The Army Black Knights (5-7) battle the Navy Midshipmen (9-2) Saturday at 3 p.m. ET at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA. This year’s contest marks the 120th renewal of America’s biggest military academy gridiron tilt. Navy heads into the game ranked No. 21 in the Amway Coaches Poll powered by USA Today Sports. We analyze the Army-Navy odds and betting lines, while providing college football betting tips and advice on this matchup.
Army at Navy: Three things you need to know
1. Army has won three straight in the series, so the Navy senior class has a lot riding on this game. The Midshipmen are looking for a measure of retribution, and they head to Philadelphia on a roll. Navy is 7-1 over its last eight games, and the Middies tallied 34-plus points seven times in that stetch. For the season, USNA ranks 10th in the nation in scoring, at 39.5 points per game.
2. The Black Knights have had issues on defense over the second half of the season. Those troubles have come mostly against the pass. Saturday, Army will see a Navy offense which runs the ball 87% of the time.
3. The line for the game started at 10.5, then went to 9.5 which triggered a bounce to the 10.5/11 range. It’s the largest line in the series since Navy was favored by 22 in 2015 (a game won 21-17 by Army).
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Army at Navy: Odds, betting lines and picks
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Thursday at 11:40 a.m. ET.
Prediction
Navy 24, Army 14
Moneyline (ML)
AVOID Army at +325. Navy (-435) is the safe bet to win, but it’s not worth even the slight risk with a $10 returning a profit of just $2.30.
New to sports betting? A $10 wager on Army to win outright would return a profit of $32.50.
Against the Spread (ATS)
ARMY (+10.5, -110) is a solid play. A high-scoring game would be a surprise. So would a Navy win by more than one score. USMA has had some recent losses where field-position and hidden yards added up to bigger deficits than the Knights deserved.
Suggestion: Make a partial-unit bet and hold some in reserve for a possible bump to 11.
Over/Under (O/U)
The Under in the Army-Navy game has gone 13-0 since 2005. Accordingly, the number for this year’s game is 40.5. But consider this: The average total of the last five Army-Navy games is 21.2 points. The average of the last 17 service academy matchups is 39.1 points.
Add in a bit of a breeze and a chance of rain showers, and that makes for a lean on the UNDER 40.5 (-106).
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