There’s the old cliche in football that defenses win championships. East Carolina does have a great defense, but has an even better offense that runs at a high level and leads the Pirates to many victories. So far this season, the lone loss has come when the offense hasn’t played well.
If you haven’t followed ECU this season, shame on you. The Pirates are absolutely brilliant on offense and are making the passing game a thing of beauty. This past week, the Pirates upset in-state rival North Carolina 70-41 in a record-setting performance.
As far as games go, it doesn’t really get much better than the performance that ECU had on both sides of the ball in front of the biggest crowd that Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium had ever seen. However, ECU’s offense out-shined the defense in this dominant performance.
The Pirate offense looked perfect from start to finish. Shane Carden is playing as good as anyone in the country and it’s pretty interesting that he has not garnered some national Heisman talk for his great play-making ability, finishing with 438 yards and four touchdowns. Carden did have one interception in the game but for throwing the ball 48 times, that can be expected.
What impressed me more than Carden’s play was how he elevated the receivers around him. I have harped many times about the combination of Carden and Justin Hardy and how dominant those two players can be. The pair did have great plays in this game, but Carden found other playmakers like Isaiah Jones and Trevon Brown to get the job done.
Jones had 116 yards and a touchdown while Brown had 117 yards and two touchdowns. Hardy would also finish with 92 yards.
The run game was a surprise to me as the Pirates also ran up and down the Tar Heel defense, running for a total 343 yards. Breon Allen finished 211 of those yards and a pair of touchdowns.
If you are keeping track of yards at home, ECU finished with a record 789 yards. This is really nothing new for the Pirates, who have gotten used to big yard games this season. In passing, ECU is ranking sixth in the nation with 392 yards per game and will stay around that number as the schedule gets a bit softer for the Pirates who will face some weak defenses in the coming weeks.
Another reason the Pirates will keep a steady flow on offense is that Carden is about to break the all-time passing yards school record. Carden began the season 1,775 yards behind David Gerrard who is atop the list. Carden will be crowned the passing leader in the next game as he only needs 306 yards to achieve it.
The great play from the Pirates has led them to being in the AP polls for the first time since 2008, debuting at No. 23. ECU will have the next week off and it is well deserved—it will begin conference play with Southern Methodist on October 4.
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