Army head coach Jeff Monken didn’t hide his emotions after a shocking 30–27 double-overtime loss to Tarleton State. “Congratulations to Tarleton State and Coach Whitten,” he began. “They completely outplayed us. They were the better football team.”
For Monken, the tone of the media session was one of visible frustration and self-blame. “That’s my responsibility. It’s the responsibility of our staff to have our guys ready to go and to play better and play fundamentally sound and execute their assignments, and we didn’t do it,” he said. “Missed two field goals, they hit all theirs. That’s the story. They outplayed us, and it’s certainly disappointing.”
Turnovers were the breaking point. “Turnovers killed us,” Monken admitted. “There’s a huge advantage for the team that gets at least one more takeaway than their opponent. They had three more takeaways than us. We had none. They had three. It’s hard to win a football game when you do that. That stat alone.”
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He pointed to the decisive red-zone interception as a moment that changed the game. “He didn’t see the corner and floated it up there and the kid picked it off. We got a drag route runner wide open. If he hits that guy, maybe it’s a different story. But he’s trying to make a play… unfortunately they ended up with the ball and we didn’t.”
Despite the turnover, Monken praised quarterback Dewayne Coleman, who battled through an ankle injury. “I thought Dewayne played hard. He played really well at times. Played really hard. Played hurt. He got his ankle rolled up and got back out there. I was proud of him for the effort he put in.” Backup Cale Hellums also earned credit for sparking a late drive that set up what could have been the game-winner.
Still, Monken didn’t sugarcoat the larger problem. “They were kicking our ass up front,” he said bluntly. “We couldn’t run our fullback, we couldn’t run our quarterback like we have done, and they were running through us, for zero yards, one yard, minus yards. They outplayed us. They just did a better job of playing blocks than we could block them.”
Even the bright spots felt hollow. “As well as they played and as poorly as we played against them, we still had a chance to win at the end, and credit them. They found a way and we didn’t.”
Looking ahead, Monken delivered a sharp warning with Kansas State looming. “If we don’t do it better, that team next week will beat us like nobody has beat us in a long time around here,” he said.
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