Army Black Knights(3-2) at Rice Owls(1-4)

Start Time: 6:30 PM EST

6:30 PM EST Location: Rice Stadium, Houston, Texas

Rice Stadium, Houston, Texas TV: BEIN Sports

BEIN Sports Audio: Here

Here Weather: 87 degrees, cloudy, 4% chance of rain

87 degrees, cloudy, 4% chance of rain Line: Army -12, FPI: Army 85.2% chance to win, O/U 46.5

Army Overview

The Black Knights are coming off a win where they didn’t look great, but they didn’t look bad. They should have stomped a winless UTEP team instead, they won 35-21. But a win is a win, right?

Sure Army is sitting at 3-2, but this is a must-win game for the Black Knights. A win here puts them at 4-2 with a good chance to be bowl eligible before Army travels to Colorado Springs to play Air Force. A loss here and making a bowl would still be likely, just the path would be a lot harder than it would if they beat Rice.

The man trying to lead the Black Knights to their second straight bowl game is QB Ahmad Bradshaw. He leads the team in rushing and is 12th in the nation with his 532 yards. Bradshaw is just what this offense needs, a smart and tough leader who can make the right reads to ensure the triple option is run to perfection. Where he needs work is his passing game. Last week was a lot better(3-5, 80 yards, 1 TD) but going 7-25 on the year so far isn’t going to cut it. While Army doesn’t pass often, it does help to keep the defense honest when they know that there’s a (mild) threat of a play action pass.

If Army can get the passing game going expect the Black Knights to have a field day with this Owls defense, (who gives up 301.6 passing yards a game) this will help them run the triple option to perfection and then go over the top of the defense every now and then.

Rice Overview

Well, what can I say? The Owls lone win is against a UTEP team who may not win a game this year.

In all but two games, the Rice defense has allowed 30+ points and only once has the offense scored more than 14 points. You aren’t going to win many games with a defense who can’t stop anyone and an offense that can’t score points.

But if there’s one thing Rice has going for them, it’s that their offense has been balanced averaging 141.8 yards through the air and 147.2 on the ground. Sure, they don’t score a lot or often, but at least they don’t overly rely on one aspect of the game.

One thing the Owls need to fix is their ten turnovers on the year so far. They can’t and won’t win games if they average two turnovers a game. It’s hard to score points if you don’t have the ball, am I right, or am I right?

Prediction

The Black Knights defense hasn’t forced a turnover since week two against Buffalo, that will change this week. I see Rice turning it over two or three times, which will lead to Army rolling by three or four possessions. Army underwhelmed everyone last week and need to prove they can blow out lesser teams and I see them doing that this week. Army big.

Army 35-Rice 10