AcademyWars.com

of why Army changed from the under center option?
Wanna read the best description you can get of the new offense, as well as personal insights into Drinkall and Thatcher?
Wanna get recharged with vintage Monkenisms?
Tired of links to FOIA?

Yeah, me too. This SI article will set you straight.

Enjoy:

https://apple.news/AovjBRfWtSzS3RaE5RUK3Tw

This is a great article. I read through it this morning. It's not without flaw. To wit, the part discussing Todd Berry was just a little too generous in glossing over how bad a disaster that guy was. It also, incorrectly, tributes one CIC Trophy to the Berry era (at least that's how I read it). And, finally, it made it sound as though Monken took over for Berry, failing to mention the litany of trainwrecks who coached the dark ages of Army FB prior to Monken.

But, as far as giving insight into what's coming and why? Great read indeed.

Agree on Berry Go 150's.

He continued to be the gift that keeps on giving. He started by "leading" Army to the worst single-season record in Div 1A history. 0 - 13. A record likely never to be broken. His utter disaster vs the squids with the CSA on the sidelines giving him a WTF??? look is another thing I can't ever unsee. Making recruits salute him was disgusting and insulting. Etc, etc.

We fired him finally.

But then he goes on his revenge mission. Numerous unflattering interviews about "his side of things" and his unfair termination. He eventually becomes Executive Director of the AFCA and guess what comes out of that?.... He is instrumental in "officially" stripping Army of one of our National Championships, "granting" it to OSU instead (not that anyone with a brain gives a shit). Then he leads the charge behind the scenes in the new cut block restrictions, which have zero basis in injury prevention and "coincidently" affect the service academies more than anyone. Frankly, they were a major factor in Jeff Monken having to change our offense.

I guess it'll be poetic justice for toddfreakingberry if our new offense goes batshit crazy with success....

Just another reason to hope.

I agree as well. Plenty of holes in the article. But let's consider a couple things:

1. Why the need to "sell" this change in the press? Who is this message supposed to impress? Recruits? Maybe. Or how about ADs at other schools? Hmmmm.... Not really sure but positive press articles have no correlation to offensive execution

2. Air Force seems totally unperturbed by the rule changes. FYI Brad Roberts at Fullback lead the NCAA in yards from scrimmage last year. Fact.

3. Our old offense was failing due to o line execution specifically the guards and center. It's all over the film. Go look. It's exactly why our fullback play was less than stellar. Conversely, AFA had no issues (see point #2).

4. I'm clearly not sold but happy to be wrong. This only goes one of two ways, either Monken (Drinkall and Thatcher) are true geniuses and we make it work or it's a total disaster. There is no in between here.

PD

One other point....

I like how they used the Alabama formation as an example. But left out the level of talent that Alabama has in that screen shot. Schematics don't trump execution. We've used scheme to account for the talent difference. But it only works with execution. So imagine how bad this could go with both a talent differential and lack of execution.

This scares me to death and having to remember the Todd Berry years is just unnerving.

PD

prideandream wrote: ↑Thu Jun 29, 2023 9:26 pm One other point....

I like how they used the Alabama formation as an example. But left out the level of talent that Alabama has in that screen shot. Schematics don't trump execution. We've used scheme to account for the talent difference. But it only works with execution. So imagine how bad this could go with both a talent differential and lack of execution.

This scares me to death and having to remember the Todd Berry years is just unnerving.

PD

1. Agree totally that this is either gonna be awesome (see: coastal Carolina type success) or awful (Berry 2.0)
2. Status quo was not gonna work. Our offense hasn’t looked good since the Houston 70-14 game. Many games last few years, like AF, we’re brutal to watch

We are all in violent agreement, imho.

Like you P&D, I'm holding my breath. Like you, I'm unnerved that the zooms seem unfazed by the cut block restrictions and are plowing ahead with their under-center option. Like you, I was disappointed in our recent line play (even though I never heard a good explanation for why it seemed to digress). However, I also feel like the zoom's fullback success in recent years was in large measure because they continued to run THE TRIPLE OPTION. Opponents couldn't stack the middle on 'em (like they did to us) because their QB was excellent at reading the line and executing great pitches to the outside. We abandoned the triple, as everyone knows, and our 2-play offense became horrendously, almost stupidly predictable. I sometimes wonder WHY Davis became so timid and/or fumble averse. Why did we seem to dismiss the outside pitches, and also the jet sweeps, the wheel routes, the QB counter-options, and all the other plays that loosened the defense and kept 'em honest?....

But it's all mute.

Bottom line: My faith is in Monken. He's on the ground. He's a football junkie, to use his own self-description. He loves the program, the academy, the brotherhood. He studied the landscape, searched his inner soul, and made a bold range change because, in his mind, the times they were a changin' and we needed to adjust. I think he'd be the last one in the room to change what was the most successful offense in modern Army history unless he felt absolutely compelled...

wpgrad wrote: ↑Fri Jun 30, 2023 1:37 am

prideandream wrote: ↑Thu Jun 29, 2023 9:26 pm One other point....

I like how they used the Alabama formation as an example. But left out the level of talent that Alabama has in that screen shot. Schematics don't trump execution. We've used scheme to account for the talent difference. But it only works with execution. So imagine how bad this could go with both a talent differential and lack of execution.

This scares me to death and having to remember the Todd Berry years is just unnerving.

PD

1. Agree totally that this is either gonna be awesome (see: coastal Carolina type success) or awful (Berry 2.0)
2. Status quo was not gonna work. Our offense hasn’t looked good since the Houston 70-14 game. Many games last few years, like AF, we’re brutal to watch

Our offense looked pretty good many times in 2020 and 2021 when Christian Andersen was at quarterback and better line play. It’s not the x’s and the o’s it’s the Larry and the Joe’s.

Our offense has been bad because we had a bad qb, bad offensive line coached by a fullback coach probably in over his head , and a clueless offensive coordinator. The offense was unwatchable. I think all three issues were upgraded this off-season The only way it could get worse this season is if we turn the ball over instead of going three and out every series.

Well if we start throwing it around and get behind the sticks we very well could be going 3 and out and turning it over.

If you didn't follow the Todd Berry years closely some might be unaware how bad it can get. I doubt that happens with Monken but it can get really really really bad. Like 0-13 bad and we had to schedule Hawaii that year to get a 13th game!

PD