Post-Game (Army-Lehigh) Presser: Head Coach Jeff Monken (8/30/24)

[Music] good enough for me sure good to get a win the first thing out of the box coach you know 375 yards rushing P 432 overall on offense defense uh he held them 272 yards rushing you said you want to be the best rushing team in the country and you want to stop rushing and you want to be the best defensive team in STO how do you feel you did on that today I I thought we did a good job of um of getting some good hard tough runs in the inside uh we got a good offensive line for the most part they R to get some push and get some movement up front here a couple times they they got us for uh couple lost yardage plays I believe I didn't look at how many we had but there was a couple uh a couple of short kind of got stuffed runs but uh but for the most part I thought they did a good job and we were able to run the quarterback and the and the BBS in the interior we hit a couple plays on the on the perimeter um was the longest run of the day the the fake punt it probably was oh no I had that um so you know we gained a few there too but yeah I I was happy with the way we ran the football and controlled the clock and the fact that we were able to get into the end zone for a touchdown on every drive you know it doesn't matter how many times you have it uh you score a touchdown every time you have it it's usually going to end up being pretty good for you uh defensively um I felt like at half we were kind of in a Ben don't break mode you we gave him that first touchdown and that was a good drive on their part took it 75 yards and punched in the end zone and and uh they look they give them credit they look good on that drive and uh and there were some other times where you know we had them in first and 25 and gave up 22 yards on the pass play and they able to get the ball down there and we the ball off in the end zone but I just I'd like for us to make him pun a little bit more and uh the the uh the Run game for them was sometimes pretty good at times we did a good job getting off blocks and getting them stopped but you know they hit some good run plays in there themselves running the quarterback running their their tailb and and uh so I I I thought their team played really hard and uh I I noticed on the very last touchdown there's less than a minute to go and their defense is out there and they rushed the pat really hard like it mattered and says a lot for their culture so um I thought their team fought played hard I was glad we were able to come away with with a win running the ball and and doing doing a pretty good job stopping the Run coach had was mentioned nine player on defense starting in the first game Dr Donan CL came off with an interception um and Caleb CER on the day how did you feel like your your young defense played I thought those guys played really hard and and uh for the most part played pretty well you know they're not all void of experience um you know Donovan's played in games Washington's played in games um Caleb forer's played certainly a lot for us at inside linebacker uh Kyle Lewis and Jacob toot and dandre mill was Jack Lor uh the chance Keith he's he's not had a lot of experience he's probably one of the least experienced guys in terms of the time he's had on defense ell mzi he's played a little on special team some situational stuff as a freshman but you know those two guys are playing a lot for the first time but we got a lot of guys in there Max and Lin who have been in games so though they're they may be starting together uh or starting for the first time they got py experience and you we had confidence in those guys and confidence that they would go out there and and be able to execute the fundamentals and and perform so you know like I said there's things we can do better there's things we can do on offense a lot better special teams there's every area there always is there's always areas to improve but um you know I thought the defense like I said came up with some plays when we needed it um I I wish we wouldn't bend as much and hopefully as we go through the year we'll Bend less but uh but if they don't get in the end zone I guess that's the that's the bottom line but flipping the field position where they start on their own 25 and they're punting it into the end zone or we're picking the ball off in the end zone you know it's pretty good shift of field position so it's a field position game and the better field position we get on offense certainly the better chance we're going to have to score my last quick question about and onas the second drive on the punt um you call for him to get a direct SN uh what what were we thinking on that and is that they said I think on on the media that that it helped to have the radio in the in the helmet was he was that a factor so I I didn't communicate with him at all I have the ability to communicate with him on that play but I didn't communicate with him at all uh it's it's it's just a call that we have they took it from the sideline out to the field he's got the the opportunity to to take the play if it's there and the look that we wanted was there so he called for it and uh and he's actually the guy that calls it and and did a good job they they they got a couple blocks for him and started off looked like he was going to get stuffed there and he kind of wiggled out and and and had a good nice run so uh I just I didn't want to start the season our first offensive drive with a punt um you know we got a new offensive coordinator system we're running this year is a little bit different and I want our guys to have some confidence and you know if we didn't make it we didn't make it go play play defense and we had a lot of game left at that point that I figured that if you know if we gave the ball back to them and they went and scored we're going to find a way to to score ourselves and put ourselves back in the ball game but it worked out and we had a nice game and we able to finish the drive with a touchdown a little bit of gutsy call that coach or no gutsy yeah I don't know if you think it's going to work how much guts does it take you know I thought I was confident it was going to work so it didn't was pretty easy call and and you know what if it wasn't there he could have called it off and we just punt it's not an All or Nothing play so he could have he could have just called it off and we' have punted there been disappointed that we had to punt it the distribution of the offense with a lot of guys getting different carries fresh legs how much you think that helped you guys us today there there are there are plenty of guys that are capable of carrying the football for us and you know I'm not I'm not anointing any of our guys as All American or anything like that just they're just tough guys and they care about the team and they're they're going to run the ball hard and play the best they can for our team because they care about their teammates and and so fortunately we got Kanye Udo who's I think a very talented player and he showed the ability to run with some power today and break tackles stiff armed guys which was you know really fun to watch and encouraging the touchdown run he had down there in the corner on our sideline was a great run uh Hayden Reed's one of our best football players so to be able to get him the ball and he's very slippery and and and finds his way into into holes and seams and gains positive yards and randine is just a hammerhead moves the pile he's a strong tough Runner and I mean our our quarterback's tough as nails so he runs the ball and gains positive yards knocks people back and we had a couple plays that that were Native yardage plays but uh it was those plays were not uh you know a guy just getting knocked back because he you know he couldn't move the guy that was trying to tackle him most of those were uh perimeter plays or balls that got out to the edge and just they had an angle on us and so I I like I like the running backs that we've got the the slots are they're all a little different miles and Hayden playing slot and no short and Samari Howard all a little bit different but but all capable carrying the ball and they're doing a good job blocking on the perimeter for each other so know so it's not perfect and we got a lot of things a lot of things to improve but a lot of confidence in that group of guys that we got coach U one and0 the last two years start 0 in one going into the the American Conference game next week what does that mean going into with the win well it's a lot nicer to be one and0 than 0 and one I can tell you that being 0 And1 and worth the damn so uh glad we got the victory tonight um we're going to play a team next week that's a lot better than the one we played tonight more talented um and uh you know we're gonna have to play better we can't we can't bend as much as we bent on defense and uh and expect to play as well next week uh we can't have negative yardage plays short yardage plays in early Downs in drives against FAU and put ourselves in third and long it's going to be hard to overcome against talented teams like like Florida Atlantic what we're getting ready to play in a great League it's a very talented League very well coached league and of the group of five conferences in the country it's in my opinion as good as there is and you know other conferences make their arguments for their teams but there's a lot of parody in the league there's a lot of teams at the top of this league that uh that are outstanding teams that have played in New Year's six games and beaten power five teams and so it's a it's a strong lead and it's going to take a a strong effort performance on our part to to compete and play in the league but we're excited about that opportunity uh turnovers I think were two two zero you always talk about how important turnovers are they are and and those those two those two were big the one going toward the building here um that pick was important they they were kind of getting themselves into scoring position and then like I said they they push that ball down they have to have him first in 25 they're they're getting ready to score and uh and we made the pick in the corner of the end zone so those were those were big we we we couldn't have emphasized carrying the ball with two hands more than we did I mean we work ball security every day but and just constantly talking about the importance of squeezing the ball and having two hands on a ball and so I was really proud of our guys for that the ball exchanges were good uh the pitches the the one that I I probably was most disappointed with was the one that Bryson tried to he tried to force it on our sideline and it kemed off the hand of our pitch back and went out of bounds th those those things we can't do that's that's a that's a that's a major error um for us he's just trying to make a play but he's got to eat it at that point and uh so we can't do those things but we took care of the ball we we got up off the ground with the ball about every time I think Bryson on one of the sneaks it popped out of there late he was down the whistle had blown but I like for our guys to stand up and hand the ball to the official after every play that we've got it that you know just confirms that we've hung on the ball and it's still ours coach we've seen several players tonight play multiple positions uh was that just about getting them ready in case in the never wrote an inevitable injury or is that just to try and make sure that the opposition knows that there's different things out there they got to worry well Hayden Reed played several different places just with the slot and the and the and the B back position um I don't know that we had a lot of other guys uh moving around you know we've got some linemen on our team that can play different positions on the line uh on defense um there's there's like Trey Sophia he can play a defensive end position he play the outside linebacker position he he just played dline tonight but U Hayden's probably the guy that just moving around a good bit um with the motions and the shifts and those kinds of things it it may look like guys are playing a different position but you know they're pretty settled into to where they're at in the lineup yes sir get in the room we'll go to a couple on Zoom uh Joe from go Black Knights go ahead hey coach moning congratulations on the win um first question you know I know last week after the last scrimmage um you said you definitely wanted to cut down on the pre- snap penalties and unforced errors uh you only had the one tonight um obviously I know you'd like it to be zero but is that an improvement over what you've seen it is I'm not satisfied unless it's zero but it it was it was better because we've had some issues with that as we've gone through preseason camp and it was it was Hayden Reed who jumped on that one play and and frankly I I told him in practice we've had we've had the same issue with him he's he just gets um he's just amped up and ready to go and on the on the start of the snap count he just flinches for whatever reason so he's go to he's got to grow out of that and uh so he will you know they I I was proud of our guys for for not being ansy like that and and jumping on Snap counts and the the Lehi played an entirely different defense defense than we anticipated it's not their base defense uh at least in terms of the way their defensive coordinators defended option in the past so uh though we had practiced against that defense uh every day in Camp against our own defense we really anticipating a different front so I was proud of our guys for for managing that and and doing a good job and they didn't panic and uh fourth and goal from the three the option play a h to uh Noah short that went for a touchdown um was that analytics told you to go or did you just think you guys had a good shot at getting the touchdown there in worst case you pin them deep we were a little bit outside of our number um but I I I felt like we could we could get it to the perimeter and I asked Cody I said you got a play that you like here and uh and so we hadn't run that yet in the game and it's a good misdirection play and so a lot of times down there on the goal line the secondary is is creeped up pretty close to the to the line of scrimmage because you're three yards from the from the goal line and they're not going to be standing in the back of the end zone so you know they're very reactionary which which they have to be and uh and so we were able to hit a misdirection play and Kanye did a really nice job of getting out there on the perimeter and and sealing the linebacker that was that followed him out of the box so we pissed off the end and pretty much just walked in in there thanks coach McMillan hey Jeff congratulations on the win Ken you must is this the what you expected as far as the diversity of your offense oh I don't know I mean I I don't know if it's that diverse you know we're just trying to find a way to run the ball as as many different ways as we can run it and uh I don't know that we could Lin up and run the same play 40 times but spread it out and you know get it on the perimeter some and uh line up in there tight and knock people off the ball and try to move the pile and a lot of different ways to gain a yard um but a lot of guys carry the ball but I don't know that we were calling we didn't call a bunch of different place it was just the same place maybe presented a little bit differently and different guys carrying it but that's uh that's what we want to do want to be able to run the ball effectively and not not be uh not be forced into long yarded situations where we're we're maybe maybe that's not in our wheelhouse as much is this the balance you expect from the offense as far as the number of ball carriers and such can we expect that this year or again game situations will dictate doesn't matter to me who carries it but I want to run it every single time we got it and that that that allows the ball to keep moving forward it puts us in manageable third and fourth down positions and it frankly can it really doesn't matter who who carries the ball uh we got some very capable guys it it I think keeps them fresh uh and and you know we got some work courses they probably handle more carries but uh we got some some guys that do some things uh know maybe for them personally they're they're they're pretty good at running certain plays or getting the ball in certain ways and we want to get it we want to get the ball to them uh in those ways whether it's a handoff or a pitch or a toss or a pass or whatever it may be um but I stand by what I said we want to run the football we we want to be better at running the football than anybody in the country and and so whatever that means however that's done that's our goal and lastly on defense do you was the team aggressive enough tonight I'm sure you would have liked to get to the quarterback a bit more yeah we were trying I mean they they had uh there weren't a lot of throws that they were asking him to make where he had to stand back there in the pocket for a long time the first and 25 where they they hit that 22 yard pass on the on the sideline we we lost contained so we didn't hold him in the pocket uh he got out there and and had a really good view of the of the throw and you we weren't in a great we weren't in a great position to defend that pass they they flooded the zone They had a vertical route by number one uh they had a a deep out by number two and a flat route by number three now first and 25 we jump the flat route we don't need to we could be underneath the number two route and and probably in better position um but you know a lot of the throws were were catch and throw he didn't hold it for very long so it's hard to get to to the to the quarterback when he's getting rid of the ball in a couple of seconds so I I thought eloi did a good job R rushing the passer um he just like I said couldn't quite get there the guy was getting rid of the ball and couldn't quite get there on time every time but um know hopefully we'll get better at Rushing the passer and beating oneon-one blocks and that's not if if you watch this play you know we we aren't loaded with guys that are just great All-American pass rushers we got to do some things up front and move people around and stunts and twists twists and blitzes to to try to get people home and and that was the thing on that on that throw at first and 25 we we ran a blitz we rushed six people and so it puts less people back there in coverage and unfortunately we lost contained and uh and that gave him access to throw it thanks Jee lastly Joe from Underdog do you have anything yeah I'll keep it short coach know you're a perfectionist um but pretty emphatic win to to start the year what's that kind of do for your momentum as you uh move forward here oh I don't know you never lose momentum if you keep believing so doesn't matter what happens um that it's I'm proud of our gas for the win but we we take it for what it is you know that's that's a that's an FCS team that won two games last year and that's not to discredit lehot that that they have an outstanding coach and I think that's a good Patriot League team uh but we we have to you know instead of wearing our arms out patting ourselves on the back find what we can do better and have enough humility to understand that we're going to have to do a lot of the things we did tonight better if we're going to beat fa or have a chance so I I think that's you know it's it's great to win we're going to celebrate everyone of them because it's hard to win a college football game and for anybody else is around here in 2015 when we lost to four them to start the season you know that's no fun so uh I'm glad we got this win and and we're we're going to enjoy it and learn from it uh but hopefully get better and improve as this week goes along so that we can go down to FAU and give them everything we got give ourselves a chance