You can’t win a football game in the first quarter but you can certainly lose one as Army has found out the hard way the past two weeks.
Army fell behind by three touchdowns once again, only this time the Black Knights could not battle out of the hole and fell 28-6 to East Carolina on Thursday night in Greenville, North Carolina.
Reigning American Conference champion Army (1-3) is the first team in the league to drop two contests, severely hampering its hopes for a repeat.
It was an almost identical start to a week ago against North Texas as Army fell behind 21-0. But it was the first time a Jeff Monken Army team (over 12 seasons) gave up 21 points in the first quarter. And with no scoring in the second quarter, it marked the first time the Black Knights had been shut out in the first half since a 62-0 blowout loss at LSU in 2023. Army came up empty on five full drives.
“Obviously, we started slow,” said senior Noah Short. “That’s something we need to improve on as a unit, just getting points on the board early.”
“We put ourselves in a real hole in the first half,” Monken said. “I was proud of the effort in the second half … our guys really battled. We didn’t make enough plays and that’s the bottom line. We have to make plays. So I’m disappointed sorely but it wasn’t the last game of the year. We’ll try to get better.”
Ironically, it was Army that jumped out to a 31-0 lead on East Carolina in a 45-28 victory over the Pirates last season at West Point – that was the final game for ECU head coach Mike Houston, who was dismissed afterward, and defensive coordinator Blake Harrell – first as interim and then permanent head coach – has guided the Pirates to a 9-3 mark since then.
Army senior Dewayne Coleman earned the start — his second of 2024 and third of his career — at quarterback by virtue of his practice work this week. Coleman, who was intercepted twice against Tarleton, was stripped of the ball early in the second quarter.
Coleman was caught holding the ball with his left hand and fumbled at the East Carolina 24. Julien Davis had the strip and Rasheed Reason the recovery. That was Army’s seventh giveaway of the season, with three apiece in the overtime losses to Tarleton State and North Texas.
Coleman scored Army’s only touchdown on a 2-yard play on the opening series of the third quarter, raising hopes that the Black Knights could erase a huge deficit again. But Coleman’s next three series lasted just four plays (for 8 yards), another four (for 12) and three plays (for 9), netting no points.
Asked how he thought Coleman played, Monken said: “Probably like I do the rest of the team … We didn’t play well enough to win.”
Junior Cale Hellums directed the final series. Like last week, his final play was an incompletion in the end zone meant for Noah Short.
“We couldn’t do anything with it, we couldn’t capitalize,” Monken said of the latter drives. “We couldn’t run our offense efficiently enough to continue to turn the sticks and get first downs.”
East Carolina proved effective with its quick-strike, up-tempo offense. The Pirates wasted little time on each snap, with quarterback Katin Houser making quick throws or instant handoffs, not allowing Army’s defense to mount any sustained pressure.
Houser capped a nine-play, 75-yard drive to start with a 3-yard burrowing score off the left side. The officials initially ruled him down at the 1-yard line, but a review confirmed the score and 7-0 lead.
Anthony Smith hand jockeyed with Army defender Jaydan Mayes on a long route, spun and caught a 40-yard pass from Houser for the receiver’s first touchdown of the season and a 14-0 lead with 8:22 left in the first.
Coleman found back Hayden Reed open on a fourth-down call from the ECU 29 but perhaps wrong-turned him and Reed bobbled and dropped the pass.
East Carolina capitalized with a nine-play, 71-yard drive. Coming out of the backfield, Houser hit Javontay Conner at the 9 and he finished off the 20-yard scoring play. Four plays earlier, it was Conner saving his quarterback by falling on a fumble that went through the hands of several Army players at the 30.
Houser finished 15-for-22 for 251 yards. East Carolina mixed in the run quite well, posting 180 yards on 50 carries.
East Carolina tacked on a fourth-quarter score on a fake field goal turned into a 32-yard touchdown run by backup holder Kyler Pearson.
“Ultimately, it came down to fundamentals,” said senior co-captain and linebacker Andon Thomas.
Army football: History not on side
This is the fourth time under Monken that Army has opened a season at 1-3: 2014 (finished 4-8), 2015 (2-10) and 2022 (6-6). Army has never opened a season at 1-3 and finished with a winning record, which is the bare standard for bowl eligibility.
“Obviously, it’s tough,” Thomas said. “Nobody wants to lose but we’ve got to keep our head on straight. This one’s in the past. … Ultimately, we have another week to get better.”
The American: Finals passage tough
With the setback, Army will have a tough path back to the Dec. 5 American Conference final.
The American has conducted 10 championship games since 2015. There have been only two participants who played in that game with two conference losses. In 2018, Memphis was one of three West Division teams at 5-3, and the Tigers lost to UCF. In 2022, runner-up UCF had the tiebreak over Cincinnati at 6-2, bowing to Tulane in the final.
Up next
Army (1-3) will visit Alabama Birmingham at noon on Saturday, Oct. 4 (ESPNU). Army beat UAB 44-10 at West Point on Oct. 12, 2024. The Black Knights return home against Charlotte at noon on October 11 (CBS Sports Network).
East Carolina (3-2) will also play its next two games on the ESPN’s Thursday night showcase: Oct. 9 at Tulane and Oct. 16 vs. Tulsa.
kmcmillan@th-record.com
X / Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: First-quarter struggles hamstring Army again in loss to East Carolina
Reporting by Ken McMillan, Middletown Times Herald- Record / Times Herald-Record
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
