The Tulane Green Wave and Army Black Knights will meet for an American Conference game this Saturday. Both teams enter this matchup with an identical 2-2 overall record. Army is already 1-1 in conference play after losing to South Florida, 28-24, before defeating Temple, 21-17, the following week. Saturday's game will be Tulane's first played in conference. The Green Wave's losses came against Power Four opponents Duke and Kansas State, while their victories were on their home field against South Alabama and Southern Mississippi. If Tulane wants to get their first conference win of the season, they will need to slow down Army's top-ranked rushing offense.
The Black Knight's rank first in college football with 334.3 rushing yards per game. Like Army teams in the past, the Black Knights will lean on their running game and rarely throw the football. To put a number on it, Army has run the football 210 times this season, while they have only had 54 passing attempts. Their running game feels inevitable. Even in their two losses to South Florida and Louisiana Tech, Army ran for over 200 yards.
Tulane had additional time to prepare for Army's running game after being on a bye last weekend. The Wave will need to change their approach to fill gaps against Army if they want to find success. Tulane has only allowed 23.3 points per game this season, but they allow 422 yards per game, the second-worst in the conference. This could be a problem against Army, who averages 33.3 points and 433 yards per game.
Army has fallen short against teams that can match their offensive output this season, but Tulane doesn't quite fit that bill. The Green Wave are near the bottom of the conference, scoring an average of 18.8 points per game. They lack a dynamic playmaker that could give Army trouble. Tulane's quarterback, Kadin Semonza, has only thrown for 646 yards and three touchdowns in his first four games. The team's leading rusher is Maurice Turner, who has run for 277 yards and two touchdowns. Army is a tough team to beat, especially on their home field. I like the Black Knights to continue their rushing dominance this week against Tulane.
Tulane vs Army prediction: Army -3.5 (-110) available at the time of publishing. Playable at -4.
