Before college football fans lock in for bowl season, let’s take a moment to enjoy another chapter in the storied history of the Army Black Knights vs. Navy Midshipmen rivalry.
The pregame narrative: Saturday marks the 125th meeting between the military academies, and it’s the best matchup on paper in decades. I’m taking overs on a pair of prop bets involving Army’s Bryson Daily and Navy’s Eli Heidenreich.
Check out my top Army vs. Navy prop picks for this Dec. 14 rivalry matchup.
Army vs. Navy prop picks
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Best Bet: Daily 2+ touchdowns (-143)
This seems like a lot of juice to deal with for a multi-touchdown scorer. But Daily’s season-long production justifies it.
Despite playing under centre as Army’s quarterback, Daily has a 2024 stat line that would make any running back blush:
- 264 carries (24.0/game)
- 1,480 yards (134.5/game)
- 29 rush TDs
- 2+ rush TDs in 10/11 games
In Army’s traditional triple-option offensive scheme, the quarterback is rarely asked to throw. As such, Daily has just 78 pass attempts on the year.
There’s also no question that Daily is the alpha weapon for the Black Knights. He has 99 carries, 416 yards and 19 touchdowns more than anyone else on the team.
Last year, in his first full season as a starter, Daily rushed 27 times for 84 yards and zero TDs against Navy. He’s going to want to improve upon that.
On senior day, I expect Daily to put a stamp on an epic season by finding the end zone multiple times against his bitter rival.
Key stat: According to gameonpaper.com, Navy is better equipped to stop the pass than the run. The Midshipmen rank 27th in defensive EPA per pass in the country and 82nd in defensive EPA per rush.
Quick pick
Heidenreich over 39.5 receiving yards (-117): Army is favoured for the fourth time in six years in this rivalry game, which means Navy could find itself playing from behind.
Though Navy runs the ball north of 75.0% of the time — as do Army and Air Force — it might need to mix in more passing plays to remain competitive. And that’s where Heidenreich comes in.
Heidenreich is listed as a running back on some websites, but he’s a “snipe” according to the Naval Academy. That means he shares the responsibilities of both a tailback and a receiver.
This year, the junior leads the Midshipmen in receiving yards, averaging 54.3 per game.
After tallying 56 yards on four catches against Army last year, Heidenreich has accrued 40-plus yards in seven of 11 games this year.
Picks made at 3:50 p.m. on 12/13/2024.
Jordan enjoys writing data-driven game previews and analysis articles — especially for MLB markets or NFL/NBA props. And as a proud Ohio University grad, he’ll always have a soft spot for college sports (especially if the Bobcats are involved). Previous stops include mlb.com, Sportsnet and The Athletic.