Louisiana Tech Bulldogs vs Army Black Knights Prediction, Odds and Picks for Saturday, 12/28/24

The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs take on the Army Black Knights in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana. This will be very close to a home game for the Bulldogs who once called the Independence Bowl home. The Bulldogs finished the season 5-7 and barely snuck into a bowl game spot. Louisiana Tech is in their third season under head coach Sonny Cumbie and he hasn’t had a winning season since he started. Army is having their best season since 2018 and won the American Conference Championship before losing to Navy. They are 11-2 and one of the best group of 5 teams in the country. They have a tough challenge in front of them but with a win, they could win 12 games in one season for the first time in the school’s 131 year history. 

Louisiana Tech has 16 players opting out of this game while Army has 0. The Bulldogs head coach, Sonny Cumbie, is in his first bowl game as a head coach besides a bowl game win with Texas Tech as the interim head coach. Army’s head coach, Jeff Monken, has been to 5 bowl games with Army and has won 4 of them. This game is not just about winning though because the spread at the time of publishing is 16.5. Louisiana Tech is 6-4 against the spread in their last 10 games while Army is 5-5. The Black Knights have the number on defense in the country according to points per game and yards per game. They only allow 10.3 points per game and 273.9 yards per game. Offensively they are ranked 42nd in the country. Louisiana Tech is ranked 131st on offense and 54th on defense. I think the Bulldogs are outmatched in this game and I like the Black Knights to cover in this game.

Army -16.5 is available at the time of publishing. Playable at that number.