Army West Point Black Knights College Football Pregame Quote, 10/08/2019

Disappointed to come in here after a home loss. We haven’t had to do that in a while. Credit to Tulane ‚Äî they had a good team. They were just better than us on Saturday. Very well coached, they had a great plan and their kids executed really well. They had a really strong second half and we answered by tying the game up and they took the lead right back and never relinquished it. They really did a nice job. Our guys battled and [credit] our effort in making a run there at the end to try and get back into the ball game, but in the end, they outperformed us and just did a better job. Hopefully we can come back here the next time we’re at home and we’ll be talking about winning. We think it’s really important to win at home here. We place a big emphasis on it and that’s that.

We move on to Western Kentucky, whose got a really athletic team and it’s interesting to see them with such a fast start. Just a credit to their coaching staff and to their players. They lost their opening game and now they’ve won three out of their last four, with the only loss coming to Louisville. Three games in their league ‚Äî they beat UAB, who we all recognize as having such great seasons the last couple of years. Coach Clark [UAB head coach] and the job they’ve done — they beat Old Dominion last weekend, who we watched go up 17-0 against Virginia and who we know has a terrific football team. They’re [Western Kentucky] obviously a very strong team. Their offense gives you fits. They do so many different things. They do a great job protecting the quarterback, only [giving up] five sacks on the season. Really impressive for as often they throw the ball. Defensively, they’re really, really stout. Great against the run. They got the nation’s leader in tackles for loss. They’re somewhere between 30 and 35 in the country in rushing defense, scoring defense, passing defense ‚Äî 24th overall in defense. [They’re] doing a great job in keeping people from turning the sticks. Really effective job on third down. Just can’t say enough for how well they’re playing and the great job they’re doing. So, I anticipate this being a tremendous challenge for us with a team we know is well coached and full of athletes.

On Kelvin Hopkins Jr.:

He was pretty healthy going into the game on Saturday. He had a knee injury that happened in warmups at Michigan, and on the same leg had some trouble nursing it back to complete health. I thought by the end of the week last week he was feeling pretty good. He came out a little sore, but we have full confidence that, as long as nothing happens at practice, he will be able to play for us. I am glad, he is a great leader for us.

On what the defense is looking to improve on:

There is one thing we have to get much better at and that is tackling. We didn’t do that very effectively Saturday. Credit to Tulane ‚Äì they did a nice job breaking tackles and they have a very talented football team. We certainly have to do that better. Getting to a tackle means getting off a block and we were stuck on blocks far too often. Those two things, which are fundamentals and effort, and making a play, have a lot to do with the opponent. When an opponent is talented and has the ability to run through tackles or run by you, you have more of a tendency to miss those tackles. We have to control what we can, get better fundamentally, and hopefully do those two things better.

On being resilient:

I don’t know what I attribute that to. I think our guys play hard. Each week I think we are prepared. Hopefully it is a mental toughness and resiliency that is built into these guys, this program and this Academy. We teach people to be mentally tough and resilient. Certainly, they are going to need those qualities when they go our and serve and as officers in the Army. We know Western Kentucky will be a very formidable opponent and a real challenge for us. It is going to be interesting to see how our guys respond. Hopefully we will have a great attitude and great effort this week preparing for Western Kentucky.