Opposing coach says Army's blocking should be illegal; Jeff Monken disagrees

WEST POINT – Jeff Monken and Chuck Martin were football teammates at Millikin University and have remained friends as they each turned to college coaching.

As they prepared to meet on Saturday, though, Martin fired a warning shot across the bows of Army and service academies Navy and Air Force for embracing the art of using cut blocks as a means to make their option run attacks more effective.

“The only reason cut blocking isn’t illegal in the country is because of the academies,’’ Martin said at his weekly press conference. “It’s the only reason it’s still around. … Every year we take out more versions of cut blocking … They keep it around so the academies can still run their offenses.’’

Maybe Martin’s message was meant to fire up his own team, or perhaps it was a means to serve notice to the game officials, much like a basketball coach complaining about an opponent fouling or a baseball manager reminding an umpire about a pitcher who has a balk move.

But he did call Army players the “dirtiest, nastiest and toughest’’ while praising their training as soldiers to defend the nation at any cost, and football is merely an extension of that attitude.

“Do they do anything intentionally illegal?’’ Martin said. “No, they don’t do anything intentional illegal but in the trenches they are cutting all the time. They have linemen trying to get to the next level so therefore it’s not a chop block. Well, we have linemen who are engaged with their linemen and they’re getting chopped left and right. It’s almost every down. And on the perimeter they chop you and grab your ankle … like it’s a single-leg takedown … and it doesn’t matter because they’re there to win a football game, period, end of story.’’

“It’s awesome to watch,’’ Martin added.

Monken brushed off Martin’s histrionics, stating cut blocking is allowed by the football rules committee and that Army will continue to employ the methods until it is outlawed.

“I know that Chuck's like a lot of coaches,’’ Monken said. “They get a little worked up sometimes about cut blocks, but it's just another tool to be able to effectively block another player and the rules are such that all those blocks happen from the front.’’

“I don't feel like tackling below the waist is a whole lot different than blocking below the waist,’’ Monken continued. “The one thing about blocking below the waist (is) the guy getting blocked can see the block coming; a guy getting tackled below the waist doesn't always see that tackler coming.’’

Monken said the elimination of cut blocks “would be foolish,’’ but to further the point he said he would only favor the elimination “if they outlaw tackling below the waist,’’ he said. “I think it’d be a nice one for one.’’

It should be noted that cut blocking is not the same as the illegal act of chop blocking, where an offensive player stands up a defender while another throws a block below the waist – that’s where you see a lot of knee injuries occur.

Praise for the RedHawks

Monken had a lot of praise for Miami (1-2), which lost road games to Cincinnati and Minnesota and beat up on Long Island University, 42-7, last Saturday.

“This is the best team that we’ve played all year to this point,’’ Monken said. “They’re enormous … their offensive line, I mean.’’

The RedHawks are giving up 153 rushing yards per game, but Army is averaging more than twice that, ranking No. 3 nationally at 331.3 per game.

Exciting finish

Miami last visited West Point on Oct. 20, 2018. Army prevailed 31-30 in double overtime. Darnell Woolfolk scored a touchdown in the second OT for Army, but Miami answered back as Gus Ragland found Luke Mayock on an 18-yard score. Miami went for two points and the win. Ragland was nearly sacked but flung a desperation pass to running back Kenny Young, who weaved down to the Army 3 before getting slammed by Elijah Riley and Jahvari Bourdeau.

Notable

Army has won 12 consecutive games at Michie Stadium dating back to 2019. The dozen ranks No. 6 in the nation. … The all-time series is tied at 3-3. … Andre Carter is tied for the national lead in sacks (4.5) with Jermaine Johnson of Florida State and BJ Ojulari of LSU. … Christian Anderson’s three TD passes in the first three games is the best Army mark since at least 2000. … Army leads nation with 55 first downs via rushing, two ahead of Mississippi. Its 14 rushing TDs trails only Michigan (15). … Army has allowed its opponents the fewest minutes of total possession (57:39). For what it’s worth, quarterbacks Anderson and Tyhier Tyler (injured in week one) are listed as either/or starters, and Tyson Riley is again listed as lead starter at fullback, though he never saw action in same role last week. … Noah Knapp is again the No. 1 center in place of injured Connor Bishop.

kmcmillan@th-record.com

Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR