GBK's Monday Morning Quarterback - Tulsa
Senior Day Sabotaged – 4th Quarter Meltdown
It was Senior Day and 23 Black Knights were playing their final game at Michie Stadium. A win by Army would gain them bowl eligibility for the 7th time since Monken became head coach. The Tulsa Golden Hurricane came into the game hoping to break a 10 game conference loss streak, and they managed to overcome an 11 point deficit to spoil the day for those 23 seniors.
Tulsa and Army Offensive Both Got Out to Fast Starts
Army won the toss and elected to defer to the second half; so Tulsa started the game on offense. The Black Knight looked good on the first two plays from scrimmage giving up just 4 yards, but then RS Freshman QB, Baylor Hayes, demonstrated his signature move as he rolled right out of containment and connected with his receiver on the Army 30 without breaking stride. It was a demonstration scrambling that would plague the Army defense all day. Hayes tossed another two quick strikes to give Tulsa first and 10 at the Army 11 and then Dominic Richardson carried the ball twice to give Tulsa the early 7-0 lead.
Army struck back quickly as Cale Hellums connected with Noah Short for a 44 yard gain on Army’s first play of the game, and then Hellums broke free for a 31 yard touchdown run to tie that game at 7-7.
Black Knights slot back Noah Short (15) catches a pass over Tulsa Golden Hurricane safety Keontez Bradley (3) during the first half at Michie Stadium. (Photo Credit: Danny Wild-Imagn Images)
The Army defense started out well on the next Tulsa possession, holding Tulsa to 2 yards on their first two plays, but a pass interference call on Jaxon Hammond let them off the hook. Tulsa eked out another first down on third down to reach the Army 29 where the defense held fast forcing Tulsa to try a 47 yard field goal. CJ Martin got a hand on the ball to block the attempt and the game remained tied.
Army appeared to be on their way to another touchdown on their next possession as the offense methodically drove the ball 45 yards in 8 plays to the Tulsa 26 before they were stopped on a 4th down attempt. An apparent pass interference by Tulsa was missed by the officials forcing Army to go for the 4th down conversion and Tulsa was ready for Short’s run to the outside.
Tulsa put together an impressive offensive drive on their next possession, mixing quick short passes and long runs on a 74-yard in 8 plays to regain the lead at 14-7 at the start of the second quarter.
The Black Knights put together their own impressive offensive drive as they marched 71 yards in 14 plays for a touchdown. A Tulsa penalty moved the extra point try halfway to the goal line and Monken seized the opportunity to go for the 2 point conversion and Hellums found Tex Brennan free in the end zone to give Army a slim 15-14 lead.
A special teams mistake put Tulsa on their own 2 yard line to start their next possession, and the Army defense held them to force the only Tulsa punt of the game.
With good field position the Army offense put on another touchdown drive to lead 22-14 at the half, and at this point, Army looked to be in control of the game at the half.
A Field Goal and Two Fumble Recoveries
Army took the second half kickoff and marched to the Tulsa 22 where an apparent touchdown pass to Brady Anderson was reversed when the review showed his foot out of bounds before the catch. Army had to settle for a 33 yard field goal by Dawson Jones to extend the lead to 25-14.
Baylor Hayes and Dominic Richardson took turns gashing the Army defense as Tulsa marched to the Army 10 yard line, but a muffed handoff was recovered by Eric Ford to stop the scoring drive and Army had the ball back deep in their own territory.
Tulsa stopped the Army offense cold on the next three plays forcing a punt that Tulsa fielded on the 50, and but on the second play of that Tulsa drive, Gavin Shields forced a fumble that Colin Matteson recovered and Army had what seemed to be a comfortable 11 point lead going into the final quarter.
Mental Errors Contributed to a 4th Quarter Meltdown
Army started the 4th quarter with an 8 play drive that reached the Army 49 before three solid defensive plays forced a punt that Tulsa fielded on their own 18. The defense held Tulsa to 52 yards in 11 plays, which forced them to attempt a 48 yard field goal, that barely cleared the crossbar, just enough to close the gap to 8 points.
With 4:15 left on the game clock, the Black Knights just needed a couple of first downs to preserve the win. Tulsa, no doubt, anticipated that Army would keep the ball on the ground to take time off the clock; so Worley attempted to cross them up by going to the air on second down, and that’s when we saw the first big mental error of the quarter. According to Monken, Hellums had a couple of receivers open but Hellums tried to force the ball in to Brady Anderson who was well covered by two Tulsa defenders, and the Golden Hurricane had a new life with the ball on the Army 40 with 3:25 left on the game clock.
Tulsa needed just 1:32 and 5 plays to reach the end zone, and they decided to go for the tie with a 2 point attempt. Jack Bousum put a big rush on Hayes who threw the ball well over the reach of his intended receiver and Army still held the lead at 25-23.
Army recovered the expected onside kick and went to work trying to run 1:54 off game clock with Tulsa having just 2 timeouts remaining. On second down, Noah Short took a pitch to the perimeter. He made a mental error of cutting to the outside rather than turning the ball upfield and was pushed out of bounds to stop the clock. Tulsa was able to save a timeout, and were able to stop the clock with 4th down and 3.
Monken made his decision to go for the first down rather than punt, and Tulsa dropped Hellums after 1 yard to take possession on the Army 47 with 1:36 remaining on the game clock, and no timeouts.
The defense just needed to keep the ball inbounds and out of field goal range, but the Tulsa receivers made it out of bounds, andDominic Richardson fought his way to three huge gains to the Army 14, where Seth Morgan had an easy field goal for the 26-25 win.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Army played a good game for the first 56 minutes but fell apart in the final 4 to give Tulsa the win. Give credit to good performances by Tulsa’s freshman QB, Hayes, and their senior RB Richardson, but it was a game that Army had well in hand until those final minutes of the game.
The Good
Winning the Turnover Battle: As Jeff Monken frequently notes, the team that wins the turnover battle usually wins the game, but that was not the case this time. Army was unable to capitalize on its two fumble recoveries, although the takeaways did prevent Tulsa scores and kept Army in the lead until the final quarter.
First Half Offense: Army scored on three of its four possessions in the first half and might well have scored on the fourth possession had it not been for the no-call on an apparent Tulsa pass interference.
Penalties: Army had just two penalties for 26 yards and both penalties were what we like to categorize as the aggressive (aka good) type. The pass interference by Jaxon Hammond was a rookie mistake of not looking back for the ball, and hopefully, he’ll learn from his mistake.
The Bad
Second Half Offense: After moving the ball well in the first half and scoring on three of their four possessions, the offense disappeared after the opening drive of the second half. The Tulsa defense stopped Army cold on 3 of their 5 second half possessions, and the offense couldn’t get a first down when they needed one.
Tulsa’s Third and Fourth Down Successes : With the exception of the two takeaways, the Army defense had trouble getting the Tulsa offense off the field all day. It seemed as though the defense would have three good downs followed by a lapse on third or fourth down. Tulsa converted two 3d and 8 attempts and one 4th and 4 on their second possession of the game, and in the 4th quarter, Tulsa had a 3d and 24 and Army let them get within FG range on a 22 yard third down run.
Fourth Quarter Coaching: While the decision by Hellums to throw the ball into coverage, and the error made by Short in getting run out of bounds were the players’ mistakes, we think that the coaching staff could have foreseen those potential mistakes and warned the players in advance to avoid them at all costs.
The Ugly
Fourth Quarter Mental Errors: Hellums decision to throw the ball into coverage was a huge mental error, and Short’s failure to stay inbounds on his perimeter run was another costly error.
Final Defensive Stand: We leave it to the coaching staff to figure out what happened to the defense in that final minute of the game, but they let Tulsa run all over them and couldn’t keep the clock running when they most needed it. It was a really bad performance by the defense.
Post Game (Army-Tulsa) Analysis with GBK’s Football Analyst Joe Iacono (11/22)
Notable Performances
Offense
Offensive MVP
- Joe’s Pick: I’ll go with Cale Hellums despite his 4th quarter mistake.
- A.M.’s Choice: My selection is QB Cale Hellums, whose 1st half performance was solid despite an average 2nd half.
- Charles’ Choice: Based on the game’s overall performance, I find it hard to designate anyone the offensive MVP
- Gordon’s Pick: Cale Hellums was both Hero and Goat in this game. His first half performance was worthy of MVP honors but his performance in the 4th quarter left a lot to be desired.
- PFF Top Offensive Player: Henry Appleton with an 81.6.
Defense
Defensive MVP:
- Joe’s Pick: LB Eric Ford despite all the mistakes.
- A.M.’s Pick: Although stats may not support my selection, I believe that senior LB Eric Ford had a solid game, which included a critical fumble recovery.
- Charles’ Choice: I take the same position regarding my defensive MVP selection as I did offensively … I don’t believe that anyone is worthy of that designation.
- Gordon’s Pick: A generally bad day for the defense with Tulsa getting too many big plays at critical points which tends to make me go along with Charles on this one. Collin Matteson comes closest to an MVP in my mind.
- PFF Top Defensive Player: Gavin Shields with a 74.7 followed closely by Kody Harris-Miller with a 74.5.
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