Week 1: Coastal Carolina vs Army 9/3/22 College Football Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers and Army Black Knights do battle Saturday in week 1 college football action from Brooks Stadium. Army is fresh off a 9-4 campaign in 2021, taking a victory in the Armed Forces Bowl. As for Coastal Carolina, they went 11-2 last year and bagged a win in the Cure Bowl. Check back all season long for free college football picks at Sports Chat Place.

Army had a few bumps in the road last year but overall things were decent with a 9-4 record. That mark put the Black Knights in third place among independents, behind Notre Dame and BYU. Army started out strong with four straight wins, but then fell in three straight. 

After the losing streak to Ball State, Wisconsin and Wake Forest, the Knights got back on track with four straight victories. A tough loss to a not-so-good Navy team followed, then Army took a 24-22 victory over Missouri in the Armed Forces Bowl. 

Over on the Coastal Carolina side, they made their mark in a competitive Sun Belt with a 6-2 conference record and an 11-2 overall mark. The Chanticleers landed in third place in the East Division, behind Appalachian State and Georgia State (Coastal’s only two losses). 

The Chanticleers kicked off the year on a 6-0 run, then fell to Appalachian State. Wins over Troy and Georgia Southern followed, then another loss to Georgia State. Coastal Carolina took out Texas State and South Alabama before beating Northern Illinois in the Cure Bowl. 

The Knights are 5-2 ATS in their last seven versus the Sun Belt and 7-2-1 ATS in their last 10 on grass. Army is 9-4-1 ATS in the last 14 in September. 

Meanwhile, the Chanticleers are 5-1 ATS in their last six versus independents and 10-4 ATS in their last 14 in September. Coastal is 0-4 ATS in their last four at home. 

PICK: I’m going to take a stab on Army. We’re not going to see any new tricks from the Black Knights this year: they’ll be running the ball all over the place. Time of possession and ball control will once again be the focal points for the offense. Tyree Robinson will do a lot of the work, Isaiah Alston should lead the receivers again, and this year we’ll get to see what new QB Tyhier Tyler can do. It’ll be a fun campaign, but there are plenty of expectations on this team. This should be an interesting opening matchup; with Coastal Carolina in a pretty stout rebuild right now I think Army can handle a cover.