Well friends, football is back. It’s been 265 days since Army beat the hell out of Navy to close the 2023 season and send us into a long, cold winter. Army opens this week as a heavy favorite against Lehigh, and this is indeed a game that the team should win. That being said, there are some things the team needs to emphasize.
Keys To Victory
Ball Control
This often becomes a bit of an issue for the Black Knights in season openers. I get it, too. The team is coming out of summer military training, followed by football camp to install the new offense. New players in new positions do new things. It sets the stage for mistakes. But turnovers kill drives, and all too often they lose games, too. The guys in the backfield need to ensure they hold onto the rock.
The Black Knights 113th in turnover margin last year, well behind 7th placed Navy and 93rd placed Air Force. Army Head Coach Jeff Monken will be eager to leave that performance behind.
Don’t Get Beat Deep
The Black Knights have experience along the D-Line, at inside linebacker, and at safety. They also have athletic guys at rush linebacker and nickelback who’ve played a lot on special teams. The obvious place to test this defense is therefore on the outside where Army has two untried yearlings.
Can those guys play?
Probably. But Lehigh would probably also like to make them prove it.
If I’m Lehigh, I want to roll my quarterback out for the Run/Pass Option and try to get my receivers one-on-one in space against Army’s young corners. That’s the obvious move.
The Black Knights can keep this in check by keeping everything in front of them and making good tackles. That will force the MountainHawks to have to drive the length of the field via repeated precision execution. That precision battle is one Army ought to win.
Establish the Run
Lehigh gave up 21 rushing touchdowns in 2023 and 4.5 yards per carry. Those numbers should excite every Army fan. We don’t know exactly what the offense will look like, but we’re expecting a very healthy dose of heavyweight running. The 2023 offense didn’t deliver on all of its promises, so Coach Monken will want to see Army return to form as a Top 3 running offense this season.
Finish Strong
The crew talked about it on the show this week but Army needs to play 60 minutes of hard-nosed football. We don’t expect QB Bryson Daily to play every snap, especially if the Black Knights get out to a healthy lead, but we do expect the team to play until the whistle on every snap. With many new faces on both sides of the ball, the team needs to capitalize on game-reps while they have the chance.
Plus, this is also a Friday night game before a long weekend, and it comes a week after ring weekend. With the start of the Academic Year, distractions exist everywhere. I’m sure the captains and coaching staff are going to have the guys locked in, but we want to make sure they stay that way for the full 60 minutes.
Final Thoughts
We don’t know exactly what it will look like or if Coach Monken will show his first hand Week 1 against an FCS foe. We’re just excited to see some real in-game snaps. We’ll be back next week to break down what happened and preview what we can expect against FAU.
Go Army, Beat Lehigh!
*Cover image via @ArmyWP_Football
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