NC Central vs East Carolina College Football Preview

East Carolina is entering its first season in the American Athletic Conference coming off of a 10 win season in Conference USA. The Pirates’ offense averaged 40.2 points per game, 9^th in the nation. ECU returns quarterback Shane Carden, who threw for 4139 yards a season ago. Carden gets his top two targets from 2013 back in Justin Hardy and Isaiah Jones who combined for over 1800 yards. The Pirate defense has a strong three man defensive line and a solid corps of linebackers, however, there are many questions in their secondary. They will be very strong against the run but susceptible to teams with a good passing game. North Carolina Central will have a difficult time keeping up with the Pirates as they are simply outmatched. The Eagles finished 5-7 with a MEAC record of 3-5. This should be East Carolina’s game to lose, and their inaugural season in the AAC should begin in the win column.

Keys to the Game

East Carolina

• The Pirates are going to want Carden, Hardy, and Jones to get the passing game going early. The defense should be able to stop the Eagles relatively easily, possibly even forcing some turnovers. As long as ECU does not make any major mistakes they should have a comfortable win.

North Carolina Central

• North Carolina Central’s defense is facing a difficult task in stopping the ECU passing game. If they are to win this game they must find a way to shut down Carden and Co. Offensively, they are going to have to rely on their aerial attack as it will be difficult to run on ECU’s stout front seven.

NO KEY INJURIES TO DATE

Line/Odds: No odds available

East Carolina will be looking to get a win in their home opener against North Carolina Central. It will take a lot for the Eagles to pull the upset, the Pirates should win this one comfortably.