Thoughts

[Coach MC]

Really good to see the effective start to the season we have had. Although the teams we have played are not the strongest, 4-0 means we are handling business. And I thought FAU on the road in oppressive heat and Temple on the road in a short week could have been trap games. I vaguely remember jumping out to a lead at ULM a couple years ago in brutal heat, and eventually losing that game. This team will find a way to win games rather than lose them.

Daily is such a tough kid. As a runner, he almost seeks contact, and seeing him pitch the ball to Short 10 yards or so down the field earlier this year and then getting out front to block shows unselfishness and toughness. He is that really strong, physical runner who is double tough and can withstand the physical punishment of playing QB in a triple option. Bradshaw was the same type of QB. Really durable. Even more impressive for Daily since we call QB power so often and expose him to a ton of hits. If I was the OC, I'd probably call his number a lot too, but I think there are times they can belly the FB in short yardage rather than call so many designed QB runs and expose Daily to so much punishment. After all, this is not single wing football, it's triple option. I'm starting to worry about overuse with him as the year goes on and the hits pile up. Backs have run well and we have established the FB both from under center and out of the gun. Daily is doing just enough with his arm to keep defenses honest, and he's thrown some nice balls this year. Offensive line is very aggressive and has been getting movement at the LOS. They also seek work at the second level, communicate well, and play with an overall edge that is good to see. As with every Monken team, the receivers and backs are top notch blockers and can stick to defenders well into a play. I'll give Rendina a pass on the botched block that almost caused a Daily fumble since he is inexperienced in pass pro.

Defensively, we do just enough. We give up some yards, but rally to the ball, get a lot of hats on offensive players, and seem to really toughen up when it comes to giving up points. I was concerned because of all the personnel losses on that side of the ball, but have been pleasantly surprised. We do give up big cushions against the pass, but the secondary seems more comfortable in their assignments this year, especially playing out of halves and quarters sets. Specials have been good, and are going to be big the later in the year we go. Punting was an abomination last year, and even though we don't punt much, it seems to be straightened out a bit. Losing both top kickers was a concern, but things seem okay right now.

I agree with P & D. I was just thinking the other day that this season was eerily reminiscent of 1996, when we brought a 9-0 record into a game with a ranked Syracuse team at the Carrier Dome. This year if we win out, it would be Notre Dame. I'm taking this one game at a time, but it's easy to get caught up looking ahead sometimes. I envisioned that scenario a couple years ago, but we really underachieved that year. I know our competition to this point has been so-so, but transfer portal has served to dilute talent and make team chemistry difficult for so many teams at the G5 level. Having said that, we have to play who's in front of us, and we can not afford to look past anyone. Just win them all, one game at a time. Can't even imagine the chaos that would ensue if Army and Navy finished 1-2 in the conference. Stakes could be even higher then usual when we go head to head with them this year.

Jeff Monken continues to assemble talented teams, and he and his staff have those kids motivated and playing hard all the time. This team seems to have something special about it. A toughness and resourcefulness that goes beyond the usual. They are surgical. Just going out and efficiently running through opponents. Really enjoy watching this team play.

[Dong Fong '09]

Any thoughts on the offensive line play being significantly better than the past three years?

Are they just put in a better position overall with Worley’s scheme and play calling?

[WrekDivr]

As I reflect on our 4-0 start, I am excited for the rest of the year. While we need to recognize that we have not played the most challenging part of our schedule, a couple of things stand out to me:

1. The offense looks as good as I hoped it would. The O line is playing well - the best we’ve seen in years.
2. Daily is playing and running well. He is throwing well enough to make at legitimate threat. He’s made a couple of Ill-advised pitches, but I am confident he will clean that up.
3. Our running backs can be dynamic. While the O line gets a lot of credit for this, i knew Short was going to score about 10 yards into his run. No way he was getting caught. Udoh continues to excel, getting hard yards when little is there and breaking it long when he finds a seam. Rendina looks like what you see when you look up Fullback in the dictionary.
4. There don’t seem to be any egos. One back gets a ton of carries one game and then one the next. And they all continue to play hard.
5. Worley has done a masterful job getting the O ready and calling plays. It’s tough to guess what we are going to do next. And we run the ball incredibly well. Perhaps we use Daily a bit more than I would like, but I have been impressed overall.
6. My biggest surprise so far is how quickly the D has developed. I knew there were a lot of new faces and the performance against Lehigh had me nervous. Since then, we’ve played some teams with good running backs, running QBs, and good throwing QBs. The D responded well to all of those situations. And they continue to get better.
7. I know that this one will be controversial, but the move to the AAC has been a benefit so far this year. Time will tell in the longer term, but being in the AAC has helped us get additional press coverage because of the additional story lines. The press can talk about where we rank in the conference, our chances to win the conference championship, etc. Our record helps for sure, but the volume and tone of coverage has been strong. And we were featured on a nationally broadcast Thursday night game. Not a lot to bitch about so far.

There is a LOT more football to play, but I don’t think I could be much happier with our start. After a couple of so-so years and missing a bowl twice, this year has been a ton of fun.

[wpgrad]

A few thoughts:
1) Our offensive line looks big and nasty. Wasn't it just last year that some expert in a video said our line coaches Drinkall and Viti didn't know what they were doing? I guess they must have learned in the last 12 months
2) The health of Daily is as vital as any point I can remember in the last 2 decades because I don't think the backup has the size to do the bull rushes we see from Daily a la Ahmad bradshaw
3) I was told by someone who has inside connections that while the Thatcher hiring was a mistake, he did bring new ideas on coaching the offensive line in the era of cut blocks that convinced Monken that he could go back to under center and have now been implemented. I don't know enough about O-Line blocking to look at one technique versus another
4) To me the telling game this season will be the next game. This will be our first on the road trip, halfway across the country, to a more-talented AAC type of team then we have seen in the first 3 games.

[PrideandDream]

Any thoughts on the offensive line play being significantly better than the past three years?

Are they just put in a better position overall with Worley’s scheme and play calling?

Probably a mix of things honestly,

1. Drinkall being the O Line coach for one
2. Seniority on the O line, I believe we have 3 seniors and Small being a sophomore means a good bit of experience
3. Scheme is a major factor. We take advantage of being on the attack so O lineman get off the ball and engage and since we are under center and plays develop faster they don't have to maintain blocks as long as 4. Moving the ball to the perimeter more often and executing on the perimeter has kept the defense spread out
5. We've played pretty bad teams. FAU, Rice and Temple all are bad. So from a talent perspective we aren't getting just dominated

So probably a lot of little things adding up to better play all around.

PD

[PrideandDream]

A few thoughts:
1) Our offensive line looks big and nasty. Wasn't it just last year that some expert in a video said our line coaches Drinkall and Viti didn't know what they were doing? I guess they must have learned in the last 12 months
2) The health of Daily is as vital as any point I can remember in the last 2 decades because I don't think the backup has the size to do the bull rushes we see from Daily a la Ahmad bradshaw
3) I was told by someone who has inside connections that while the Thatcher hiring was a mistake, he did bring new ideas on coaching the offensive line in the era of cut blocks that convinced Monken that he could go back to under center and have now been implemented. I don't know enough about O-Line blocking to look at one technique versus another
4) To me the telling game this season will be the next game. This will be our first on the road trip, halfway across the country, to a more-talented AAC type of team then we have seen in the first 3 games.

I don't know about O line concepts, I'm sure there are some aspects, but I do think the staff has re thought perimeter blocking and how to coach it. That's one reason we are getting to the edge is we are blocking guys by stalking them and not cutting them. But what's frustrating is that Air Force had already made that change a few years back and had success despite the cut block rule changes. But to your point it is very clear that they have re thought how to block the entire scheme and make it work.

That whole Drew Thatcher experiment just baffles me. Fundamentally Monken said in 2023 we had to change. Despite the fact that in 2022 the NCAA Leading rusher was Brad Roberts the fullback at Air Force. Just baffling.

PD

[Dude69]

Baffling might be the adjective. Mistake is the noun.

Monken probably felt like John Candy in The Great Outdoors when he is being chased by the bear and finally gets inside the cabin and tries to tell the family he is being chased by a big bear. “Big Big Big Bear Chase Me!” as he tries to catch his breath. And then the Big Bear knocks down the cabin door flattening John Candy in the process. Kind of what happened to Monken with The Mistake by the Reservoir.