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.