The college football regular season officially comes to a close on Saturday with the ultimate rivalry game: Army–Navy. Navy enters favored by less than a field goal and is trying to win back-to-back games in the history matchup.
There are a few things to know about this matchup every year: Throw out the records, expect an alarmingly fast game with few passes and do not expect a very high-scoring game. Saturday’s total is in the lows 30s and for good reason. The over has hit in this matchup just once over the previous five years.
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Army has the slightly better offense heading into this year’s game, averaging 29.4 points per game (58th in the nation) to only 22.4 points per game for Navy (104th in the nation).
Both teams are among the top 10 nationally running the ball, both averaging more than 239 yards per game. Army is second in the country at 304 yards per game.
Navy has been without starting quarterback Tai Lavatai since he suffered a knee injury in late October, losing two of those three games. Despite the losses, the Midshipmen have still kept things very interesting during that stretch, losing close games to Cincinnati and Notre Dame, and then upsetting UCF in its most recent game despite attempting just a single pass.
Navy’s running game has leaned on Daba Fofana, who enters the game with a team-high 749 yards this season.
Army’s offense runs through Tyhier Tyler who has thrown for 301 yards on only 16 attempts while rushing for a team-high 601 yards. He has accounted for 14 touchdowns (12 rushing, two passing).
What is the spread for Army vs. Navy?
All odds are from BetMGM. Click here for live odds.
How to watch and stream Army vs. Navy
CBS has coverage starting at 3 p.m. ET from Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. You can also stream the game on Paramount+ and the CBS Sports app with authentication.
Expert pick
The No. 1 priority for Army and Navy is to defend our country, but they do so in different ways. However, when they’re on the football field, the playbooks are very similar. Behold the triple option. Unfortunately for Navy, Army is slightly more efficient at running things this year so no way should this game be a pick ’em. Army is better at military academy football than Navy. Black Knights by a field goal. – Austin Mock
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(Photo of Daba Fofana: Greg Fiume / Getty Images)
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