It’s a possible preview of a new conference rivalry when Army visits UTSA on Friday night in San Antonio. Black Knights football, independent for almost its entire existence, played out of Conference USA for a few seasons 20 years ago. Recent reports indicate Army might now join the AAC, where it will run into the Road Runners, themselves new members, on a regular basis. Both these teams split their first two games of this season. Who do we like for our free college football betting pick?
NCAAF Betting Odds
Week 3’s college football betting market opened UTSA at -11.5 over Army, with an over/under of around 45.5. Early betting action then dropped that line three points, down to 8.5, probably due to Road Runners QB Frank Harris and his sore toe.
Army Betting Preview
The Black Knights bounced back, albeit against an inferior opponent, from a season-opening loss to blank FCS Delaware State last week 57-0. The details aren’t important, considering the quality of the opponent, other than Army covered the spread as a 38-point favorite. The Knights opened this season with a 17-13 come-from-ahead loss at Louisiana-Monroe. Army, favored by eight points, led that game 13-3 in the fourth quarter but pissed it away in the last six minutes. The Cadets ran the ball for 170 yards and won the time of possession 35:25 that day but gave up 207 yards on the ground and turned the ball over five times! Army returned 17 starters this season from a team that played 4-6 against FBS opponents last season. So improvement is expected.
UTSA Betting Preview
The Road Runners also recovered from a tough season-opening defeat to win last week, holding off Texas State 20-13. UTSA, favored by two touchdowns, scored the first 10 points of the game but only took a 10-10 tie into the half. The Runners then scored the first seven points of the second half and held on from there for the W. But UTSA came up one score short of that spread. The Road Runners out-gained Texas State 372-242, out-rushed the Bobcats 158-31, and dominated time of possession by 37:23. It’s almost hard to figure out how UTSA didn’t win that game by two touchdowns. The Runners opened their season with a 17-14 loss at Houston. UTSA out-gained the Cougars 417-334 but turned the ball over three times. The Road Runners returned 16 starters this season from a team that played 10-3 vs. FBS foes last season. And after winning the CUSA championship the last two seasons, UTSA fully expects to make the AAC championship game this season.
Army-UTSA Recent History
These teams have met three times over the last four seasons; the Black Knights won 31-13 in 2019 and 28-16 in ’20, but the Road Runners won a thriller last year 41-38 in overtime. UTSA won last year as a two-point dog while the game played over a total of 54 early in the fourth quarter.
Totals Report
Army’s game against ULM – an FBS opponent – played under a total of 47. The Unders is 2-0 in UTSA games this season and are averaging just 32 total points.
