Navy vs. Army Prediction
In what many consider the best rivalry in professional sports, the Navy Midshipmen and Army Black Knights will wrap up the college football regular season at 3:00 p.m. ET on Saturday. Laying over a touchdown to their rivals, will Army cover the spread and beat Navy for a third consecutive year?
Game Snapshot
103 Navy Midshipmen at 104 Army Black Knights
3:00 p.m. ET, Saturday, December 8, 2018
Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Public Betting Trends
According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetNow.eu, the Black Knights are 6.5-point favorites to beat the Midshipmen. The total, meanwhile, sits at 40 points. As of this writing, 66% of the public betting tickets wagered on this matchup are on the Black Knights.
Navy Midshipmen
“It is rather amazing how things have worked out. This is a chance to put an exclamation point, a final statement of sorts, on his football career,” Don Abey said of his son Zach, the Navy quarterback. “Regardless of what happens on Saturday, we are really, really proud of Zach. He has done a lot of great things and represented the Navy football program the right way these last four years.”
Army Black Knights
Army junior QB Kelvin Hopkins (hip) completed 2-of-6 passes for 25 yards while rushing for 90 yards and a touchdown on 19 attempts in Saturday’s 28-14 win over Colgate. Army’s run-heavy approach was successful against the strong FCS squad, racking up 261 yards and four touchdowns on 59 carries. Hopkins now has 788 rushing yards and 16 combined rushing and passing touchdowns on the season. The Black Knights will wrap up the regular season against Navy next week.
Betting Trends
Navy
The Midshipmen are just 2-6 against the spread in their last eight games against an opponent with a winning record.
Army
The Black Knights are 5-1 against the spread in their last six games played in the month of December.
Prediction
With this being a huge rivalry game, perhaps taking the points is a principle play but Army has a decided advantage over its fellow service academy this season. The Black Knights are ranked in the top-25 for the first time since 1996 and own a rushing attack that ranks second nationally at 303 yards per game. They also own the No. 12 rush defense at 106.5 yards per game, while Navy is 89th in the same category. While the Midshipmen rank third nationally in rushing, they could have a difficult time moving the ball enough to keep pace with this Black Knights’ squad.
College Football Prediction: Army Black Knights -6.5