Worst push ever? Army-Navy under bettors get a horrible beat

The under for Army vs. Navy has been a fascination in the betting world for a while. The under for the total won 16 straight times before the over finally cashed last season.

The under should have hit Saturday, but a wild sequence at the end caused a push.

The total at BetMGM for the Army-Navy game was 28 by kickoff. Under bets pushed it down to that number. It seemed for most of the game that it had no chance to get over that total. It was a typical game between the two great service academy rivals, with almost no scoring. It was 0-0 after one quarter and a 10-0 Army lead at halftime. With five minutes left, Army led 10-3. Given how the game — and most games in the rivalry — was going, getting 18 points in less than five minutes was going to take a miracle.

Even when Kalib Fortner of Army stripped the quarterback and returned a fumble 44 yards for a score, there were still just 20 points on the board and less than five minutes to go. Then Navy put together a quick scoring drive. It did miss the two-point conversion, which was a blow to over bettors. Navy still trailed 17-9.

But Army had two false-start penalties to start its next drive. The Black Knights punted instead of going for it and gained almost nothing on a bad punt. The defense started allowing short completions with extremely soft coverage for some reason. Navy got all the way to a goal-to-go situation. It had two incompletions and a completion stopped just short of the goal line as under bettors (and Army -3 bettors) held their breath. Then a quarterback sneak was stuffed short. Under bettors were still stressing during a long review, but the play stood. Army led 17-9 with three seconds left.

But hold up on cashing those under tickets.

The best play for Army with three seconds left was to take a safety. When the Black Knights lined up in the shotgun, under bettors knew they were in trouble. Quarterback Bryson Daily took the snap, ran around for three seconds, then ran out of the back of the end zone.

Army 17, Navy 11. That's 28 points. And one of the weirdest, worst beats you'll ever see for many under bettors.