Army Just Cannot Seem To Close

In a game that saw over 1,200 yards of offense and a career passing game for both Army QBs, the men of West Point again were unable to finish out a game. After driving 50 yards in the final 1:42 of the game, kicker Daniel Grochowski was brought out to kick a long 42 yd field goal as time expired.

He missed, which sent the game into overtime. Army got the ball first, stalled, and Grochkowski missed a 25 yarder, which didn't matter because Yale running back Tyler Varga scored his 5th TD of the game. Army had no answer on defense as Yale threw for 290 and ran for 335.

Army won the turnover battle and turned a Yale interception into 6 points, but failed to capitalize on Yale's fumble late in the game. The Army offense did everything they could to stay in the game, but were unable to get the Yale offense off the field, as Yale scored on 7 of their 13 possessions.

Army started A.J. Schurr and spelled previous starter Angle Santiago. Schurr and Santiago led the team in rushing with 135 and 88 years, respectively. Yale shut down both Larry Dixon and Terry Bagget for the entire game, as the duo combined for only 17 yards rushing.

Army has the 9th best rushing offense in the country, averaging 316.5 yards a game. Teams struggle to contain the attack as the combination of Santiago, Schurr, Baggett, and Dixon are too much for most defenses to stop. The problem Army faces is staying on the field long enough, late in the game, to give their defense a chance to rest on the sideline.

Army simply does not have the defensive athletes to compete for 4 quarters, which will be a problem when they host a dangerous 1-3 Ball State this Saturday. Head coach Jeff Monken will need to light a fire under his team if they want to avoid falling to 1-4 and risk not making a bowl in his first season.