The cheers from Army's 59-3 opening win over Bryant had barely subsided when head football coach Jeff Monken was already looking ahead to Saturday's game against South Florida.
At his regular news conference, Monken was asked by Army Radio play-by-play announcer Rich DeMarco about shifting to focus so quickly to the Bulls and the opportunity ahead for the Black Knights.
"They are a really good football team. They're very, very talented. They've done a tremendous job putting a roster together that it's going to give them a chance to be a great football team this year. And they're very well coached. Obviously, Danny Verpaele, who was on our staff (as safeties coach,) is there with them. Got a lot of respect for Danny, and they got a great coaching staff," Monken said.
"When you look at the American Conference and consider the teams that have come in and out of this league, so many of those teams that have left this league or are now in powerful conferences, South Florida is one of those teams that I think everybody really looks at as a potential Power Four team."
Monken, who is the cousin of Cleveland Browns coach Todd Monken, laid it on thicker.
"We're honored to have them in the conference, and it's a great institution. It's a big-time football program. And, you know, they've got a desire to to really be a great team in our league and and perhaps beyond our league," he said.
"So, when when you have a program that's resourced like that and has a roster and a coaching staff to match. I think it makes them a pretty formidable opponent. We know the challenges that we have facing them, the talent that they have, and what we're going to have to do in the level of performance we're going to have to put together to just be competitive with them. So, I don't know if it's an opportunity. Maybe it's a curse to have a team like that early. We're going to have to improve."
I'd never want to spoil a great "aw shucks" speech like that, but facts are facts. FanDuel has Army favored by 3.5 points. Imagine how thick the sugarcoating would get if the Bulls were favored.
Bulls coach Brian Hartline and his players acknowledged that's USF's 19-9 win over FIU was lacking in some areas, particularly on offense. But they also got solid quarterback play from Michael Van Buren, who took care of the football and the offense had no turnovers.
The defense bowed up when it had to against FIU and forced three turnovers. The special teams were elite -- Nico Gramatic, the American Conference special teams player of the week, had four field goals. Punter Luke Goater was outstanding, average 47.2 yards on four punts with two landing inside the 20.
So, yeah, the Bulls have something to work with here.
But they'll also need to gain much more than the 208 total yards they had against FIU. Army's triple option is built for ball control and domination in time of possession, so the Bulls need to reduce those opportunities for the Black Knights by holding on to the ball themselves.
In just the second week of the season, this is as big of a conference game as the Bulls have had maybe ever. A road win over an Army team that figures to contend for the conference title would set USF up as a certified contender, and the weak upcoming non-conference schedule -- Delaware State followed by Bowling Green -- would provide opportunities to work out any issues before resuming conference play.
"They were very unsatisfied as a team (after the FIU game), which is great to see as a coach,'' Hartline said. "We left a lot of opportunities on the field. We want to make the routine plays routinely. We want to execute on a consistent basis, not up and down.
"We did a great job taking care of the football and (minimizing) penalties. That has to continue. You are not that type of team by doing it once. You are what you do over time. We're trying to get some things fixed, but we're also trying to make sure the things we did well remain a staple.''
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