Crazy things tend to happen in service academy rivalry games, but I think this game will play out as expected. Army is a really, really good football team that has its sights set on Notre Dame and making a run at the College Football Playoff. For Air Force, this may be the worst Falcons team of the Troy Calhoun era. Air Force will undoubtedly come out and play hard, but the Falcons aren't in Army's class this year. Black Knights by three touchdowns here.

There are no bigger rivalries than between the service academies, and spreads of this magnitude are rare. Prior to last year's 20-point win by Army, the largest margin of victory in a half-dozen meetings was seven points -- and that game went into overtime. The talent gap between the teams is obvious, but the Black Knights will miss Bryson Daily, not only the best rushing QB in FBS but the heart and soul of the squad. Backup Dewayne Coleman has never started. The Falcons were blessed with a bye week while the Black Knights dealt with national media attention over their unbeaten season. The game has closer-than-expected written all over it.

Air Force is shockingly bad but Army is without starting QB Bryson Daily, so I can see the Falcons hanging within a couple of TDs perhaps. The total is only 40 so this seems awfully high anyways. Don't really see Army winning something like 31-9.

By this point it's apparent this is the worst Troy Calhoun Air Force edition since he succeeded Fisher DeBerry in 2007. (The 2013 team, 2-10, suffered an injury epidemic that forced five QBs into action.) The staple of Falcon football since the 80s, the infantry, has sagged from its normal top ten rank to 31st, part of an anemic offense that ranks 127th overall and 131st in scoring (15.3 ppg). Better Force editions haven't been able to cope with Army physicality in recent years, and this now-unbeaten West Point edition seeks to dominate again with its punishing defense. We suspect the Falcs are fortunate to reach 10 points as this series lands under for an 11th straight year. Play Air Force-Army Under

Folks are using Navy's loss to Notre Dame to discredit what Army has done, and is currently doing to teams. So for that reason, the Black Knights have to continue to keep their foot on the gas against everyone until they get to Notre Dame.

Air Force lost a lot of players from last year; only five players returned and one of them wasn't the running back or quarterback. John Busha is the new quarterback and he's having a tough time of it this season if 0-7 against the spread means anything. That's right, they haven't covered one game this season and Army comes in hot. Usually the Armed Forces don't like to rub it in too much when playing one another but Army's can't help playing their style and their style the season has been dominating. They've won all seven games this season and covered six of them failing to cover -17.5 the last game to ECU in a 45-28 win. Two weeks to prepare for Army. Army covers.