WEST POINT, N.Y. — Playing at Michie Stadium has been a fortress for Jeff Monken and Army Football the past decade, with a 46-10 record at home since 2016. With their loss to North Texas this past Saturday afternoon, Army Football has started the season 0-2 at home for the first time since 2015, a season they finished 2-10.
“I’m positively pissed off. That’s what I’m positive about,” Army head coach Jeff Monken stated bluntly post-game.
Following a week in which Army Football lost at home to FCS Tarleton State, the Black Knights went on the road down to Manhattan, Kansas, and upset the Kansas State Wildcats 24-21.
Coming back home to West Point after a bye week, Army looked to keep the positive momentum going as they would open up conference play against North Texas. It was anything but positive in upstate New York, with Army falling in overtime following a major second-half comeback.
Army West Point News:
- Army’s Heartbreak: North Texas Survives Overtime Thriller in West Point Slugfest
- Army’s Cale Hellums Earns Manning Start of the Week Honor for Week Two
- Army Rallies Past Kansas State 24-21 Behind Hellums’ Historic Performance
Any momentum that Army had from their historic victory over Kansas State quickly died when the Mean Green took a 28-7 lead halfway through the second quarter.
The mistakes just piled up in the first half for Army, with Cale Hellums turning it over three times (2 fumbles & 1 interception) after being the hero down in Kansas.
“Very difficult to win a football game when you spot a team 21 points and it’s turnover central in the first half,” Monken continued. “We’d just hang on to the ball, I think we’d give ourselves a chance. We didn’t do that.
Dewayne Coleman replaced Hellums late in the second quarter, and the offense started to click. The senior from Selma, Texas, led the Black Knights down the field to cap off the first half with a 17-yard passing touchdown to slot back Samari Howard.
Even with all the bad, Army was trailing just 28-14 heading into halftime, and they would start the half with the ball.
In the second half, the Black Knights would claw all the way back and force overtime with North Texas. On five second-half drives, Dewayne Coleman and Army scored four times (three touchdowns), which included 10 points in the final three minutes of regulation.
Unfortunately for Jeff Monken and Army, it would be all for not, falling in overtime for the second time this season.
Safety Casey Larkin captured the team’s frustrating reality perfectly: “I think in the spot we are right now, those were winnable games. We have two overtime losses, and we could be 3-0 right now. I think we have an awesome team. Everybody plays their hardest every single weekend and week out. So I think we’re in a great spot; we just got to finish games.”
Coming off a 12-win season in 2024, this Army team has been highly inconsistent through three games. Like Larken said, this team could easily be undefeated through the first month of the season, but instead, owns a losing record (1-2).
If history has anything to say on where this season could go for Jeff Monken’s group, in 2015, when Army started 0-2 at Michie Stadium with a loss to a FCS opponent, Fordham, and a narrow three-point loss to Wake Forest, the Black Knights finished the season 2-10, with a 1-5 home record, led by sophomore quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw.
The Black Knights have the potential to be one of the better teams in the American Conference once again in 2025. Army has the talent. As expected, they fight until the bell is rung. The only thing lacking right now is consistency and putting everything together for a full 60 minutes week in and week out.
“Our brotherhood harps on finishing and being tough. The tougher team, as part of our plan, I feel like everyone went out there and did that today,” said quarterback Dewayne Coleman. “I’m very proud of our team’s effort. We have to work on the fundamentals and be better at our assignments to be able to win games.”
With the team heading on the road for the next two weeks with American Conference showdowns against East Carolina (9/25) and the University of Alabama-Birmingham (10/4), the next time Jeff Monken and the Black Knights will be home will be October 11th against Charlotte (1-3). Kickoff is set for noon EST on CBS Sports Network.
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