Army Black Knights vs Temple Owls Point Spread Picks

Army is off to a 3-0 start along with a 5-0 SU/ATS run. The ground attack is hard to prepare for and defend, averaging 356 yards rushing. The Black Knights also average 6.3 yards per carry, 12th in the nation. Temple has lost three of four with an offense that averages 3.1 yards per rush. That puts pressure on the quarterbacks to do too much and they have five interceptions with eight TDs. The Temple run defense gives up 5.3 yards per carry. The Owls have faced an option team in Navy and lost 38-11 surrendering 409 yards (297 rushing) while losing the turnover battle 3-0. Temple is on a 3-12 SU, 5-10 ATS run and will struggle again. Play Army. 

There is no secret to what Army is going to do here. They are going to run the flexbone on almost every play, and try to stay ahead of the chains as they have done for years. The Cadets are absolutely not a threat in the air, as they have completed a grand total of eight passes all season, and in fact have played three games without completing any. Defensively, Army allowed 38 to Ohio State but just 17.3 points per game to the rest of their schedule. Temple will have a hard time scoring a bunch, as most of their key pieces from an explosive offense a year ago has moved on. The Owls' offense has produced 16 or fewer points in more than half their games. Notre Dame and South Florida, a pair of ranked teams ran well on Temple, but their other five opponents have generated just 436 yards on 154 carries at 2.83 yards a tote. I think with no threat of the pass at all, the Owls can make Army come up short on a number of possessions to keep this game UNDER the total.

Army runs the football with no explosive playmakers. In 2015 Army scored just 77% of the time inside the 20 and came up with touchdowns on only 20 of 31 trips. Their QBs threw 10 TDs, nine picks and completed 45.4% of their passes. But the defense took a huge step forward last season finishing #47 in the nation. The defense will be even better behind a dynamite linebacking corps with Andrew King and Jeremy Timpf. The 3-4 alignment has the playmakers to be strong again and the secondary is fine with a veteran group. Army is on a 21-8-1 run UNDER the total on natural grass. Last season the defense did a great job of keeping the team in games allowing 22 points or fewer six times. They face a Temple squad that can run, too, with a balanced attack, though the Owls lost a pair of all-leaguers on the offensive line in Center Kyle Friend and OG Eric Lofton. The Owls have also had one of the nation's top defenses the past two seasons. They will be strong again, led by Haason Reddick, Praise Martin-Oguike and Averee Robinson up front, while junior CB Sean Chandler was All-AAC Second Team. This defense had 32 sacks and held opponents to 19.2 points per game. Temple is on a 5-0 run UNDER the total in non-conference games, plus 13-5 UNDER in September when defenses are ahead of the offenses. Take this one to finish UNDER.