The East Carolina Pirates went 10-3 in their last year in Conference USA, which ended in a 37-20 rout of Ohio in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl. Now the Pirates will take their fun uptempo offensive talents to the American Athletic Conference in hopes of building on the last 2 years that saw them win 18 games. Schedule & Prediction below.
Ruffin McNeil likes to play uptempo offense and last year it produced 40.2 ppg. Shane Carden is the QB of this offense and will probably be the best QB in the league this year. He has his top two WR’s back from last year, including Justin Hardy, who had 114 catches, 1284 yards and 8 TDs last year. The Running game losses 1000 yard back Cooper, but some solid replacements are ready to take over. The OL will be a bit weaker as they lose 3 starters, but not by much. The defense for the Pirates allowed just 24.8 ppg last year and had the best run defense in Conference USA. This year they have but 4 starters back on this side of the ball, so duplicating last year’s numbers may be tough. The strength of this defense will be the line, where 2 of three starters return, but the back 8 will be a work in progress.
The Pirates will be stepping up in class this year, but Ruffin McNeil has really had this team playing very good the last couple years and I see another solid year from them in 2014. The Pirate offense behind Shane Carden will be one of the best in the league, while the defense will take a slight step back, after losing 8 of their top 12 tacklers from a year ago. The Pirates will be a factor in the AAC and will make another Bowl appearance, but I just don’t see them winning 10 games again. KEY TREND: The Pirates are 0-7 ATS their last 7 trips to Cincinnati.
2014 ECU FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Aug. 30 - NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL
Sept. 6 - at South Carolina
Sept. 13 - at Virginia Tech
Sept. 20 - NORTH CAROLINA
Sept. 27 - bye
Oct. 4 - *SMU (HC)
Oct. 11 - *at USF
Oct. 18 - bye
Oct. 23 - *CONNECTICUT – ESPNU
Nov. 1 - *at Temple
Nov. 8 - bye
Nov. 15 - *at Cincinnati
Nov. 22 - *TULANE (MIL)
Nov. 28 - *at Tulsa
Dec. 4 - *UCF – ESPN
Info gathered From Phil Steele's CFB Preview and Athlon Sports
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