Before the season began, looking at Week 2 of the season for the ECU Pirates looked like it would have too much to handle when going into Williams-Brice Stadium to face the nationally ranked South Carolina Gamecocks. The football gods however, have had a different plan in mind.
Things started to look up for ECU when No. 9-ranked South Carolina took to the field against No. 21 Texas A&M last Thursday night. The Aggies really gave it to USC, passing the ball up and down the field with quarterback Kenny Hill finishing with a school record 511 passing yards.
The next big sign for the Pirates from the football gods was the great team performance against North Carolina Central, putting up 52 points (45 unanswered) and the defense giving up 174 yards. Yes, it may have been an FCS school, but game time reps are far more valuable than practice reps and plying a lower opponent will actually help ECU prepare for this game on Saturday.
South Carolina took another hit that could be beneficial for ECU—during the loss against Texas A&M, running back Mike Davis re-injured his ribs and may not be available for the game. Davis is an explosive runner that rushed for 1,183 yards last season, but against the Aggies, Davis only managed to get 15 yards on six carries as the Gamecocks finished with a whopping 67 yards on the ground.
With South Carolina’s defense allowing so many passing yards, and the offense not gaining many ground yards, is a nine-day break between two games really enough to set things straight for the Gamecocks?
Giving up 511 yards looks pretty hopeful for a quarterback in Shane Carden that has averaged in the upward of 300 yards per game during his career, throwing for almost 500 yards twice last year. Carden can zip the ball to his speedy receivers, something that Texas A&M really exposed for South Carolina. Carden looked surgical in the game opener, going 26-for-37 with 283 yards and three touchdowns.
Justin Hardy and Isaiah Jones will provide for a great tandem for Carden to throw to and look to shock the college football world and take down a team that has been hailed to make a run at a national championship. Hardy even made a spot on throw to Jones with some trickery for a 41-yard touchdown in the opener, as the two would finish with a combined with three touchdowns and 237 yards.
While having the odds in ECU’s favor, it may be a little hard for ECU to pull off the upset. South Carolina may have been exposed in the first weekend of the season, but it has plenty of days to recover, practice and game plan against the fast and powerful Pirates. South Carolina is embarrassed to have lost that way and snap an 18-game winning streak at home.
This game will be a lot closer than the 45-10 drumming ECU took in 2012. With the embarrassing showing from South Carolina and the aerial attack from Carden and Co., this could be an upset in the making.
There would be nothing better than an AAC team taking down the great Southeastern Conference, and although outmatched on paper, ECU certainly has the tools to do just that.
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