Army Cadets

2005 Season Summary

When head coach Bobby Ross showed up for duty at West Point in the spring of 2005 he inherited a shambles of a program that had a long and storied history and rich tradition.  Although Army football is not likely to ever reach its national championship heights of decades past, one constant had been that the Army always fought hard and never quit.  But in 2002-2003 it seemed as even that tradition went by the wayside.

Horrific seasons set a negative culture

The 2002 Cadets went 1-11 straight up and then hit rock bottom in 2002 with a mark of 0-13 straight up and 4-9 against the spread.  Just as bad, they were blown out by their archrival Navy in both seasons.  The horrific losing seasons set a negative culture surrounding the program that would challenge Ross as a coach and leader, even with his military background.

Ross helped the Army regain its self respect and fight

In 2004 the Army went just 2-9 straight up, (although that was DOUBLE the win total from 2003), and 5-6 against the spread.  But the Cadets played hard and seemed to improve as the year went on as Ross helped the Army regain its self respect and fight back.

Higher expectations for 2005

The Army’s successful return as a team that would fight to the end and having such a respected and high profile coach in Ross meant that there would be higher expectations for 2005 not just with their fans but with gamblers who considered Army a possible live “dog” because of their tenacious play.  Experienced college football gamblers, however, knew that since Army was no longer under the radar screen and attracting attention from the mainstream gambling public that their overall betting value may not be what is should be, at least early on.

Over-valued early

Army began 2005 as a large and somewhat appealing 27.5-point dog at Boston College, which was a bit of a trap set by oddsmakers as many touts and mainstream gamblers couldn’t resist all of those points with the hard fighting Cadets, who were blown out 7-44.  In the home opener that followed against Big 12 doormat Baylor, the Army was a 5.5-point dog and there were still folks who wanted to bite on that, only to be bitten back as Baylor won and covered 20-10. 

Army went up in value a bit as Iowa State came calling for a Friday Night ESPN TV game.  The Cadets were bumped up to 17-point pups and covered in a 21-28 loss.  But in their next game at home versus Connecticut as 11-point dogs, Army was blown off the field 13-47.  A disappointing 10-14 loss to Central Michigan as 2.5-point home dogs followed as the Army proved to be over-valued early with just one cover in their first five games, losing all five straight up.

Value restored

Entering their sixth game of the season the Army had seen most of the mainstream gamblers that were so high on them in the preseason go AWOL.  This would make the Army more of a betting bargain as a result. 

At TCU against the surprise Mountain West Conference contending Horned Frogs, Army was a 24-point dog in a 17-38 loss/cover that was an indicator of value restored for the Cadets.  Further proof came the next week when Army defeated Akron 20-0 as a 7.5-point dog.  Next was an intra-service rivalry game at Air Force where the Cadets were 12.5-point dogs but scored a 27-24 upset win for their third consecutive cover against the betting boards.   A 34-27 win over 1-AA Massachusetts followed.

Senior Day was a matchup against bowl bound Arkansas State from the Sun Belt Conference.  Army was a 10-point chalk and got the cash with a smashing 38-10 win which was their fourth consecutive straight up win as well as fourth straight cover.

Greatest rivalry

The Army was rolling along for their season ending clash with Navy in arguably the greatest rivalry of them all.  The Navy was a 5.5-point chalk and won 42-23 as Army lost all of its value in the game’s that led up to this matchup.