Army purring again under coach Monken
Say this about Army coach Jeff Monken — he’s a masterofimprovisation.
Faced with the loss of his top three quarterbacks to injuries as he prepared the Black Knights to face UTSA on the road last Saturday, he decided to rotate two quarterbacks who had just one snapundercentercombined. Final score: Army28-16. Monken said he had no doubt beforehand that his team would win — even though the road hasn’t been kind, even though the Roadrunners had the nation’s leading rusher in Sincere McCormick and had given No. 12 BYUascaretheprevious week on the road while ArmyhadbarelyheldoffThe Citadel at home.
“Everybody on our offensive staff and I were completelyconfidentthatwe were going to win the game becausethegameplanessentially took it out of the quarterback’s hands,” Monken said. “It just put all the responsibilityontheother10 guystoknockpeoplearound andknock’emofftheballand createseams, andthat’swhat 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 andsettle in.
“What was so impressive was that neither one was rattled at all. I thought they performed about as well as wecould’veexpectedintheir first action, that’s for sure.”
Gators back to work: Tenth-ranked Florida is planningtostartreturningto its football facility Monday, nearly two weeks after the program shut down because of aCOVID-19 outbreak.
Coach Dan Mullen, one of more than two dozen Gators who tested positive forthecoronaviruslastweek, soundedcongestedashesaid the team had a new positive Wednesday.
“We’re trying to see nowif anynewcasecouldhavebeen from the original spread on the team or if these are individuals kind of not following the kind of the quarantine procedure or just going out and getting it on their own because there’s no football going on right now,” Mullen saidontheweeklySoutheasternConferencecoachescall.
Mullen remains isolated at home, living mostly in his bedroomandadjacentoffice. Hiswifeandkidshavetested negative repeatedly, he said. His wife, Megan, temporarily moved to another part of the house.
The Gators (2-1) host Missouri (1-2) on Oct. 31, a game initially scheduled for this Saturday. LSU-Florida, initially scheduled for last weekend, was postponed until December.
Bowden says thanks: Former Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden thanked his doctors, family and fans their support and prayers through his “tough” boutwithCOVID-19.
“I want to thank all the manymanypeoplewhowere thinking of and praying for meover the last few weeks,” Bowden said Wednesday in a statement released by his son, former Clemson coach Tommy Bowden. “I just went through a battle with COVID-19 and God just wasn’t ready to take me home yet to be with him.”