Depth on display in Knights’ 5-1 start

Say this about Army coach Jeff Monken — he’s a master of improvisation.

Faced with the loss of his top three quarterbacks to injuries as he prepared the Black Knights to face UTSA in San Antonio last Saturday, he decided to rotate two quarterbacks who had just one snap under center combined.

Final score: Army 28-16. Monken said he had no doubt beforehand that his team would win — though the road hasn’t been kind, and though the Roadrunners had the nation’s leading rusher in Sincere McCormick and had given No. 12 Brigham Young a scare the previous week on the road while Army had barely held off The Citadel at home.

“Everybody on our offensive staff and I were completely confident that we were going to win the game because the game plan essentially took it out of the quarterback’s hands,” Monken said. “It just put all the responsibility on the other 10 guys to knock people around and knock ’em off the ball and create seams, and that’s what they did.

“It made the job of those two young guys a lot easier. They didn’t have to go ad-lib and make things happen. They just were able to do their job and settle in,” Monken said. “What was so impressive was that neither one was rattled at all. I thought they performed about as well as we could’ve expected in their first action, that’s for sure.”

Freshman starter Cade Ballard — he had that one snap in the first game of the season — only rushed three times for 5 yards, but after the Roadrunners pulled within 21-16 early in the fourth quarter, Ballard responded like a veteran, guiding the Black Knights to a touchdown that put UTSA back on its heels. The drive featured Ballard’s first college completion and the only one for Army in the game — a 53-yarder to senior wide receiver Cam Harrison that put the ball at the UTSA 5 — and his first career touchdown run on the next play.

Ballard’s partner, sophomore Tyhier Tyler, a Woodside High graduate, gained 95 yards on 19 carries, did not attempt a pass, and scored the lone touchdown of the third quarter on a 37-yard run. His only blemish was a lost fumble in the fourth quarter.

Nate Woody’s defense took care of that. Ranked seventh nationally in scoring defense (13.2 points per game) and eighth in total defense (284 yards per game), the Black Knights stopped the Roadrunners twice on fourth down deep in Army territory in the closing minutes. The defense also has forced 10 turnovers (six interceptions and four fumble recoveries), while the triple option, under offensive coordinator Brent Davis, is averaging 310 yards rushing, third nationally, and special teams have blocked three kicks.

It marked the second consecutive game that an Army quarterback made his first college start. The previous week it was sophomore Jemel Jones, and he led the Black Knights to a 14-9 victory over The Citadel, one of three FCS foes on a schedule that was almost entirely changed because of the pandemic. Jones suffered a leg injury in the game, providing the opening for the two newcomers.

“We were 100% confident,” senior tri-captain Sandon McCoy said.

Army (5-1) has won three straight since a 24-10 loss at then-No. 14 Cincinnati. For only the fourth time since 1970, Army has won at least five of its first six games.

Monken said, “We’re not the most talented, we’re not the fastest, we’re not the strongest, but we care about each other. At the end of the day, it’s our culture that wins games.”