Good lord

[DoubleNuts]

Any year we beat Navy and AF and win the CIC is not a wasted year. Defeating our archrivals matters and is enough to redeem even the worst of seasons. During the dark days of the Navy streak, I would have given a pinky finger to see an Army win.

The coaches have work to do, without a doubt, especially on offense. But right now let's enjoy and celebrate the victory. The players made the plays when the chips were down and for that they deserve our praise.

[wpgrad]

Monken yesterday: at 2-6 people left us for dead

Sounds like 3/4 of this board

[gabn92]

Somebody posted the stats earlier in this thread (or another thread)...but when you compare offensive output vs Navy this year to the past several years...the numbers tell a different story. As Monken said in his postgame comments---we have not moved the ball well against them for several years and we were all getting sick of seeing the same thing. We do something different this year and end up nearly doubling our offensive output vs. last year and win the game...I think the frustration with the offensive struggles this year have to be considered in light of improved performance against Navy. Speaking of which...

Some of you are describing this as an "all-time" bad Navy team. They went 5-7 and actually had a very good defense that has been stout against the run all season long. For Army to put up 200+ rushing yards against that defense was no small feat. Yes, they struggled offensively this year...running the under-center offense that so many think is the cure-all for Army's offensive problems?

Keep in mind also, it comes down to execution. Army was literally inches away from about 3 TD passes in this game that didn't happen (one overthrown ball by Dailey and 2 very good defensive plays by Navy). We also had several drives stall/end due to penalties on the Army offense. A couple of those drives were building nice offensive momentum, until we put ourselves behind the sticks and ended up having to punt.

The staff most definitely has some things to work on in the off-season to get this offense working more effectively. But I think we have more to celebrate today than we have to complain about. 4 game winning streak, CiC trophy, some returning studs for next year (Udoh, Dailey, Fortner, Small, etc.).

[USMAPAFAN]

I guess we did have a relatively good year compared to 1-11. You want that to be the standard fine. No thanks. I don’t remember settling for mediocrity when I was on Active Duty. Why should our future officers settle for it?

[dillondobies]

Some interesting stats. Baily ran more than all of the other backs combined. His average was 3.1, and the others was 5.0. Bailey passed for 54 yards. Allan punted 27.1. Implications for me: We had good running backs - give them the ball. We need a quarterback who can pass. We desperately need a punter.

Baily is a great competitor, but he is not a Division 1 quarterback. Find a better role for him.

Still - any win over Navy is a great win.

[thedoc85]

You do know his name isn't Baily or Bailey, right?

[2mint]

A few things…

1) 2021 was the worst navy team we’ve played in recent history and they beat us.
2) Not sure how anyone thinks this year was a total was given our schedule and wins over a good UTSA, Coastal Carolina, and undefeated air force. Yes, we left 2 or 3 games on the table in ULM, UMass and BC.
3) We’re losing a lot on D, but there’s a lot to build on, especially on O with Udoh, T-Rob, Alston, Daily and several more returning.

Yesterday should’ve been an easy win, but between a lack of execution down the stretch (i.e. penalties, punting, pass coverage), 3 or 4 TD saving plays by navy (2 pass plays, kick return by T-rob and the D holding on 4th and 2) and some of the worst officiating in recent memory (probably cost us 10-17 pts), the game was much closer than it should’ve been.

[WrekDivr]

This year definitely had its frustrations with some particularly bad losses. Make one of those a W and we achieve all of our goals, winning record, CIC, bowl game. That said, as wpgrad says, we ended the season strong and won the CIC. We beat Navy 6 of the last 8 years and JM has won more CIC trophies than any Army coach. I would like to see more, but what we got is WAY better than pre JM. I am looking forward to seeing what we can do in the AAC. Next year, we hit ALL of our goals.

[Armyfaninpa]

I don't quite understand all the negativity after the game. I thought it was already established a long time ago that this was JM's worst squad at Army (not counting years where he inherited RE's players). What is so bad about JM's worst squad beating Navy's worst squad by only 6 points with better offensive numbers than any other game in the last 4 years? Winning the CIC in spite of losing to ULM, UMass, being shut out by Troy, losing by 62 to LSU, and barely hanging on against an FCS team that lost to Harvard and Lafayette is still quite a significant accomplishment.

One question about the use of replay - I thought the "smoking gun" in the punt return review was the body language of the Navy player who suddenly panicked when the ball started bouncing away from him. Definitely not the reaction of someone who didn't touch the ball. Is that not considered to be pertinent to the review process? I think if I was the one looking at the camera, that would've settled the issue for me.

[2mint]

I think the reaction would not be considered indisputable evidence nor would the fact that it was the only punt all day that bounced towards the end zone. To me the replay clearly showed the ball roll off his foot/ankle as well as a change in the trajectory and rotation of the ball. It wasn’t even close.