Rutgers plays under the Friday night spotlight for the second straight week, this time hoping for better results as it makes the short trek to West Point for a non-conference clash with Army.
The Scarlet Knights saw a four-game winning streak go by the wayside last Friday night, falling 24-17 to Big East rival Pittsburgh as a six-point home underdog. Rutgers jumped out to a 7-0 lead, then got outscored 24-3 before getting a fourth-quarter TD pass to cap the scoring. The Scarlet Knights got outgained 376-286, including a 223-38 discrepancy in rushing yardage.
Rutgers? two losses were in Big East play (Cincinnati and Pittsburgh), scoring just 15 and 17 points in those two contests, while the four victories came against lesser foes Howard, Florida International, Maryland and Texas Southern by a combined score of 144-35.
Army failed to capitalize on a thrilling 16-13 overtime victory over Vanderbilt as a 10-point home underdog, losing 27-13 at Temple as a 10?-point underdog Saturday. The Black Knights? defense was outstanding, yielding just 195 total yards, and Army had a 181-80 rushing edge, but the offense went just 1-for-11 on third downs and produced just 13 first downs to 27 for Temple.
Army has scored between 13 and 19 points in five of its last six games, and its three victories came against Vanderbilt (16-13) as well as Mid-American Conference bottom-feeders Eastern Michigan (27-14) and Ball State (24-17), three teams that are a combined 2-18.
These regional rivals met each of the last two Novembers, with Rutgers rolling both times by scores of 41-6 as a 20-point road chalk in 2007 and 30-3 as an 18-point home favorite last year. The Scarlet Knights have won five straight meetings since 1998 by margins of 12, 44, 15, 35 and 27 points. Rutgers is also 6-0 ATS in the last six series clashes since 1997.
The Scarlet Knights are on ATS runs of 14-6 on the road (5-0 last five), 11-4-2 in non-conference play, 7-0-1 on artificial turf and 10-4 as a double-digit favorite. However, they?re also in ATS slumps of 0-2-1 as a favorite, 2-6 as a road favorite, 0-5-1 when laying 3? to 10 points and 1-3 after a SU loss. Army is 5-2-1 ATS in its last eight October contests, but otherwise is in pointspread ruts of 2-7 overall, 1-5 at home, 1-10 against the Big East, 7-19-1 as a home underdog and 1-8-1 when catching between 3? and 10 points.
Rutgers carries ?under? trends of 3-0 overall, 12-3-1 in October, 3-0 in non-conference action and 3-0 after a SU loss. Similarly, the Black Knights are on ?under? runs of 4-1 overall, 8-1 at home, 4-1 versus Big East opponents and 8-3 on artificial turf. Finally, these teams stayed under the posted price in their last two meetings.
Sports Advisors 10/23
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