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Navy vs. Army Early Picks, Predictions & Odds Week 16

Mike Spector

Last Updated: December 9, 2024 9:01 AM EST • 3 min 21 sec read.

Army Black Knights defensive back Chance Keith, cornerback Justin Weaver, and safety Max DiDomenico celebrate on the sidelines against the Tulane Green Wave, and we offer our best Navy vs. Army early picks.
Army Black Knights defensive back Chance Keith, cornerback Justin Weaver, and safety Max DiDomenico celebrate on the sidelines against the Tulane Green Wave. Photo by Danny Wild via Imagn Images.

The Navy Midshipmen and Army Black Knights get the FBS college football stage all to themselves in Week 16 for this epic annual affair.

  • For the first time since 2017, the winner of the Army-Navy game clinches the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy
  • Navy leads the all-time series 62-55-7
  • Army has won the last two meetings

Our Navy vs. Army early picks and predictions eschew the point spread for now and focuses on a contrarian play on the total involving these two service academies.

Be sure to check out our college bowl game odds and college football bowl game opt-out tracker to for all your betting needs following this showdown. 

My early Navy vs. Army prediction

College football picks made Monday; odds subject to change. Our NEW college football player prop odds tool can help you find the best odds on any market across legal sportsbooks in your area!

Prediction: Over 40.5

Best odds: | Implied probability: 52.38%

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Games involving service academies and the Under are synonymous. Entering this season, the Under was 50-10-3 in such games since 2003, and the Under has cashed in four of the last five Navy-Army matchups.

Our best sports betting sites have caught onto this trend, as evidenced by last year’s Army-Navy O/U being set at 28 points. That was the lowest O/U by four points for any service academy game since 2003, and it kicked off as the third-lowest college football total of all-time. 

Army scored 35-plus points seven times this season, including a stretch of 42 or more points in four consecutive games in the middle of the year. 

I am banking on the Black Knights’ offense to help cash this Over, which will likely be a contrarian play given that these two teams have combined for 41-plus points once in the last 10 matchups.

Don't miss our guide for how to bet on college football or this week's best sportsbook promos.

Navy vs. Army live odds

See the college football odds from our best college football betting sites for every Week 16 game.

Moneyline

  • Navy best odds:+168 via FanDuel | Implied probability: 37.31%
  • Army best odds: | Implied probability: 64.91%

The Navy-Army rivalry tends to be streaky, as Navy won 14 consecutive matchups from 2002 to 2015, while Army has won six of the last eight.

One of Army’s losses in that eight-game stretch was to a ranked No. 23 Navy squad (31-7) in 2019. The Black Knights are the ranked team this time around, and they won the AAC Championship Game as the No. 24 team in the AP poll last week. 

I expect the moneyline to move in their favor considering ranked teams are 7-1 SU in the last eight games in this rivalry. Plus, Army’s only loss this season was to a CFP-bound Notre Dame team. 

Spread

  • Navy best odds: +4.5 (-105) via
  • Army best odds: -4.5 (-110) via DraftKings

All of our best sports betting apps are in unison with the point spread of 4.5 points but just differ in the juice on either side of the number.

The lookahead line at FanDuel was Army -2.5, but the spread has since plowed through the key number of three after the Black Knights’ impressive 35-14 win in the AAC Championship.

The public will likely continue to side with Army, especially because of the recency bias having won a game of high magnitude on national television, while Navy enjoyed a bye week. 

But this number should not balloon too high since the last six meetings were decided by three points of fewer.

Over/Under

  • Over best odds: 40.5 (-110) via FanDuel
  • Under best odds: 41.5 (-110) via DraftKings

FanDuel is the only one of our best sportsbooks still offering a total of 40.5, as all other competitors are in unison at 41.5.

Given the trends of Unders in games involving service academies, I expect most of the other sportsbooks to align with FanDuel, not vice versa. 

Army does have the nation’s seventh-best scoring defense (15 points per game allowed), but the promising weather forecast should keep this total above 40 points before kickoff.

How to watch Navy vs. Army

  • When: Saturday, Dec. 14
  • Kickoff: 3:00 p.m. ET
  • Where: Northwest Stadium (Landover, Md.)
  • How to watch: CBS
  • Weather: 47 degrees, 17% chance of precipitation, wind 5 mph S
  • Favorite: Army -4.5 (-115 via BetMGM)

College football betting odds pages

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Written By:
Mike Spector
Mike started in the sports writing industry in July 2019, and gained a lot of followers in his first year after finishing with the No. 2 overall record in an annual NFL betting competition, which made picks against the spread, and from an Over/Under and moneyline perspective. Mike is an avid fan of the NFL, MLB, tennis, and all college sports. In his opinion, March Madness is the best sporting event there is, and he's especially euphoric starting with conference tournament time in college basketball. Mike's a big advocate of "fading the public" and making plays that are contrarian, constantly citing that "there are reasons why they have those big shiny buildings in Las Vegas." When making wagers, Mike always scours the best odds at all of the major sports betting sites, where he mostly sifts through DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, and bet365. He's tried several others and is of the firm belief that bettors should not just stick to one sportsbook, as there is always likely better value to be had with the same wager. In addition, while Mike received his undergraduate degree from Villanova University, he has no issue betting against the Wildcats when it comes to college basketball wagering, and suggests other bettors should always put their “head” before their “hearts.”