Army Football: 3 reasons to watch 2018 Armed Forces Bowl vs. Houston

PHILADELPHIA, PA - SEPTEMBER 02: Mike Reynolds #29 of the Army Black Knights reacts after his interception with teammates John Voit #59 and Calen Holt #42 in the fourth quarter against the Temple Owls at Lincoln Financial Field on September 2, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Black Knights defeated the Owls 28-13. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

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(Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) /

3. Will Houston’s defense improve?

Houston defensive coordinator Mark D’Onofrio has been fired after poor defensive performances for the Cougars in 2018. Houston’s defense is ranked 100th per the S&P+ and 34.4 points per game which is good for 106th of 130 FBS teams. While losing defensive lineman extraordinaire Ed Oliver didn’t help, the Cougars defense wasn’t much better in 2017. The defense was 49th overall a year ago under D’Onofrio and only gave up 23.8 points per game.

Losing Oliver was obviously a huge blow and now without King on offense Houston could become a swiss cheese defense that can’t score or get off the field. D’Onofrio liked a non-aggressive 3-4 defense which really doesn’t exist outside of his playbook. Hopefully senior linebacker Austin Robinson can continue blowing up opposing offenses against the Army triple option. Robinson logged 115 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, and six sacks in 2018 without Oliver supporting him.

The Cougars coaching staff will have their backs to the wall and outside linebackers coach Dan Carrel will be coaching to keep his promotion as the interim defensive coordinator. Hopefully Carrel will come at Army with an aggressive approach that will keep the Black Knights from imposing their will on a weak Cougars defense.

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