ARMY-NAVY COMPARISON
Category/Army/Navy
Points per game/26.3/34.5
Points allowed per game/34.4/29.9
Rushing yards per game/305.5/357.8
Passing yards per game/64.5/86.6
Rushing yards allowed per game/191.9/199.8
Passing yards allowed per game/252.5/226.4
Sacks by/9-57/5-43
Third-down conversion/41%/47%
Jeff Monken laughs when asked how his life has changed since leaving Georgia Southern to take over at Army.
“I can’t begin to tell you how much it’s changed,” he said. “That’s the case with every new opportunity and every new challenge.”
Monken’s life could change considerably more if he can lead the Black Knights to a victory over Navy on Saturday in Baltimore.
The Midshipmen have won the past 12 games in the series as the two teams prepare for their 115th meeting. Navy leads the series 58-49-7.
Monken said he and his staff aren’t shying away from the losing streak because it’s there for all to see. Instead, he goes into a version of “one game at a time.”
“I don’t think that one team has to feel the responsibility for 12 other teams having come up on the short end,” he said. “This team that we are going to take onto the field on Saturday has never lost to Navy.”
This will be Monken’s first time on the other sidelines with Army after being a part of the Paul Johnson staff at Navy that started the winning streak in 2002.
It won’t be easy to stop it from reaching from No. 13.
Army is 4-7, with two wins in its past three games; Navy is 6-5 with four wins in its past five games, including a 52-19 thumping of Georgia Southern.
Monken doesn’t sugarcoat his team’s deficiencies.
He said the roster doesn’t have enough players who are big enough, fast enough or athletic enough … yet.
“Of the 12 teams we play, we are probably No. 13,” he said. “A team like that has to execute almost flawlessly, play with great fundamentals and technique and not turn the ball over.”
But Monken likes how each player has improved from the spring through the season. Continuing that will be the key to changing the culture of a program that has just one winning season since 1996.
The key to sinking the Middies, Monken says, will be not to assume that the fever of wanting to turn around this rivalry can replace doing what they have been coached to do.
It’s something he heard Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher reference before a game last year.
“Execution wins this game,” Monken said. “There will be great emotion in this game. It’s a fierce rivalry that’s lasted over a century. But execution will keep us in the game and ultimately the chance to win the game. Not something we’ve done well all year. Need to coach better and execute better.”
Though coaching takes up most of his time, Monken said he watched most of Georgia Tech’s games this season and almost all of Georgia Southern’s games because he shares a bond with both schools and coaching staffs.
Monken thanked an interviewer for showing an interest in Army football and then hung up with the phrase many of his team’s fans hope to hear for another 364 days following Saturday:
“Beat Navy.”
