwing the ball well. He's been smart and not taking crazy risks trying to throw the ball under double coverage or things like that. He put the ball on the money a couple times, did a really nice job of that today, and it was good to see.

We're never going to be a passing juggernaut, but it showed support -- our ability to be able to throw the ball should support our efforts to run the football, and that's really what it's designed in our system to do. We're not throwing it just because it would be fun. We're throwing it for a purpose. So we were able to hit a couple today.

Q. On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of pressure. The quarterback was under a lot of duress. Was that a combination of the coverage and the pass rush --

JEFF MONKEN: I think it's always a combination of both when our defense has time to get to the quarterback and he's holding the ball. It's because of the guys he's trying to get it to are covered. The guys did a good job of beating some blocks late. There weren't a whole lot of times where we just lined up and whizzed by a guy and he didn't have any time at all. The times where our guys were just putting forth the effort and kept trying is a credit to the guys in the secondary and the linebackers that were in the areas that they needed to to discourage the throw.

A couple times we lost contain. That's probably the area on our pass rush that I always get most concerned about is allowing the guy to get outside of the pocket, and he was able to scramble for some yards and get some throws away, get the ball away without getting sacked.

There's things we'll need to do better, but I thought our guys played really hard today.

Q. A unique situation for any college coach, you were able to bring in your second string quarterback. Talk a little bit about that and how that felt.

JEFF MONKEN: It's valuable for us to be able to play other guys, particularly at that position. It's easy to slip a receiver or a defensive lineman or another position player in there, but the quarterback is different. So to be able to get Dewayne in there and get him some quality reps with some other guys I thought was great. He does a good job. Dewayne is a good quarterback, and he's a good leader. Our guys really like him, and we do, too.

He's a competitor. He's really smart. I'm glad we were able to get him in there for some significant time.

Q. When you look at a game like this, you had a big offensive performance but it was another good performance by your defense. You had a couple of interceptions, first half tackles for loss, a goal line stand, stopped a couple of 4th down plays. How do you feel like the defense is playing and is improving?

JEFF MONKEN: They are. They played just really gritty defense today. Obviously the opening drive to get a stop on 4th down gave us a short field and we scored on the next play. It was a great way to start the game, obviously.

Then the goal line stand, as you mentioned, that was very typical of our defense at times this year. It's the bend don't break. We gave some plays up, they drove the ball down the field, they got the ball into the low red zone, on the goal line, and we were able to come away with a stop and keep points off the board altogether. That was huge.

The sacks, the tackles for loss, those are big plays for the defense. Anytime we can get the offense off schedule, that's a big play for the defense.

Now, the interceptions were certainly great to get turnovers and end drives that way, and we did a nice job of keeping the ball in front of us for the most part.

There were a couple times -- their opening drive, they had that RPO, tight end is running right down the middle of the field and dropped it. They could have been a big play against us. Late in the game they had a post route, we didn't have a middle safety back there, he was just poorly positioned, and they dropped that one. They had some shots. But for the most part we were able to kind of keep them in front of us, and that's really, I guess, kind of been our MO this year.

Q. On offense, three touchdowns by Bryson Daily in the first quarter, a couple off running plays, the offense is moving along today, had 413 yards rushing offense. Is there another level you can take the running game to this season?

JEFF MONKEN: I hope so. There are still times where I feel like we could sustain blocks better. The ones that are very apparent are the ones on the perimeter, and we're either using a guy to go out there and block a secondary player or crack an outside linebacker or a nickel player inside of us, bringing the tackle out on the perimeter to block one of those secondary players or an outside linebacker, and we let some of those slide off of us late. I'd like to do a better job of sustaining those.

There were some times inside where -- it's hard to be perfect, but just getting a little bit more out of our inside run game at times. At times we popped out of there, had some great runs. At times they got guys on scholarship, too, that slid off the blocks. It's fundamentals and pad level and things that perhaps we can do better at. We'll see.

Q. You you got a chance to put in some players from the second and third team, some new names on defense we don't see very often. How do you feel about the depth that you're been able to attract to your program?

JEFF MONKEN: There are some positions where I feel like we are very deep in terms of being able to put guys in and really not feel the strain of a dropoff. We play a lot of defensive linemen. I think the veteran inside linebackers we have are a good group. Our offensive line, certainly those guys -- we've got plenty of guys that have played football. Not all of them are starters. So it's nice to be able to have guys like that to back up.

So there's some positions where we feel pretty good and others where we're trying to build depth. We've got to get guys experience and get them in the game.

I think the fourth quarter is probably an example of that.

It just got a little sloppy, and we had a drive-stopping penalty on the field goal drive. It was a holding call. And we had a 1st and goal, and you look up there and it's 1st and goal at the 18.

When those guys go in the game, the expectation is still the same. We've got to improve what those guys do and their play, their performance. We had to punt there in the fourth quarter. I guess it was -- must have been the fourth quarter. We had a chop block. Those are things probably fundamentally that we can do better. We roughed the punter. That's two weeks in a row. We've got a guy that's coming off of the edge and just probably took a poor angle and -- I saw it on the replay, just fundamentally not as good as we need to be.

Those are all areas of improvement for us. After we roughed the punter, they went down there and scored. I mean, I just hate that. I thought regardless we could do a good job of getting them off the field, but give them credit, they went down the field and scored on us. A lot of those are young guys, but again, the expectation is for them to go out there and get them stopped. We did that a week ago. It was early in the game, but we went out there and got them stopped.

Anyway, we'll try to improve on those things. We're going to need to. The team we're playing next week is the best team we've played all year. They're really athletic, well-coached. They'll have had two weeks to get ready for us. This will be the biggest challenge we've had all year.

Q. You're 6-0, bowl eligible after six games. Seems like you still feel there's more out there for the team. You guys have played well, but have you played your best yet?

JEFF MONKEN: I hope there's more out there. We're making enough errors and there are enough things that I see that need improvement that if we don't fix those that we're not going to be able to continue to win.

I'm proud of our guys and happy for them that they get to play in the postseason. I was a GA for Larry Marmie, who was the coach at Arizona State in 1991, and I remember him saying to the team as we were striving to get to enough wins to go to a bowl game, he said, one of the great experiences in college football is playing in a bowl game. It's certainly something to strive for.

So I mean, it's a measure of success, but we're only halfway through the season. There's a lot of the season left to play. The second half of the season is going to be even more challenging than the first half, starting with East Carolina.

We need to make improvements. I hope there's more out there for us to achieve. I mean, there is. There's things out there for us to achieve. Whether we will or not is going to be dependent on the job that we do as coaches to prepare our team and how well they perform. That's the bottom line.

I'm happy that our guys are going to get to have that experience, but it's two months away. It's a long way away. Really that's just kind of -- that's behind us at this point, and I think we've got a mature enough team that they'll focus and get prepared for this week.

That accomplishment of saying we're bowl eligible, I assure you does not affect our team. They are mature enough and they are well-led enough within the locker room by their teammates that they're not going to let that affect how we prepare for this next one.

Q. You completed 25 passes, yet the Army defense at the right moment seemed to rise up. Every game, not just today. Why do you think that is?

JEFF MONKEN: Our guys play really hard. I think Coach Woody does a terrific job of preparing those guys and getting them in position. He's a really good defensive coordinator. But also, as the team gets closer to the goal line, the field has obviously shrunk. There's less field to defend. That doesn't make it less challenging; there are challenges down there. But I don't know, just our guys have played pretty well down there in the red zone, and as teams have gotten closer, they've come up with some plays. I think they feel a sense of urgency when the ball gets down there to try to stop the other team, and they're fighting like crazy to do it.

I mean, I don't know.

Q. Even on 4th down they stopped them.

JEFF MONKEN: Yeah, again, I think it's just the effort. It's there, and guys trying to play physical, play hard, play tough, and we got a couple stops when we needed to.

Q. Can you talk about the chunk yardage this year; in the first half alone, you guys had 17 plays of five or more yards and only eight under that. Those are amazing numbers.

JEFF MONKEN: Well, I'm not a big stats guy, so you'd know better as to how those compare with other teams. I really don't know. Frankly we're trying to gain three yards and keep the sticks moving. If we can get it to 4th and 1 after three three-yard plays, I'm as happy as can be. We've hit some big plays in the run game and the pass game; that's great. Some of them got us 1st downs and some of them got us touchdowns.

But we're built to try to sustain drives and turn the sticks and run the clock. But I think it's just a fact that our guys are doing a pretty good job of blocking up those run plays, and it's creating some seams, and we're able to hit some plays that are more than three yards.

Q. Can you talk about the defensive pressure you applied today, and do you think that Coach Woody is dialing up a little more pressure of late because the kids are gaining more experience and confidence?

JEFF MONKEN: Well, most of the pressure we got were four-man pressures. It wasn't blitzes and those kinds of things. We were bringing secondary players and extra linebackers. Most of it was just our guys beating blocks, and that's a credit to those players and how hard they're playing and the fundamentals that go into that and the coaches preparing those guys.

A couple times we lost contain, got outside, and that gives me the most angst, when a quarterback gets flushed and he's outside the pocket and we haven't kept leverage on him, and there were a couple other times today that I think we would have had a chance to get him down for a sack or make him throw the ball away at least and not have a shot to hit a receiver down the field or hit somebody late. So that's an area where we've got to improve.

But they're playing hard. They're trying hard. We try to give those guys enough opportunities to do that in practice that they're prepared for it. Like I said, today was just guys beating blocks and winning some one-on-one battles.

Q. I know you've been saying every week to us that there's still a lot to improve. I'm just curious, how close are you to where you want to be, and second part is, what's your greatest concern heading into the second half?

JEFF MONKEN: We're miles away from where I want us to be. Miles away. That's being frank.

We did some good things today. We've done some good things throughout the season. These games are going to get tougher. Not that it's not tough to win; it is hard to win a college football game.

But the team we're going to face this week is a really good football team. If we're going to have a chance to beat them, we're going to have to do all the things that we do even better, and the areas where we're falling short, we've got to get those corrected and get those fixed. We can't miss tackles. We can't let people slide off of blocks. We can't miss opportunities in the passing game and the kicking game. We can't rough the punter. We can't have drive-stopping penalties. There's just a lot to improve.

I don't mean to sound like the glass is half empty. I'm not saying that. I'm just being realistic about who we are.

Q. Did you get a chance to talk to Coach Dilfer afterwards? Did you share some words?

JEFF MONKEN: Always. I wished him luck and success as he goes through the season. I don't know what else you say after the game. We talked a little bit before the game.

Q. (Inaudible.)

JEFF MONKEN: You know, I know you don't get to be around the team very much at practice or those team meetings and those kinds of things, but I think all the things we're talking about in here, the expectations that we have and the areas where we're falling short, there's enough for us to correct our guys on and to show them on film where they can play better and try to help them realize that when they play a team that is really, really good and really, really talented, which we will starting this week, that if they don't play better and play their fundamentals and eliminate missed assignments that it's going to get us beat.

Just try to keep them grounded. Our guys are, I think, aware enough to realize who we are and that we have to play as close to perfect as possible in terms of assignment fundamentals or we're going to get beat because there's teams that are really talented and are really well-coached, and when you play teams like that, players like that, you've got to play your very best.