The Navy Midshipmen set sail to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida to do battle with the South Florida Bulls. The contest between the two schools is scheduled to get under way at 7:00 p.m. ET and can be viewed on the ESPN2 Network. The Bulls enter into this game as -8 point over the Midshipmen. The total has been set at 63 and remains there as of this article.
In last year’s match-up between these two programs, Navy pounded out 29 points from well over 400 yards of rushing offense. As a result, the Midshipmen handed the South Florida Bulls a 29-17 loss. The Midshipmen’s defense also held Quinton Flowers to under 220 yards of total offense.
#22 Navy (5-1):
Navy returned to the field after two week’s off and took it to Memphis 42-28 and moved to 5-1 on the year. The Midshipmen’s General-under-center Will Worth, ran for 201 yards and three scores. Surprisingly, the replacement quarterback also threw for two more touchdowns against the Tigers.
Since Will Worth stepped-in, he has completed 37 passes for almost 700 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions. Worth is also one hell of a runner. He has carried the rock a team-high 134 times for 487 yards and nine more scores.
Three other rushers handle the ball in Navy’s option attack. Collectively, they have amassed another 743 yards on over 100 carries and five more scores. To top that off, fullback Shawn White pounds away to the tune of 29 carries for almost 100 yards and another three trips to the end zone.
Five different Navy receivers have caught touchdown passes from Will Worth this season. They squadron is led by senior wide out Jamir Tillman. On limited duty, the receiver has brought in 19 receptions for 286 yards and a score.
The Midshipmen’s defense isn’t anything to write home to mom about. In fact, they are average or below average in all four major categories. On a positive note, they tend to bend but not break, surrendering only 25 points a contest to their adversaries.
South Florida (6-2):
The Bulls were beaten out-right by the underdog Temple Owls last week 46-30. Temple found a way to keep Duel-threat Quinton Flowers in check, allowing him only 277 total yards of offense. Taken as a whole, Flowers has produced over 1,700 yards through the air with 15 touchdowns and five picks.
The talented quarterback also has carried the ball a team-high 108 times for 745 yards and eight more scores. Be aware, he is listed as questionable with a hamstring injury for this contest and didn’t quite look like himself in the second half of the Owls game.
Marlon Mack and D’Ernest Johnson handle the rest of the running duties for the South Florida Bull’s offense. Together, they have totaled over 150 carries for almost 1,000 yards and 14 scores. Mack is personally responsible for ten of those trips to the promised land.
Quniton flowers likes to share the wealth when it comes to the passing game. Five wide outs have double digit catches and seven more have scored touchdowns. Rodney Adams leads this group with 34 catches for 502 yards and four scores. Running back D’Ernest Johnson has also nabbed four passes for touchdowns.
There is some bad news for the 99th ranked South Florida run defense on Friday. Navy is sailing into town and with them comes their 4th ranked running attack averaging over 290 yards a game. I hate to paint a bleak picture for Bulls fans, but the 99th best run defense might slip well past 100 after Friday.
Trends and Notes:
The Midshipmen are 5-1-1 ATS in their last 7 games overall.
The Bulls are 6-2 ATS in their last 8 conference games.
The Over is 7-1 in the Midshipmen last 8 conference games.
the Over is 7-1 in the Bulls last 8 home games.
Game Prediction:
You can bet the farm that Navy will get their fair share of rushing yards against this South Florida defense. Usually, that correlates into a lot of points on the board for the Midshipmen while they control the time of possession.
South Florida better rebound from a disappointing road loss to Temple last week, or their season may be considered a failure. With only one loss against Florida State, they still had a chance to play in a major bowl. Now, they are fighting for their conference lives against a gritty Navy team.
This is definitely a character check game for the Bulls. They have plenty of seniors and rebounded well after the home loss to the Seminoles. Navy continues to pound away at teams and left others like Houston wondering what the heck just happened when the time ran out. Both teams will show-up prepared to play their best ball.
The -8 is ripe for an underdog to cover by, so we wont persuade you away if that is your pick. But Get More Sports likes the over 63 because both teams will move the ball effectively and close games usually help push the total. Take the over 63.
Swing into getmoresports.com to get the low-down on tons of college football action for this weeks match-ups.
