Army-Stanford
Time: 5 PM EST
Line: STA -28
Line courtesy of Bovada
Army is 1-0 after a 47-39 victory over Buffalo on Sept. 6. Army, as usual, is almost exclusively reliant on its running game. Accordingly, the team ranks 9th in the nation in rushing yardage per game, with 341.0 yards.
Larry Dixon has led the way with the run. On 20 attempts he has 174 yards and two TDs. Now in his senior season, he’s run for 542 yards as a freshman, 839 his sophomore season, and this year he’s bested his yards per carry, though just through one game (8.7 yards).
Terry Baggett is the No. 2 back and he rushed for 74 yards in just six carries, aided by a 41 yard run. Last season, Baggett ran for 1,113 yards with an average of 7.9 yards per carry. Indeed, Army has a strong running game, but the pass game is woefully weak.
QB Angel Santiago completed all six of his passes against Buffalo for 96 yards. His QB rating of 234.4 means very little.
No. 15 ranked Stanford should have little trouble disposing of Army. Stanford is 1-1 on the season, but the loss came to then- No. 14 USC. The opening game against UC Davis in which Stanford blew them out 45-0 means very little. The Cardinal lost due to Andre Heidari’s 53 yard field goal.
Despite the loss, Stanford did amass far more yardage than USC, 413 to just 291. Stanford also controlled the clock (33:38) possession. The Cardinal rely on Remound Wright, Kelsey Young and QB Kevin Hogan for the rush. Hogan has been pretty ineffective with just 2.2 yards per rush, but Young and Wright have combined for 99 yards on 18 carries. But neither has scored a TD yet.
Hogan is now a senior attempting to build on last seasons 2,630 yard passing. He completed 61 percent of his passes with 20 TDs and 10 INTs. His QB rating of 180.4 testifies to how well he played, getting sacked just three times. His 10.63 yards per pass is outstanding, and he’s already thrown three TDs to just one INT this season against USC.
Trends:
Army: 0-4 ATS in last 4 on grass; UNDER 4-0 in last 4 after scoring 40+ points previous game; 0-5 ATS in last 5 games following SU win.
Stanford: 8-1 in last 9 vs. teams with winning records; 7-1 ATS in last 8 after scoring less than 20 in previous game; UNDER 6-1 in last 7 after accumulating 280 yards passing in previous game.
