Army football coach Jeff Monken says he is impressed with what this week’s opponent, the University of Hawaii, does.

He just wants to keep the ball away from the Rainbow Warriors to prevent them from having the opportunity to impress the crowd at West Point Saturday.

“(UH) is a team that everyone is talking about,” Monken said at today’s press conference in New York. “They’re 3-0 and have scored a bunch of points. I can’t say enough about how hard I think this Hawai’i team plays and how physical they play the game. That’s really impressed me. It’s in every phase. The way they rush kicks, cover kicks, play defense and run with the ball after they catch it.”

Kickoff is 6 a.m. Hawaii Time Saturday and will be shown on the CBS Sports Network. Army is 1-1.

Monken said, “(They are) playing the game really hard with a lot of passion. And certainly that’s a credit to Nick (Rolovich, the head coach) and the job he’s done, he and his staff, of getting those guys to play that way.”

To beat UH, Monken said, “What we’ve got to try to do is control the football, keep the ball in our hands, run the ball effectively and keep them from having opportunities to get out there and do what they do. Their quarterback (Cole McDonald) has over 1,000 yards, 1,100 yards, already in three games and he’s got a really great group of receivers that he throws it to.”

Monken said, “We can do some great things offensively. We can come up with some great schemes and put our guys in position. But, if we don’t get off blocks, if we don’t tackle in the open field, we’re going to have a tough time beating them.”