2010 Army vs. Navy Pick

Old School Army vs. Navy

Hey there guys,

I am getting ready for bowl season, and trying to get all my picks in order for the Where the Land Sharks Are 2010-2011 Bowl Pick 'em.  If you still haven't made your picks I have the schedule in the listed in the post below.  Just pick the straight up winner of all the bowl games, with a score for the National Championship game. 

All you have to do is email them to me at wherethelandsharksare@gmail.com or send me a message on facebook with your picks.  I will post them here on the blog the day before the bowls come out with comparisons to big names on ESPN, Phil Steele, and others (whomever I can find really). 

The winner gets a $25 gift card to Buffalo Wild Wings!!

Just make sure you get your picks in by December 18th at noon. 




Army vs. Navy

Philadelphia, PA

Everyone has that set few games that they alwasy look forward to each season.  For me it is Ole Miss vs. LSU, the Iron Bowl, Ohio State vs. Michigan, the Civil War, the Red River Shootout, and then there is Army vs. Navy.

I love it. 

And for the first time since 1996 both teams are going to the postseason, making this game even more interesting as Army comes in 6-5 and Navy comes in 8-3. 

Navy comes in on a three game win streak which includes a 76-35 destruction of East Carolina, while Army isn't really a streaky team, winning, then losing, then winning twice, then losing, then winning, then losing, then winning, then losing, then winning, and then losing again.  Their most recent outing was a 3-27 loss to Notre Dame in Yankee Stadium.

Both of these teams run a version of the triple option with Navy sticking to a more traditional style, though they do throw the ball more than Army (18% to 15%), and Army runs a triple option though they occasionally switch to a spread look.

This game features two very talented QB's in Navy's Ricky Dobbs (119.4 yds/game, 54.8%, 9.6 yds/att, +6 TD/Int ratio, 155.88 QB Rat / 80.6 rush yds/game, 3.6 yds/att, 13 TD) and Army's Trent Steelman (76.1 yds/game 54.7%, 7.9 yds/att, +2 TD/Int, 130.96 QB Rating / 56.4 rush yds/game 3.7 yds/att 11 TD).  Dobbs was considered a dark horse heisman candidate before the season began, and Steelman, a true sophomore, has been the leader in the Black Knight's resurgence over the past two seasons. 

One thing that Army has done well all season long is control the flow of the game.  It very rarely gets out of the pace that they set from the start.  They have dominated time of possession this season averaging just over 34 minutes per game, running a very slow style of offense, that runs the game clock down, and slowly gains 3-4 yards per carry, often seeing a lot of third downs.

Both offenses have the ability to put up points, but the challenge is going to be facing a prepared defense, as each team has had over two weeks to prepare for this game.  And if this game comes down to defense then Navy would normally have a large advantage but neither team has been playing extremely well in their last four games as Navy gave up 30.3 pts/game in Novermber, while Army allowed 32.3 pts/game.  Not to mention that both of these defenses allow over 4 yards/att on run defense. 

While my calculation does not call for a real advantage in yardage (Navy 398 - Army 392) I think that Navy's offense will have a slight advantage because they can throw the ball better than Army, and the Black Knights secondary has struggled at times this season, if Navy can effectively run the ball I expect them to be able to be able to find some yards in the air as well.

My Pick: Navy 24 Army 21
Proj Pass: Navy 139.5 yards (9.2 ypa) / Army 117.7 yards (6.9 ypa)
Proj Rush: Navy 258.9 yards (5.2ypa) / Army 274.9 yards (4.8 ypa)

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As was previously stated I am going to be working hard on my bowl picks over the next few days, and my plan is to have a preview up for each individual bowl game three days before the game.  That often doesn't work out, but I am going to try my best to stick with that this season. 

If you have any questions you can always leave a comment below, or on our fan page on facebook, shoot us a tweet @WTLandSharksAre, or just email us at wherethelandsharksare.gmail.com

Thanks for reading guys, it's been another great football season.

BATTEMAN