Brandon Watson said:
I am a little surprised that this line has not moved up any further. There is some local (in NC) talk that East Carolina might have a let down for this game and/or that UNC might be able to run on the Pirates.
Regarding the letdown question, I don't see a letdown here for the simple fact that East Carolina loves the role of playing a monster non-conference schedule especially since East Carolina is located in the heart of ACC country but gets little respect from ACC teams and fans. Also, UNC is just a short trip from East Carolina compared to the spread out AAC and C-USA, where they played last year.
Regarding running on the Pirates, East Carolina held VA Tech to 91 yards rushing on Saturday. That's a little less than what the Hokies were able to put up on the Buckeyes. UNC put up 131 on San Diego State in their last game last week, when they were outgained in total yards by more then 100 yards.
Finally, Terry Williams, East Carolina's NT that totally clogged up the middle in his first game back from injury should have his game legs and be even more of a force with UNC possibly missing both starting guards (see Dave Cokin's injury post on the Pregame forums).