I made it just in time. Tulane's Jon Sumrall was about 35 minutes late after the team's charter plane had to circle Newark for about 45 minutes waiting to be cleared to land after an early morning snowstorm caused havoc. Strangely, I arrived about 2 1/2 hours before the team on a commercial flight that landed with no problem before being delayed for about 10 minutes while they de-iced the area around the gate. I guess the backup of flights delayed got bigger as the day went on.
JEFF MONKEN (excerpts)
"We're very proud to be here and are going to try to do our very best to play the best football we've played all year. We know it's going to take that effort. The players are excited. The coaches are excited. The eyes of the nation will be on the American Athletic Conference tomorrow and certainly West Point."
On how he handled practice after two very physical games and a short week:
"We practiced probably maybe as lightly as we've practiced all year. Frankly, we talked about this last week. We've taken a pounding, and our guys play a very physical brand of football. We play hard and pride ourselves on playing a rugged style of football. When you play that way, you are going to take some lumps. We played a Notre Dame team that was really physical and big. We came out of that game beat up and had to push through a week of practice last week to go up against UTSA, which is an outstanding team. I don't know if anybody in our league is playing as good as them in the last part of the season, and that was a physical game. It's a six-day turnaround to the game tomorrow night, and we were conscious of that, so we hit far less this week than we have. We modified the equipment that we wore in the middle of the week to make sure our guys were fresh and could feel as well as they possibly can. Our guys emotionally will be ready and are excited to play the game. Hopefully physically we will be able to hold up."
On the challenges Tulane presents offensively and defensively:
"They are a complete team. To start off with their defense, coach Gasparato does a tremendous job. He was on our staff and has a long history with coach (Nate) Woody. He was a defensive coach for a long time in the Southern Conference, and the offense being run at those programs is an option offense. He's got a great plan. They have really talented players and they're playing really well and hard. Coach Sumrall's a defensive minded coach, and his teams have always played good defense. They are a challenge to play because of our offense against their defense because of their ability to get their guys to play our schemes with great detail, fundamentals and assignment. Our offense is so different. To have an understanding (of it) as Greg does is a particular challenge. Hopefully we can block well enough and have some plays that are answers to what they're giving us well enough that they can't just sit in one front and beat the crap out of us, which they're good enough to do that. They are physical enough. They've played good defense all year, not just against option teams.
"Offensively they run the ball. They are built like us and value the same things. They cut the time of the game down with possessions for the other team, but their quarterback has played so well. They throw long balls, deep balls, big plays. That's something they've got that really makes them stand out. They are a great running team that makes big plays in the passing game, so that's a lot of pressure on the defense. Coach Sumrall has just done a great job in the transition from one coach to another. It's going to take great effort for us tomorrow night to match their speed and athleticism."
On his answer to people who think Army will not put everything it has into the game because it has Navy coming up next Saturday:
"We're playing for a conference championship tomorrow night for the first time in program history, so this is a huge game for us, and everything we've done this week is in preparation for this game. Certainly when this game is done tomorrow night, our attention will turn completely to the game next week, but we are a 100 percent getting ourselves prepared to beat Tulane and play the game tomorrow night. There are 18 teams playing this weekend. Nine of them are going to get to stand out there on the field and hoist the trophy over their head, and our guys want to be one of them. We know Tulane wants to be that team just as badly as our team does, so hopefully we can make it a great game. I'm not sure we can. They've got a great team, super talented, well coached, so I hope we can make it a great game and give ourselves a chance."
JEFF MONKEN (excerpts)
"We're very proud to be here and are going to try to do our very best to play the best football we've played all year. We know it's going to take that effort. The players are excited. The coaches are excited. The eyes of the nation will be on the American Athletic Conference tomorrow and certainly West Point."
On how he handled practice after two very physical games and a short week:
"We practiced probably maybe as lightly as we've practiced all year. Frankly, we talked about this last week. We've taken a pounding, and our guys play a very physical brand of football. We play hard and pride ourselves on playing a rugged style of football. When you play that way, you are going to take some lumps. We played a Notre Dame team that was really physical and big. We came out of that game beat up and had to push through a week of practice last week to go up against UTSA, which is an outstanding team. I don't know if anybody in our league is playing as good as them in the last part of the season, and that was a physical game. It's a six-day turnaround to the game tomorrow night, and we were conscious of that, so we hit far less this week than we have. We modified the equipment that we wore in the middle of the week to make sure our guys were fresh and could feel as well as they possibly can. Our guys emotionally will be ready and are excited to play the game. Hopefully physically we will be able to hold up."
On the challenges Tulane presents offensively and defensively:
"They are a complete team. To start off with their defense, coach Gasparato does a tremendous job. He was on our staff and has a long history with coach (Nate) Woody. He was a defensive coach for a long time in the Southern Conference, and the offense being run at those programs is an option offense. He's got a great plan. They have really talented players and they're playing really well and hard. Coach Sumrall's a defensive minded coach, and his teams have always played good defense. They are a challenge to play because of our offense against their defense because of their ability to get their guys to play our schemes with great detail, fundamentals and assignment. Our offense is so different. To have an understanding (of it) as Greg does is a particular challenge. Hopefully we can block well enough and have some plays that are answers to what they're giving us well enough that they can't just sit in one front and beat the crap out of us, which they're good enough to do that. They are physical enough. They've played good defense all year, not just against option teams.
"Offensively they run the ball. They are built like us and value the same things. They cut the time of the game down with possessions for the other team, but their quarterback has played so well. They throw long balls, deep balls, big plays. That's something they've got that really makes them stand out. They are a great running team that makes big plays in the passing game, so that's a lot of pressure on the defense. Coach Sumrall has just done a great job in the transition from one coach to another. It's going to take great effort for us tomorrow night to match their speed and athleticism."
On his answer to people who think Army will not put everything it has into the game because it has Navy coming up next Saturday:
"We're playing for a conference championship tomorrow night for the first time in program history, so this is a huge game for us, and everything we've done this week is in preparation for this game. Certainly when this game is done tomorrow night, our attention will turn completely to the game next week, but we are a 100 percent getting ourselves prepared to beat Tulane and play the game tomorrow night. There are 18 teams playing this weekend. Nine of them are going to get to stand out there on the field and hoist the trophy over their head, and our guys want to be one of them. We know Tulane wants to be that team just as badly as our team does, so hopefully we can make it a great game. I'm not sure we can. They've got a great team, super talented, well coached, so I hope we can make it a great game and give ourselves a chance."
