WEST POINT — The hype train is under maintenance.

Flashback to five games ago, when Army was, like everyone else, 0-0. The preseason storylines were all positive. The word “undefeated” surfaced more than once. The excitement, especially externally, was palpable.

Things have changed since then. Each one of Army’s five outcomes have been underwhelming. The three wins that should have been easily obtained have looked anything but, and the two challenging-yet-beatable tests have resulted in losses. The high-water mark for the program came at Michigan, when Army turned the nation’s eyeballs toward its attempt at a Top-10 upset, only to fumble it away in double overtime.

The latest defeat, against an admittedly ascending Tulane program, was particularly disheartening for Army. Faced with more athletic defenders who shed blocks quicker than a German Shepherd sheds its coat, the Black Knights' ground-centric offense was ditched for a shockingly balanced attack. The problem is, the seesaw of alternating runs and passes had no fulcrum.

Certainly, the decision to throw it a handful of times was lodged somewhere in the playbook. Kelvin Hopkins dropped back on his first snap, and the home fans gasped as if he’d just performed a magic trick. That attempt, a 36-yard completion to Camden Harrison, was successful, but 15 other tries fell incomplete or into the arms of a bright blue jersey. After the game, head coach Jeff Monken sounded dejected when responding to whether the pass-heavy approach was planned.

"No, we thought we’d have to run the ball,” he said.

Monken has married himself to the run throughout his career, and when another team soundly outperforms his in the one area he generally is unilaterally dominant in, it doesn’t sit well. “They rushed for 324 and we rushed for 193,” Monken said. “We’re a running football team. We’ve got to run for more yards than them.”

Indeed, 16 games had elapsed since Army was last out-rushed. On Saturday, it wasn’t just one guy who spurted through the flimsy line of defense. The Black Knights allowed a phalanx of running backs — and a running quarterback to boot — to cross the goal line. The explanation for this breakdown, according to Army’s captains, is simple.

“We’ve got to practice harder,” cornerback Elijah Riley said. We’re not working hard enough.”

Linebacker Cole Christiansen agreed. “We’re not good enough,” he said.

It’s important to put the current state of Army football in context. This opening five-game stretch only appears so dismal because of the high standards Monken has set in the past couple years. Fans have already lived a 3-2 start the past two seasons. In 2017, Tulane was one of the teams that toppled Army. The other three early-season defeats from the past two years came from road trips to formidable opponents in Ohio State, Duke and Oklahoma. If Army can regroup and win out the way it did after the overtime loss to the Sooners last season, then the Black Knights technically haven’t veered off course from their rapid rise.

Every game left on Army’s schedule remains winnable. But it’s getting harder and harder to see Army winning each one. In the first week of October, Monken is still chiding his team’s ability to block and tackle. (Monken cited an unconfirmed statistic after Tulane, stating, ”We set the all-time record for missed tackles in the first two drives.”) The game prior versus Morgan State, it was turnovers. Against Michigan, penalties.

The season has played out like a whack-a-mole game thus far. Whenever one issue is remedied, another problem arises. Quarterback Kelvin Hopkins said his primary focus was on protecting the ball leading up to Tulane, and considering the amount of hits he took — especially one that should have displaced the ball to end Army’s last drive of the second quarter — it’s a marvel the gunslinger stayed glued to his bullet. But even though the team's ball security was improved (Hopkins did throw one interception in the fourth quarter with Army trailing 42-21), the Black Knights' defense unraveled, turning in unarguably its worst performance in 2019.

“It’s a very disappointing feeling,” Hopkins said of the comeback bid falling short.

With three of the next four contests on the road, shifting the tenor of the season is not going to be a simple task. By record alone, Army has been in this position before, each of the last two years. But ask Monken how he plans to tack this vessel into a more sunny direction, and his answer is cloudy at best.

“Block better,” he says, raising his pitch as if he’s asking a question. “Maybe play guys that aren’t as athletic. I don’t know.”

jfedich@th-record.com

Twitter: @jfedichTHR