Week 4 college football and the North Carolina Tar Heels will travel to Dowdy- Ficklen Stadium in Greenville, North Carolina to take on the East Carolina Pirates. The game has a start time of 3:30 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN U. Current Vegas odds have the Pirates listed as 2.5 point favorites, while the total is set at 67.
Analysis: The North Carolina Tar Heels have been very consistent in the last 6 years, grabbing either 8 0r 7 wins in each year. Now with 15 starters back and being in the 3 rd year of Larry Fedora’s systems, they are looking to take the next step and walk away with the Coastal Division in the ACC. The Heels have started out the year at 2-0, but really hasn’t been all that easy as they struggled with Liberty before pulling away in the 2nd half and then last week they barely beat San Diego State 31-27, in a game that they were outgained by 115 yards in. Marquise Williams have been solid for the Heels under center this year, as he has completed 67.2% of his passes for 424 yards and 4 TDs, while also rushing for 115 yards and another 2 TDs. The Heels have been solid on offense overall after two games as they have averaged 418.5 ypg (71st) and 43.5 ppg (22nd), but the defense has not been all that good for them, as they rank 95th in yards allowed (427.5 ypg) and 86th in points allowed (28 ppg).
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 AAC in hopes of building on the last 2 years that saw them win 18 games. The East Carolina Pirates come in off a very nice 28-21 road upset of the Virginia Tech Hokies, who had just upset the Ohio State Buckeyes on the road the week before. In the game the pirates rolled up 502 yards on that tough Hokie defense. Shane Carden is one of the best QBs in the Nation that not many have heard of and he had another solid game, throwing for 427 yards, despite the fact that he hit just 23 of 47 passes. For the year, Shane has hit 62.3% of his passes for 1031 yards and 7 TDs, while throwing just 2 picks. Overall the Pirates are 7th in the nation in passing (374 ypg) and 57th in scoring 34.3 ppg, while also being solid defensively, ranking 35th in yards allowed (334.7 ypg) and 43rd in points allowed (20.3 ppg).
Pick: Going with the Heels here to get revenge for last year’s 55-31 home loss at the hands of the Pirates. I also feel that East Carolina may be a bit out of gas here after nearly beating South Carolina on the road and then upsetting Virginia Tech on the road. How much can this team have left here? Their defense has played well so far, but I feel that Carolina cane score on them just enough to get the win here. Could be a shootout, but I do see Carolina winning this one by at least a TD.
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College Football Free Picks: Georgia Tech vs Virginia Tech
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