Despite Loss, Army to Stay the Course

Senior LB Stephen Anderson (left) & Sophomore QB Trent Steelman

In just his first 17 games as the head coach of Army football, Rich Ellerson has already implemented a design and seen results. The Black Knights went 5-7 in 2009, the highest number of wins since 1996 for the Academy. Through four games in 2010, Ellerson’s squad was 3-1 and on a two game winning streak hosting MAC opponent Temple.

On paper the Owls were expected to be one of, if not the most, difficult teams on the schedule. They were also expected to be a bit of barometer as to how quickly this program was turning around. Army led Temple 28-13 with about seven minutes left in the third quarter on Saturday at home on Homecoming. Then, Temple’s backup running back Matt Brown rushed for over 100 yards in the second half and two scores to bring the Owls back for a 42-35 victory.

“That’s tough to take,” said Ellerson after the loss. “If you’re going to beat a team like Temple, you have to be hitting on all cylinders.”

In the loss, the Cadets allowed more team rushing yards (256) than in their previous three contests combined. Not only that, but the discipline-by-nature team committed seven penalties for 74 yards.

“It’s tragic because some of those just really don’t need to happen,” said Ellerson. “We need to have better presence.”

Despite the loss dropping Army to 3-2 this season, there is not a sense of panic at West Point. Rich Ellerson looked more annoyed at his team like a parent would at their child missing curfew rather than someone who saw his team take a step back.

“That’s a bowl team we’re playing out there,” Ellerson said of Temple. “We had them on their heels and we had an opportunity.”

As for the Black Knight players, they had a starkly different presence. Sophomore quarterback Trent Steelman, who had a direct hand in all five of his teams touchdown (4 rushing, 1 passing), looked personally hurt. It was almost as if something was missing from him, he looked physically and emotionally beaten.

“That’s not who we are. That’s not what we represent,” Steelman commented after the game. “We’ll go back and we’ll recover. We’ll forget it and clear and move onto the next objective.”

While the offensive leader looked upset, one of Army’s defensive captains looked plain mad. Senior linebacker Stephen Anderson seemed as if someone stole something from him and he was ready to immediately get back on the field and rectify the situation.

“At the end of the day, this team knows and believes that we are the team that is going to bring winning back to Army,” said Anderson when asked if this loss is a step back for the struggling program.

The Cadets have not had a winning season since 1996, they have not beaten Navy since 2001 but they had not been 3-1 in four weeks since 1996 and seemed to be on the right foot coming into Saturday. The overwhelming feeling after the loss is that while it was not the expected outcome, it is not going to deter or alter the course of action at West Point.

“We believe and we’re going to go back to work and we’re bringing winning back,” Anderson said in a definitive tone. They get a chance to do that on Saturday on the road against Tulane, a team that just beat Army’s opponent the week after in Rutgers.

Army's Homecoming trampeled by Temple's Brown

When the injury report for the Temple Owls said star running back Bernard Price was not going to play against Army, the odds stacked up slightly in favor of the Black Knights. That was until Matt Brown took the field. Brown ran for 226 yards on just 28 carries and four scores leading the Owls to a second half comeback over Army in a 42-35 victory on Homecoming day at West Point.


“Matt’s proven himself in big games and big environments,” said Temple Head Coach Al Golden. “He may be our finest competitor , and he made a lot of guys miss.”

The 5’5” 170 pound sophomore used his agility and vision to tear apart the Cadet defense rushing for 108 yards in the first quarter. Army was able to stifle the running attack in the second frame giving up just seven yards on the ground taking a 21-13 lead into the halftime break.

Army (3-2) scored again in the third to take a 15 point advantage before a stout Temple defense and Matt Brown’s running contributed to 29 unanswered points to take a 42-28 lead. The Owls (4-1) put up 240 yards of total offense in the second half en route to the victory.

“They did a nice job of getting him started,” said Army head man Rich Ellerson after the loss. They had enough space and, in that open field tackling drill, he won way too many reps.

The Cadets did have a solid outing from sophomore quarterback Trent Steelman who ran for 65 yards on 19 carries and four scores while throwing 124 yards (9 of 16 passing) and another touchdown. Steelman has been directly responsible for seven straight Army touchdowns dating back to last week’s victory at Duke.

“In an option offense, the quarterback is in the eye of the storm,” noted Ellerson on his second year starter. “In a situation like that where it’s close, and you give him a chance to check, he’ll generally call his own number.”

Temple was arguably the most talented team on the schedule for Army to this point in the season and a good barometer of how Rich Ellerson’s second season at West Point would go. Army has now lost three straight against their MAC opponent. They last defeated Temple in 2007 at Michie Stadium 37-21.

“If you’re going to beat a team like Temple, you have to be hitting on all cylinders,” said Ellerson.

Army will be away from the friendly confines of the Academy for the next two weeks traveling first to Louisiana to take on Tulane and then hosting Big East opponent Rutgers at the New Meadowlands Stadium on October 16th. The Black Knights will return home on October 30th against VMI at noon.