After a dominating win to open the season against Fordham, this one was much, much closer. Army needed some trickery late in the fourth to get past Buffalo 21-17.
Rushing Offense: B
It is always good to get the most painful loss from a prior season out of the way and that is exactly what happened as the Black Knights took out Buffalo. The rushing game wasn’t as electric as it was against Fordham, but Army still rolled for 322 yards and three touchdowns on 52 carries.
The best aspect of this rushing display was how the Black Knights amped up their game in the fourth quarter. Darnell Woolfolk rushed for 91 yards and two scores, with both his touchdowns being one-yard plunges in the final period. The option game works to grind down a team’s resolve and that is exactly how the Black Knights were able to control the tempo of the game as the minutes ticked down and pick up their second win of the season.
Passing Offense: F
The passing game was miserable again and it continues to look like the piece that will stop Army at some point in 2017. Ahmad Bradshaw completed just 25 percent of his passes as he went 2-of-8 on the day. Even worse was that just one pass, an 18 yarder to Jordan Asberry: traveled beyond the line of scrimmage. Army actually finished with just 17 yards passing as the other completion went for minus one yard to Calen Holt.
The passing game just has to be more of a threat than this. On the plus side it is worth noting that Bradshaw played the entire game without throwing an interception, but the lack of ability for Army to find a receiver that can stretch the field will catch up with the Black Knights quickly. Two completions is fine if they both go for 40 or so yards, but this just won’t work long term.
Rushing Defense: B
Army did a great job of shutting down the Buffalo running backs. Johnathan Hawkins has shown the ability to be a dangerous and capable ball carrier, but he was held to just 41 yards on nine carries. The rushing defense in truth was almost perfect, other than one second quarter play that drops the grade in a big way.
The box score shows that Bulls quarterback Tyree Jackson had 10 carries for a total of 75 yards. It also shows that he had a second quarter carry that went for 75 yards on just one play and that it went for a touchdown. If you take this play out of the game then Buffalo would have rushed for a total of 44 yards on 22 carries. It was one breakdown, one play that should never have happened, but it was a play that helped put Army in a hole that it struggled to get out of.
Passing Defense: C+
The rushing defense may have only had one breakdown, but the passing defense had a couple as the Bulls were able to pass for 193 yards and a touchdown on just nine completions. Jackson is a decent quarterback, but Army made him look better than he is with a couple of breakdowns in coverage against some very average wide receivers.
It was Antonio Nunn who struck in the second quarter, hauling in a 48-yard pass for a score as the Bulls blitzed Army for 14 points in a period of just four game time minutes. Jackson was also able to hit Anthony Johnson for three catches: including a 52 yarder: as the Army passing defense allowed too many big plays to blight their overall performance.
Special Teams: A
It was a one play performance on special teams this week, but that one play sealed the game for the Black Knights and gets a massively positive grade as a result.
There were just over two minutes left in the game when Army was faced with the reality that it had to punt the ball back to Buffalo. The Black Knights were up by four points, and in fairness, Army had stopped Buffalo cold since the second quarter, but you never want to allow the other team a final drive with a shot at winning the game. This was when punter Nick Schrage took the game into his own hands.
Moving to the right on a rollout punt, Schrage suddenly saw open field in front of him. The Army punter tucked the ball and sprinted for the sideline just beyond the first down marker, making it with plenty of room to spare. This iced the game and saved plenty of worry for the Army coaching staff and fans as Buffalo never saw the ball again.
Coaching: B
It is hard to know if it was a called fake punt or a well-designed read from Schrage, but the Army coaching staff put their punter in a position to succeed with a play that had the ability to win the game. Jeff Monken also helped his team weather that second quarter Buffalo onslaught and move past a few key fumbles that could have turned the tide of the game.
Monken has developed into a coach that trusts his players and his system. Even with Army down a couple of scores in the fourth quarter he didn’t panic, knowing that the option game was wearing Buffalo down. Monken gets a B for keeping things simple in a game that Army needed to win.
