The Army Black Knights and the UMass Minutemen meet in college football action from McGuirk Alumni Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Army Black Knights will try to finish strong after a 34-17 win over UConn in their last game. Cade Ballard has thrown for 335 yards and a pair of scores with a 51.4% completion percentage while Tyhier Tyler’s thrown for 234 yards, 2 touchdowns and an interception on 46.2% passing. Tyler leads Army in rushing as well with 500 rushing yards and 9 touchdowns while Tyson Riley has 435 rushing yards and Tyrell Robinson has 321 rushing yards. Four more Army rushers have 200+ rushing yards as well this season. Isaiah Alston has a team-high 246 receiving yards coming on 15 catches while Ay’Jaun Marshall has 208 receiving yards as well this season. On defense, Leo Lowin has a team-high 81 total tackles including 49 solo tackles and Army’s defense as a whole has 16 sacks and 8 interceptions this season.
The UMass Minutemen will hope to snap an eight-game losing streak after a 20-3 loss to Texas A&M last time out. Brady Olson’s thrown for 646 yards, 2 touchdowns and 6 interceptions on 49.6% passing while Ellis Merriweather leads UMass with 526 rushing yards and 3 scores as well this season. George Johnson III has a team-high 26 receptions for 364 yards to lead UMass’ receiving group and Cameron Sullivan-Brown also has 325 receiving yards as well this season. On defense, Jalen Mackie has a team-high 79 total tackles including 32 solo tackles and 3.5 sacks while Jordan Mahoney has 3 interceptions and Marcus Cushnie has a team-high 5.5 sacks.
Army is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games overall and 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games in November while the under is 7-1 in their last 8 road games. UMass is 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games following an ATS win while the under is 7-1 in their last 8 road games.
I get the case to be made for Army laying the points, but the problem I have is that while they beat up on UConn, this Army team has done a lot of their best work at home and in their last two road games, they’ve scored a combined 19 points. Granted, UMass isn’t on the level below Wake Forest or Troy, but they did just go on the road and cover against Texas A&M and will probably want to show some fight in their last game of the season at home. Not a game I’m rushing to bet, but I’ll side with UMass and the points here.