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Army vs. Hawaii: Get To Know The Black Knights
Can Hawaii improve to 4-0?
Contact/Follow @JeremyMauss & @MWCwire
Hawaii has a huge game this week as they put its 3-0 record on the line and travel nearly 5,000 miles to take on a pretty good Army team. The Black Knights use a very efficient triple-option offense which the Warriors do not see all that often, but seeing a similar offense last week vs. Navy really does help Hawaii this week.
To get to know Army we chatted with Alex Funderburke who covers Army for Forgotten 5 to get an up close look of this game.
1. Army has a new QB in Kelvin Hopkins Jr. how has he been so far taking over for Ahmad Bradshaw who was extremely good guiding this running attack?
Kelvin is a completely different QB than Ahmad was, Ahmad could only hurt you on the ground, there was little to no passing element with him. With Hopkins there is the threat of the pass. Through two games he has thrown for 258 yards and two touchdowns; to put that in perspective, Ahmad Bradshaw threw for 285 yards and one touchdown all of last season. Hopkins needs to improve on his decision making when it comes to pitching the ball or not, but that will come with experience.
2. Who else on this Black Knight offense should the Hawaii defenders be focusing on?
-Fred Cooper: He didn’t play in the Duke game because of turf toe, in the Liberty game, Cooper ran for 81 yards on 10 carries. He ran aggressively and was throwing Flame defenders off of him.
– All four B-Backs(fullbacks): Darnell Woolfolk, Andy Davidson, Connor Slomka, and Calen Holt are the heart of the triple option offense. If the B-Back dive isn’t getting 3-4 yards per carry then the Army offense will be behind schedule and won’t be able to score a lot of points.
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3. Hawaii’s run-n-shoot is playing extremely well so far, so how does the Army defense plan to approach this passing attack?
The Army defense has faced two pass-heavy offenses to start the season (Duke, Liberty) and had two completely different results. Duke QB Daniel Jones only threw for 197 yards but it felt like he was gashing the Army defense every time he threw the ball. In the Liberty game, the Flames threw for 307 yards but most of their drives were stopped before scoring any points.
Due to lack of size Army is going to give up yards, but they don’t give up a lot of points. They are the ultimate “bend but don’t break” team. DB’s Elijah Riley and Jaylon McClinton will have to be big time for Army in order to slow down Cole McDonald’s passing game (there is no stopping it completely).
4. How much of an advantage, if any, does Army have with Hawaii not only traveling just about 5,000 miles but also this being a 6 a.m. local kick?
I think there is a slight advantage just because Army is a triple option team. It’s not something you face every day. Seeing the triple option at noon local time is hard enough, imagine seeing it at 6 a.m. If Hawaii hadn’t already played Navy, then I think the travel/kick time would be a huge advantage for the Black Knights.
5. How do you see this game playing out?
I think we will see a shootout, Hawaii’s run defense is 121st in the country and Army’s pass defense isn’t proven yet. Both teams should be able to score with relative ease. I’ve been going back and forth all week with who I think will win this shootout, but at the moment, I think Army will have a late drive that will kill clock and keep the explosive Hawaii offense off of the field. Army wins a close one.
Army 42, Hawaii 35
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