While all of college football’s conference championship games were played last weekend and all of the bowl matchups have been set, the regular season isn’t actually over yet. Per usual, it concludes with arguably the most historic rivalry in the sport: Army vs. Navy. Kickoff is Saturday is 3 p.m. ET from Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia with the No. 23 Midshipmen as 10.5-point favorites. Navy is 12-3 ATS in its past 15 games overall.
Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com
Don’t expect more than a handful of pass attempts in this game as both offenses remain old-school triple-option attacks (so does Air Force). Now that Georgia Tech has shifted to a spread offense, no Power 5 school runs that type of offense any longer, for example.
Navy ranks No. 1 in the nation in rushing yards per game at 360.8 and Army is second at 311.7. They are the only schools averaging at least 300. Army averages just 86.8 passing yards per game and has attempted a total of 120 throws all year. Navy averages 103.5 passing yards per game and has attempted all of 94 passes. That’s two games for some high-powered offenses around the country.
This is a bowl game for the Black Knights as they won’t qualify for one at 5-7. Bit of a disappointing season under Coach Jeff Monken – who is still considered a rising star in the profession – after Army reached a bowl game the previous three years and won double-digit games the past two.
While Army is one of six independent schools in FBS football, Navy (9-2) is in the American Athletic Conference and tied for the AAC West Division title with Memphis but lost the tiebreaker with the Tigers for a spot in the conference title game. Navy’s only losses were to Memphis and Notre Dame, both ranked schools and both on the road. The Middies will play in the Liberty Bowl against Kansas State and with a win Saturday and in that game will tie a school record with 11 victories.
Both schools will wear spectacular uniforms on Saturday, with Navy donning throwbacks that pay homage to the Midshipmen teams of the 1960s and honoring the school’s Heisman winners from the era in Roger Staubach and Joe Bellino. Army will wear uniforms to honor the historic 1st Cavalry Division.
The Black Knights have won the past three in the series, with Navy taking 13 in a row before that. The past five have been decided by seven points or fewer and Army is 4-1 ATS in those.
