Jeff Monken still angered by Army's performance in loss at Ball State

WEST POINT – Jeff Monken still loses sleep over games that he lost nearly a quarter-century ago.

Rest assured, three days wasn’t going to assuage his anger over Army’s poor performance in a 28-16 loss at Ball State on Saturday, dropping the Black Knights (4-1) from the ranks of the unbeaten.

“I’m still pissed and I am going to remain pissed,’’ Monken said on Monday. “But that’s just who I am, and hopefully the guys will feel a little bit of that sting. I think it’s okay to have that. That’s competitiveness.

“A guy that just walks out of the locker room and (thinks) everything is fine, ‘Oh well, that’s the way it goes, put it behind us,’ I don’t know if that’s a guy that’s very competitive. You show me a good loser and I will show you a loser. It’s okay to be competitive. I think our guys will focus on the next game. They’re not going to dwell on the past game but there are things to be learned from. I know they are going to be excited to have an opportunity to play again.’’

The timing couldn’t be better for Army’s first bye week of the season. Monken said his team looked fatigued in the Ball State game. The Black Knights have an extra week to rest, to heal and get ready for their showdown at Wisconsin on Oct. 16 (which has been tabbed as an 8 p.m. start, on Big Ten Network).

More:Army gives up 21 straight points to start game, ground game sputters in loss to Ball State

The status of injured starters Connor Bishop (center) and Christian Anderson (quarterback) remain in flux. Monken said Bishop is further along in his rehab and is “optimistic’’ for a return against the Badgers. Anderson, who injured his right shoulder against Miami of Ohio, is progressing slowly. “His body needs to cooperate,’’ Monken said.

A cascade of mistakes – starting with Saturday’s opening kickoff – doomed Army in its bid to go 5-0 for only the third time since 1951. Among the errors, per Monken, was kicking to the wrong man, not having personnel in right spots to defend the kick (returned 99 yards for a score); players not able to sustain blocks, negating an effective run game; a failure to score from the 2-yard line twice; quarterback Tyhier Tyler overthrowing a tight end and throwing an interception when he should have thrown it away; and, quarterback Jemel Jones throwing an interception when he had an open receiver elsewhere that could have led to a tying touchdown. These issues were all addressed with the team on Sunday.

“I think our whole team has responded well,’’ Monken said. “They're mad and disappointed. Hopefully, we'll take it as a lesson and prepare and get better.’’

Monken thought Tyler got “gun shy” on making pitch plays after a first-quarter attempt was deflected, resulting in a 15-yard loss. Aside from normal hits that option quarterbacks absorb, Tyler was practically defenseless and rocked by Ball State defenders at least five times. Tyler was removed from the game early in the fourth quarter, partly due to the battering but also due to his ineffectiveness, both in finding the receivers and making the correct option reads.

“He had his chance to hit some open receivers. and (we) just felt like we needed to give Jemel a chance to see if he could hit the open receivers,’’ Monken said. “We thought we’d give another guy a try. As it turns out, we weren't as effective as we hoped there either.’’

There was discussion about going to fourth-string quarterback Jabari Laws – Monken likes the way Laws throws but decided against it. Plus, Monken said previously that Laws isn’t fully back from his two knee surgeries in 2019 and 2020, and the senior hasn’t been tested with speed plays to the perimeter in his limited game appearances in 2021.

The run game was especially troubling. Eight plays went for negative yardage and 19 more gained no more than two yards; in Army’s offense, the short-yardage plays led to “falling behind the sticks” too often, making it harder to convert on third and fourth down. “Those are really hard to overcome,’’ Monken said. Monken credited Ball State’s defense with playing proper assignment football against the option and utilizing its speed and athleticism to prevent Army from widening its run attack and getting big gains on the perimeter.

“We’re accustomed to getting some push (from the line) and getting the (fullback) going; we just weren’t getting that on Saturday night. .. We didn’t do a very good job on the perimeter: we missed some blocks, we blocked the wrong guy, which is unforgivable.’’

Ball State took what was given them. The Cardinals scored on two series where they took over in Army territory and the other from only 57 yards out.

Week four:Army's Christian Anderson rushes for 236 yards before injury sidelines him in win over Miami

Week three:Army takes 42-0 halftime lead, rolls to huge victory over struggling UConn

Week two:Army overcomes mistakes to outlast Western Kentucky in chippy 38-35 win

Week one:Army dominates Georgia State, pounds the Panthers 43-10 in opener

There were a handful of positives. After giving up the two early scores, the Army defense kept Ball State off the scoreboard on six consecutive series. The offense, with Tyler at the helm, did convert scoring drives of 75 and 80 yards to pull within a score by halftime. Jones moved Army 78 yards late in the fourth quarter, only to have Ball State stop the cadets twice from the 2-yard line.

“To beat Wisconsin is going to take an absolute tremendous effort,’’ Monken said of the task ahead.

kmcmillan@th-record.com

Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR