BEST LINES:  Pinnacle +7½ -105 BET 365 -7½ -110 SportsInteraction -7½ -110  5DIMES -7½ -110 

Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia

12:00 PM EST. Army is 9-2 while the Navy Academy is 3-9 and that’s one of the main reasons that the Knights are a -8-point choice here. Additionally, the Knights are ranked for the first time since 1996, moving into The Associated Press college football poll at No. 23 just before they began their preparations to face rival Navy today. The Black Knights had been edging toward the Top 25 in recent weeks, and they finally broke through after their 28-14 victory on November 17. The rankings were mostly unchanged after a weekend with few big games or surprising results. That 14-point victory occurred against Colgate.

Arny’s eight other victories occurred against Liberty, Hawaii (28-21), Buffalo, San Jose St., Miami (Ohio in double OT, Eastern Michigan, Air Force by a FG, and Lafayette. One of Army’s losses was to #5 Oklahoma in a game that Army held the Sooners to 28 points and lost, 28-21. That near upset adds to Army’s market credibility but we put no weight on a game that the Sooners viewed as a glorified practice that was sandwiched between two conferences opponents. Army’s other loss was to Duke by a score of 34-14. A third of Army’s nine wins came by one score so they could have easily been a 7-5 team and far outside the polls. We promise you that the Black Knights are not close to being the 23rd best team in America but all that matters is wins and not how or where they came from.

Army/Navy is not just a football game. It’s a tradition and rivalry as big as any in America and frankly, it’s the only game that matters for both. It’s the Super Bowl for both squads, as they prepare to beat each other the entire season. Truly, nothing else matters, thus intensity is high and getting blown out will linger for an entire year until they meet again. On this day, Navy’s 3-9 record means squat. Besides that, the Midshipmen are much better than their record suggests and they can absolutely go punch for punch with the Black Knights.

Navy’s schedule was much tougher than Army’s with games against Hawaii, Memphis, SMU, Houston, Temple, Notre Dame, Cincinnati, UCF, Tulsa and Tulane.

UCF finished 12-0 and so did Notre Dame. Houston, Cincinnati and Memphis and Temple all had great seasons and were tough as shoe leather. Navy beat Memphis, they have UCF a scare and they lost to Tulane by one point. Both these squads played Hawaii and while Army won and Navy lost, something the market puts heavy emphasis on, we’ll put more emphasis on the betting line. Navy was a -13½-point favorite over Hawaii while Army was just -7. Finally, the price here is completely disrespectful to the underdog and will serve as a huge motivational tool (not that they need it) that for sure has been a topic of discussion. If the breaks are even here, Navy cannot only come in well under the number, they have a legit chance of winning outright and knocking Army of its misleading ranking.

Open an account today at and take advantage of their -104 style pricing on sides and totals, which is 60% better than other sportsbooks.

Play: