Unlike most football games, the Over/Under market gets a lot of attention for service academy games. These games have hilariously low opening lines and for good reason. In the past 10 years, the Under has hit 90% of the time (26-3).
But Saturday’s Army-Navy game was a rollercoaster for bettors, the opening O/U line was 29.5 at BetMGM. Despite the public betting the Over, the sharp money brought the Under line to 27.5 before closing at 28. And this closing line value would end up being a game changer.
At halftime, Army led 10-0 and the new line was 23.5. The line continued to fall as neither team scored in the third quarter.
Here come the points
While Under bettors started to get confident, both teams started to score. And just like that, Navy was on Army’s 2-yard line with eight seconds to go down 17-9, the Over would hit with a touchdown. But Navy failed to punch it in and turned it over on downs.
IT CANNOT GET CLOSER.
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) December 9, 2023
ARMY STOPS NAVY AT THE GOAL LINE. pic.twitter.com/Lf6d7KHsDR
However, Army didn’t have space to take a knee on the final play. And instead of throwing the ball away, Army’s QB ran out of bounds for a safety. The final score was 17-11, 28 total points.
While technically this will officially be another service game Under, several bettors experienced one hell of a bad beat.
Army-Navy total at @BetMGM
— John Ewing (@johnewing) December 9, 2023
29.5 - Open
27.5 - Lowest
28 - Close
62% of bets were on the OVER
Safety for the win or push. ✅pic.twitter.com/8ByNb3jOTJ
