The ECU Pirates have a hard task facing them for the second straight week in a row as they travel to Blacksburg, VA to face the Hokies of Virginia Tech. While the odds are stacked against the Pirates, they should look to upset the No. 17 Hokies, and here are five reasons why.
1. Shane Carden
Carden is again making it on the watch list radar. (Shocker.) Carden is on his way to becoming the all-time yards leader for the Pirates and is the heart and soul of the offense. If he is not playing well, the team struggles. In like manner, if Carden is playing poorly, the team follows. A good example would be rewatching last week’s game and seeing the offense and team take stride with him on a hot streak, and looking dazed and confused when he made bad plays.
2. Justin Hardy
Hardy is the Rice to Carden’s Montana, or the Calvin Johnson to his Matthew Stafford for you younger people. Hardy completes takes the game of Carden and puts it on another level. Of the many college teams that have a solid receiver-quarterback tandem, Hardy and Carden are the best statistically. The combo have a FBS best 20 touchdowns which will only continue to grow as the Pirates look to upset a ranked opponent this season.
3. ECU’s Stingy Defense
As sports cliches go, defenses win championships. Anyone who follows football knows the truth behind this, and the ECU’s defense compliments the offense so well, the only combination that is better is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. ECU’s defense has played pretty well in the small sample size of two games, allowing 307.5 yards on average. The Pirates need to focus on getting the Hokies to turn the ball over. An interesting stat line for the ECU defense is that under Ruffin McNeill, the team is 21-7 when forcing two or more turnovers. ECU has forced a turnover in 16 of the last 17 games. This defense is due for a big day, and it will have it.
4. Virginia Tech is Coming off a Big Win
Wait, shouldn’t that be a disadvantage for ECU? In most cases, yes. However in this case, that is not a problem. The Hokies supposedly shocked the college football world by beating an Ohio State team on the road that did not have its Heisman hopeful quarterback. This game will have given the Hokies a little too much confidence going into Week 3 and the Pirates will match the overconfidence of their opponent and knock them off. It happens far too often that teams are thing they are going to steamroll the competition, and in return get rolled.
5. College Football is Due for a Huge Upset
There hasn’t been much of the ways of the ancient upsets so far in the young college football season. Yes, Ohio State and South Carolina both have lost, and were in the top 10 at the time facing ranked opponents. For the greatness that is football Saturday, the football gods will be on the side of ECU. The sport thrives on these types of games and I wouldn’t be surprised if that happened.
Prediction
ECU 31, Virginia Tech 27
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