Army is going to the Armed Forces Bowl after a dramatic overtime win over Temple. Here is the Black Knight report card:
Rushing Offense: C
Going into this game it appeared that the Black Knights might have some trouble with the Temple rushing defense. The Owls have played Navy hard over the last few years, so they know how to slow down a triple-option attack. That is pretty much how the game played out.
Army has been almost unstoppable on the ground so far in 2017 and they came into this one averaging 378.4 yards per game rushing. Temple though knew that the key to stopping the Army rush was to take Ahmad Bradshaw out of the equation when he tried to keep the ball. The Owls held Army to 248 yards on 50 carries and – more importantly – they completely shut down Bradshaw as they limited him to 49 yards on 13 attempts.
The dependence on shutting down Bradshaw though did open up the door for Darnell Woolfolk to have a monster game from the fullback position. Woolfolk was the Black Knights most consistent threat as he rushed for 132 yards and all three Black Knights’ rushing touchdowns.
Passing Offense: B+
It is pretty hard to grade the Army passing offense after this game. The stats for any other team would be miserable. The Army quarterbacks combined to go 8-of-18 for 141 yards with a touchdown and an interception. The truth though is that the Black Knights passing game came through in a way that has rarely been seen before.
Bradshaw was good enough with his arm as he went 3-for-5 passing the ball for 74 yards. It was the contribution of Kelvin Hopkins Jr., however, that made the difference. Hopkins went 5-of-12 for 67 yards and a touchdown, with all five of his completions coming as Army marched down the field after a late Temple touchdown to tie the game. It was a 14-play, 79-yard scoring drive that took the final 91 seconds of regulation. Hopkins hit Jermaine Adams with a perfect pass in the left corner of the end zone to force overtime, a result few in Michie Stadium would have thought possible when Army received the kickoff late in the contest.
Rushing Defense: C-
It was not a banner day against the run for the Army defense. The Owls balanced attack saw them rush for 217 yards on 27 carries, scoring three touchdowns and keeping the Army defensive front guessing all day long as to how they would choose to attack them next.
The star on the ground for the Owls was Ryquell Armstead. Armstead rushed for 151 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 18 carries as he blasted and juked his way through the Army defense. If anything it was the Temple rushing game that Army needed to shut down early in this one. Temple was starting a rookie quarterback in Frank Nutile, but he was able to lean on the rushing attack to carry the team in a way that Jeff Monken would have liked to have been able to shut down. On the plus side, the rushing defense came up big in overtime, forcing a field goal when a touchdown would have won the game for Temple.
Passing Defense: C
Temple just seemed to always know what to do on offense to break down the Army defense, but the Black Knights again did enough in overtime to pick up the win.
The problem in the passing game was that Army allowed an inexperienced quarterback to connect with too many big players. Nutile was 21-of-31 through the air for 289 yards with a pick and a touchdown. He hit passes of 51 yards (Isaiah Wright), 37 yards (Adonis Jennings) and 36 yards (David Hood) as he spread the ball around to nine different receivers. Army didn’t get enough pressure on the quarterback as the defense registered just two sacks and zero hurries, but they did do a good job of tightening up in the red zone and stopping the Owls from scoring more touchdowns.
Special Teams: B
It was a good special teams’ day for Army for one of the first times in 2017. Blake Wilson kicked his only field goal of the day when he hit a 29-yarder in overtime to put Army up by three points. The Black Knights then saw Temple kicker Aaron Boumerhi miss his second field goal attempt of the day (this time a 27-yarder) setting off raucous celebrations in the stadium.
The other big performance on special teams came at the beginning of the second quarter. Cole Christiansen blocked an Alex Starzyk punt, giving Army incredible field position at the temple 28-yard line. The Black Knights then scored a couple of plays later to go up 14-0 at the time.
Coaching: A
Monken knew it was desperation time after Temple had scored to take the lead. The ball had to travel a long way in very little time and the running based game of Ahmad Bradshaw at quarterback would not have been ideal even if it was working (which it wasn’t.) Having Hopkins ready to come in and lead the team in its two-minute offense just goes to show that the Army coaching staff is prepared for every eventuality. Army will not win many games in this fashion, which makes it even more thrilling when they do.
