Army West Point Black Knights 2016 NCAA Football Preview
ARMY WEST POINT BLACK KNIGHTS
Independent
2015 Record – 2-10
ATS – 5-5-2
2016 MEGALOCKS Opening Power Rating Rank
Independent #3
2015 Recap
The season could have been so much better. The Black Knights finished up with a record of 2-10 but all of their first four losses were by a TD or less. That included a road test at Penn St. We all knew what was going to happen in the Army Navy classic to end the season. Army would play a solid game and stay within range but ultimately lose. Yup. 14 straight losses in the series.
OFFENSE
The running game was not the kind of killer attack that the Black Knights need to win games. When you only complete 49 (!) passes all season you really need to have a stronger rushing attack than 244 yards per contest. They need to uncover an explosive guy or two in the running game like Navy seems to be able to find. It would also help if they could MATRICULATE in the passing game more often to loosen defenses up. That has been just one of the reasons Navy has been more successful over the past decade.
Army returns a couple of decent options at QB. It will be interesting to see how Chris Carter performs this season as he almost led Army to a win over Navy in 2015. The hope is that the offensive line performs a lot better as they return three starters to the group. To be honest, we are a bit worried that they will not be able to crank out the 300 yards per game rushing that they probably need to make a bowl game. Losing leading rusher Aaron Kemper in July is not going to help matters but they do have depth.
When Army chooses to actually throw the football they do have a very nice option in WR Edgar Poe (6-4 215) who averaged 27.6 yards per reception (!) on only 16 grabs.
DEFENSE
The defense did a decent job last season and we like the look of this year’s unit. They return 9 starters including all four starting linebackers and the top 7 tacklers from 2015. If they can find a way to get 20 sacks, which they have not done since 2010, this defense will be good enough to get them in contention for a bowl game appearance.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Where did everybody go ? Army needs to replace both starters in the kicking game, their long-snapper as well as the special teams coach. This situation is a bit worrisome.
MEGALOCKS ATS Value Rating (10) 8.5
MEGALOCKS says:
We really like the chances of Army making it back to a bowl game. They start out with three road games in the first four weeks but should be able to win a couple of games in September. With Morgan St and North Texas on the docket we think six or more wins is a pretty good bet.
Overall, we give the BLACK KNIGHTS an 8.5 ATS Value Rating (Excellent) this season. The only thing stopping us from giving the 10/10 all-clear signal is our concern about the OL/RBs being good enough to really get the running game going. They are not too far removed from seasons in which they steamrolled for 347 and 370 yards per contest. We are well aware that Army has had ONE winning season ATS in the past 10 years but think we are going to get some value on this squad in 2016. We can easily see one or two outright upsets as TD+ underdogs. Dare we say the Navy streak may end this season ?
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News
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