BATON ROUGE, La.: Army coach Jeff Monken confirmed no curiosity in discussing No. 19 LSU’s potential weaknesses or making an attempt to give you the reason why the Black Knights might conceivably stage an upset in Death Valley on Saturday evening.
“It will take a monumental effort for us to challenge these guys and have an opportunity to be in the football game,” Monken mentioned, including that the Tigers are “enormous, they’re fast, they’re violent, they’re skilled.
“This is as talented a team as we’ve ever faced since I’ve been here as the coach,” Monken mentioned. “So, they don’t have an Achilles’ heel.”
Monken felt he might converse genuinely about the expertise hole between Army (2-4) and LSU (5-2) as a result of he doesn’t fear about the psyche of gamers who enroll at West Point.
“The guys in this locker room are also young men who have made a commitment to serve their country and, frankly, many of them may at some point find themselves in harm’s way,” Monken mentioned. “They’ve got the courage to do that, to take on that job. So, I think this place and the makeup of a West Point cadet probably lends itself to having guys who — they want to be challenged and they want to be put in difficult situations.”
And Monken mentioned his gamers know this weekend will current one in every of the most troublesome conditions they’ll ever face on a soccer discipline.
“Our guys watch college football all the time. They’re not stupid,” Monken mentioned. “Our guys aren’t scared. … It’s a tough opponent, a good opponent and they’re excited for the opportunity.”
Dual-threat LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels leads one in every of the nation’s high offenses and the Tigers are favored by greater than 4 touchdowns, in response to FanDuel Sportsbook. But LSU coach Brian Kelly this week emphasised his respect for Army and all the service academies, and advised his gamers ought to really feel the identical method.
LSU even painted a camouflage design in its finish zone to honor Army’s first go to to Tiger Stadium.
“The respect and the honor that we have in playing this game, we’re excited about this weekend,” Kelly mentioned.
A DIFFERENT ERA
LSU and Army have performed solely as soon as beforehand. That recreation was at West Point again in 1931, and Army received, 20-0.
Needless to say, instances have modified.
“We got guys from the state of Louisiana on our team. Not one of them got offered a scholarship by LSU,” Monken mentioned, including that when Army has defeated main convention groups in current years, it was due to extraordinary effort and sound fundamentals.
“It’s never because we’re more talented,” Monken mentioned. (*19*)
TOUGH CHOICES
LSU is one in every of simply two groups in the high-tier Football Bowl Subdivision — together with Oregon — at the moment ranked in the high 10 nationally in each dashing and passing.
The Tigers are seventh in passing (337.7 yards per recreation) and tenth in dashing (214.6). Meanwhile, Daniels, who has rushed for 515 yards this season, leads the nation in complete offense with 401.3 yards per recreation.
When requested how a protection is meant to scheme towards an offense that balanced and prolific, Monken responded, “ don’t know what you do.”
GETTING DEFENSIVE
LSU was giving up lots of yards and factors this season till about half method by its victory over Missouri. During the final six quarters, which incorporates all of a 48-18 victory over Auburn, LSU’s protection has given up 32 factors. That’s a major enchancment over the 70 factors allowed throughout the six quarters earlier than that ( 55 towards Ole Miss and 25 in the first half towards Mizzou).
“Guys knowing their roles allows 11 guys to play together. We didn’t do a great job of that early on,” Kelly mentioned.
Now LSU defenders are “seeing how this all fits together,” Kelly continued. “Not that they didn’t want to do the job, but sometimes they wanted to do somebody else’s job, too.”
Kelly additionally famous that his defensive employees responded to an epidemic of missed tackles by engaged on tackling fundamentals for 20 minutes a day.
RECENT SLIDE
Army has dropped three straight since surprisingly knocking off UTSA, 37-29, in mid-September. Since then, the Black Knights have misplaced to Syracuse, Boston College and Troy.
Against the Trojans final week, Army was shut out at house for the first time in 20 years. Turnovers — 13 up to now — have plagued Army’s offense this 12 months.
Army has fared higher defensively, permitting 20.2 factors per recreation, fewer than LSU’s common of 25.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
